Developer: Playdead Released: July 2010

Played on: PS3 (also available on 360, PC, Mac, Vita, iOS, Linux)

A stark, monochromatic puzzle platformer, Limbo has become a reference point for many arty platforming indie games since. I’d wanted to play this for a long time but it wasn’t until it came free on PS+ that I finally did, and it’s quite fantastic.

You will die many times in this game, but its OK because you’re already dead. You play a young boy in “limbo” looking for his sister, but there are dozens of challenges for you to side-scroll though before you can reach the end. You are beset by other cruel denizens of limbo, disturbing creatures and hostile puzzle environments that assist you in dying again and again. Death is part of the learning process and not severely punishing, Limbo is actually quite accessible to new players with its uncomplicated mechanics.

Overcoming the game’s puzzles is a satisfying challