Limbo creators bring you "Inside".

I apologize if there is another topic (couldn't find one) but has anyone had the opportunity to play this little gem since it's release yesterday? If you enjoyed Limbo I cannot see anyone not really loving this game. It's so very unique and odd (especially as you progress) that it just brings a charm you don't see to often in the gaming industry. It also has some outstandingly gorgeous visuals and while I wouldn't say "difficult" puzzles, some of them do give you pause for a little while to think about what you're doing. It's about 4 hours long at $19 (On X-Box and PC), and that time of course depends on how quickly you move through the game. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who found Limbo a great experience. I'm also looking forward to discussing the game and ending with those who finish.

Spoiler:

It's some weird ass sh*t

thanks for the heads up, I'll be watching to see how the difficulty compares to limbo (not a hard game, but some of those platforming elements got pretty tricky and specific iirc).

Day 1 for me (when it arrives on PC next week!)

Bought played and finished the game on Xbox One yesterday. It took me just shy of 4 hours to complete. The game is very much like Limbo but with much much better graphics. Difficulty and puzzles are also similar to Limbo. The major differences and what will become the most talked about is the last act of the game. That was seriously something else but in a good way.

I got it on release but have only had time to put in about 30 minutes so far.

I wasn't too thrilled with it for the first 15 minutes or so. It seemed like a re-skinned Limbo. Then I got to the first

Spoiler:

mind control puzzle

and some scenarios that fit the description you spoiler tagged. There is indeed some weird-ass sh*t even early on, as well as a disturbing tone that is conveyed well through animation, audio, and visual touches.

I am looking forward to playing all the way through the game on my day off tomorrow.

Definitely on board for this one. Reviews of the Xbox version make this sound like pretty much exactly what I want from a game these days - artistically ambitious, well polished, and short/focused enough that I can see everything it has to offer without dumping a prohibitive amount of time into it.

Dyni wrote:

There is indeed some weird-ass sh*t even early on, as well as a disturbing tone that is conveyed well through animation, audio, and visual touches.

It just gets weirder and more disturbing as you go on. Such a great game.

Really looking forward to this on the PC. Thanks for the first impressions, glad they are positive.

Great game. Short too. Confused as heck by the ending. Anyone have any insights as to what it all means?

Darn it! I was hoping this would unlock at midnight Eastern on Steam tonight. I guess I have to wait to play it until tomorrow.

Well, I kinda had the game ruined for me by seeing good review scores and then just going dark. I also kinda had Brad at Giant Bomb ruin it a bit by being so cagey about saying anything. I expected the game to do a 180 of some sort fairly early in mechanically. It's kinda my fault for setting my expectations inappropriately because I was afraid of spoilers.

It's an extremely well polished puzzle platformer in the vein of Limbo. There are more mechanics that are great, and there is some weird-ass sh*t going on which is most likely abstract social commentary.

Just don't expect any crazy surprises other than things getting strange.

Spoiler:

I kinda expected the game to go into full-on limbo mode at some point after the girl gives you water-breathing. I also expected it to go full-on into Limbo at the end as if it were a prequel. Instead, at the end, you just get that pathetic blob that's escaped corporate/industrial society. It wasn't really satisfying.

Some of the best sound design ever in a game at points. Play it with good headphones. There are some weird heartbeat affects early on that made me think "Is this what it's like to have a heart attack?" I've never experienced audio quite like that. It's a little hard to describe.

Spoiler:

So, is this a prequel to Limbo, then? Is the drowner girl related to the girl at the end of Limbo? It's been so long since I've played that. I think it's totally unrelated, but it's really annoying how they sorta end the game where Limbo begins in terms of setting.

Edit: Just to maybe manage people's expectations, maybe, I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10. It's very good, but it's not gonna be in the top 3 for me at the end of the year. A lot of it is due to the similarities between Limbo and the fact that I've already experienced those aspects. If I'd never played Limbo, I'd have a different reaction to the game, probably. I'm not even sure as of now if this game is better than Limbo. That'll take awhile to figure out.

And here are my thoughts on the allegory:

Spoiler:

It seems that the boy represents your average "salary man" just trying to escape that grind. All the husks are your fellow 99% while the caretakers, dog handlers, scientists, observers are the 1% that control society. The boy is just in this murk just trying to escape to something different with more meaning. He enlists the help of the 99% when he can, and when he ultimately finds the blob of husks that's been pushed to the ultimate limits of what they can take, he joins with them to rebel. They take out some of the 1%, but ultimately the 1% is still always in control and coaxes you out of the picture. The boy escapes with the rebels, but finds that death was the only means to that end.

I'll go with what you said Tuffalo I kind of got that from playing but overall was really confused when the game ended. I would highly recommend the game though. A bit short but the puzzles were great and I loved pretty much every minute of it.

I liked it, but I'm not sure what the hell went on at the end.

Spoiler:

First I was Mario, then I was Aquaman, then I was Akira, then I was a vampire and died in the sun?

Agreed that sound design was fantastic. The puzzles were fine, but generally nothing we haven't seen before. The world was great, and I was constantly frustrated that I couldn't do more than move left and right. I really wanted to explore more.

Speaking of, I only found two of the collectible things toward the beginning. I wonder if anything happens if you find all of them. The two I found seemed like you were deactivating something.

This game reminded me A LOT of Oddworld: Abe's Odysee. Like, a lot a lot.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm not even sure as of now if this game is better than Limbo. That'll take awhile to figure out.

Not for me. I found Limbo to be decent, but highly overrated, so I am incredibly surprised by how much I loved Inside in comparison. Fantastic game.

I have never seen atmosphere conveyed so well in a 2d game.

Chaz wrote:

I liked it, but I'm not sure what the hell went on at the end.

Spoiler:

First I was Mario, then I was Aquaman, then I was Akira, then I was a vampire and died in the sun?

Agreed that sound design was fantastic. The puzzles were fine, but generally nothing we haven't seen before. The world was great, and I was constantly frustrated that I couldn't do more than move left and right. I really wanted to explore more.

Speaking of, I only found two of the collectible things toward the beginning. I wonder if anything happens if you find all of them. The two I found seemed like you were deactivating something.

This game reminded me A LOT of Oddworld: Abe's Odysee. Like, a lot a lot.

Spoiler:

Oh yeah, THAT... If you happen to find all 5 of those things and pull the plug on them (it's super hard). You come across an ending where you unplug some guy at a computer who seems to have controlling you the whole time. And then you just die/shut down. Just watch it on youtube. It makes no sense.

Dakhath wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I liked it, but I'm not sure what the hell went on at the end.

Spoiler:

First I was Mario, then I was Aquaman, then I was Akira, then I was a vampire and died in the sun?

Agreed that sound design was fantastic. The puzzles were fine, but generally nothing we haven't seen before. The world was great, and I was constantly frustrated that I couldn't do more than move left and right. I really wanted to explore more.

Speaking of, I only found two of the collectible things toward the beginning. I wonder if anything happens if you find all of them. The two I found seemed like you were deactivating something.

This game reminded me A LOT of Oddworld: Abe's Odysee. Like, a lot a lot.

Spoiler:

Oh yeah, THAT... If you happen to find all 5 of those things and pull the plug on them (it's super hard). You come across an ending where you unplug some guy at a computer who seems to have controlling you the whole time. And then you just die/shut down. Just watch it on youtube. It makes no sense.

Ha! I found four of those but only was able to pull three.

Spoiler:

That's hilarious in how it just adds a layer of abstraction to the allegory part of the game's message. "Well... in reality, it's just some dumb computer simulation controlled by some nerd, so don't take any of that serious stuff too seriously..." They do a similar thing with Superhot.

Dyni wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm not even sure as of now if this game is better than Limbo. That'll take awhile to figure out.

Not for me. I found Limbo to be decent, but highly overrated, so I am incredibly surprised by how much I loved Inside in comparison. Fantastic game.

I have never seen atmosphere conveyed so well in a 2d game.

Excellent. I think we came at these games from different angles. You came to Limbo after it was overhyped, while I came to it with zero expectations, and I came to Inside after it was overhyped.

I still stand by my opinions in that it's B+ but not A or A+ material, but I hope people keep going crazy for it because it's quite good.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Excellent. I think we came at these games from different angles. You came to Limbo after it was overhyped, while I came to it with zero expectations, and I came to Inside after it was overhyped.

That's true. I think I had been sufficiently over hyped for both games, but I must admit that my expectations for Inside were tempered due to my experience with Limbo.

I'm hesitant to attribute too much of my impression to expectations though. I'm usually pretty good about not letting popular opinion affect my impression of games, as I'm so often on the opposite end of that spectrum.

Limbo had a great first act, the rest of the game faded from memory not long after I'd finished playing it. I remember myself getting increasingly more annoyed with its trial-and-error method of solving as the game progressed, so my enjoyment of the game steadily declined all the way until the end. I know that wasn't the experience most people had with the game, but I found Limbo to be fun for an hour and a slog for the remaining three.

I didn't have any of those issues with Inside. Trial and error deaths were still present, but they were few and far between, never often enough to break the flow of the game. The puzzles weren't particularly difficult, but the ideas and themes behind some of the puzzles were brilliant. One of my early favorites was:

Spoiler:

the section where you have to observe and Simon Says in the line of marching bodies. It wasn't a difficult section, but it was executed perfectly. That entire section was tense and disturbing in a way that really affected me.

There were at least 5 or 6 other moments in Inside that were just as impactful. It just hooked me in a way Limbo never did.

So for anyone else that wasn't the biggest Limbo fan, it still might be worth giving Inside a look

My experience matches Dyni's.

Limbo was good but was much too long. Inside is a much tighter package. The puzzles in Inside were easier, for me at least, and the game leaned much harder on the art and atmosphere. That made it easier to flow through and that leaves a much better experience.

Would definitely rate Inside higher.

Havent spend much time thinking about what it all means though. Your take is interesting, not sure I would have come away with that specifically, but I guess it's fairly open to interpretation as it is. You take what you can.

I think I'm just stuck, I'm at the part where

Spoiler:

you climb on one of those steam things, pull the switch up, jump onto a rope to the left after it puffs up, swing left, hold a lever to open a big door on the right.. door starts closing as soon as you release lever meaning you have about 1.5 seconds to jump, perfectly grab onto the rope, swing right and release through the door...

I hope I'm missing something that makes this section much easier otherwise I think I'm done here.

krev82 wrote:

I think I'm just stuck, I'm at the part where

Spoiler:

you climb on one of those steam things, pull the switch up, jump onto a rope to the left after it puffs up, swing left, hold a lever to open a big door on the right.. door starts closing as soon as you release lever meaning you have about 1.5 seconds to jump, perfectly grab onto the rope, swing right and release through the door...

I hope I'm missing something that makes this section much easier otherwise I think I'm done here.

Hardly spoilers and the explicit solution isn't stated:

Spoiler:

I believe you can try doing things in a slightly different order than you would expect initially to get through that. Maybe just play around with the order of actions, and you should figure it out eventually.

I don't know the exact part you're talking about (maybe put what section you're in/what the background looks like? Or how far you are in terms of minutes/hours?) but there wasn't anything that required precise platforming, so I'm certain there's just something you're missing.

it was indeed a timing issue, finally got it, eesh

youtube time start through 1:08:20 or so for reference of where I was.

Hehehe ya, you gotta be quick at that part.

I watched DeThroned play a couple hours of this. It really is a beautiful game, well animated with great art direction, but what really struck me was the sound design. Barking dogs, snapping wooden planks, a piece of rebar clattering to a warehouse floor, etc all sounded perfect and drew me in even though I wasn't the one playing the game.

Agreed. The sound design is the thing that stood out to me too. I actually played the whole game in Steam's big picture mode on my Oculus Rift. Slightly lower frame rate than on a normal screen, but still extremely playable. I enjoyed having to actually move my head to take in the whole picture. Made the game feel even more immersive, those slight angles at which the camera tilts to take in the scale of certain areas had an even more pronounced effect on a giant virtual screen.

The game itself, is to me, a masterpiece. I think those that got the 'special' ending got the ending they deserved, the rest of us get the most grotesque and macabre sequence in the history of video-games and possibly the most cathartic ending to a videogame since the Gravity Gun in Half Life 2 (as pointed out by Jeff Cannata on this week's DLC - not taking credit for that excellent observation!). I enjoyed Limbo, but there wasn't anything in that game that I wish I could 'unsee'.

As for specifics...

Spoiler:

My mileage definitely varied with the puzzles. I especially enjoyed the submarine sections and the puzzle that involved rounding up all the people. Some of the backtracking stuff I could have done without, especially the tedious jumping over the fence to avoid the dogs bit. Also I was completely stumped and had to look online for help during a couple of the 'underwater ring girl' sections. Specifically the part where you had to dangle your foot in the water whilst hanging on to the chain and also the part which involved all the backtracking so you could drop the door etc. (It wasn't so much that I didn't have the patience to work it out - more that I just needed to get past it - that drowning girl was really starting to freak me out!) I also got stuck on one of the upside-down underwater puzzles, but that was mostly on account of me rushing ahead of myself. Ultimately though - games where I get stuck like this usually leave a bitter taste in my mouth, but I am so impressed with this game from an artistic angle that I'm not gonna mark it down for being smarter than me :D

Just finished this, only got 'stuck' once, all it took was a break and a rethink of what I was doing.
Lighting, setting, mood and sound design were all absolutely stellar.

I grabbed this when it got released on the PS4, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the mechanics and the puzzle solving were great, and the ambiance was specatular.

I found some of the secret areas, and used a guide to find the rest, and achieve the "secret ending." It was nice to do some additional exploration and mechanics, but I'm glad I used a guide.

Honestly, I really enjoyed the last 20 minutes of this game. Many (MANY) games fail to stick the landing, and I thought Inside did a marvelous job.

Hats off to Playdead, that was one hell of a game.

I absolutely loved how they designed the chase sections by not having the usual illusion of "oh no I'm getting chased with the perpetrator just a snip behind me but if I hold right on the analogue I'll be ok" with intelligent gameplay that requires patience, timing & the player to actually outsmart the opponent in a lot of cases.

Spoiler:

The possession puzzles were fantastic, really ingenious little ways to have the player solve a traversal problem through these 'clones', the lemmings style parts were a joy layering on mechanics. The upside down water sections were really inventive.

The first time I used the little submarine it felt natural to control with the little dart mechanic being put to perfect use with bumping into walls or shooting out of the water to jump through a door. Coming across the girl in the water for the first time was a visual sight, I was thinking cool she's gonna show me where to go & then once the light was off she bashed my little submarine window through & shook me harder than Elvis' hips! Loads of memorable moments throughout Inside.

The last section of the game though, that was something else, weird, crazy, unbelievable to look at! it actually felt superb to control the big ball of clones & the reaction to the environment was absolutely amazing.

I honestly think that's one of the best endings in gaming, so surreal & unexpected. I can't even put my finger on what theories I have for the events that took place but what a journey! I'll read everyone's thoughts now & watch the secret ending on YouTube.

Am I the only one who saw it as a boy in the water, not a girl?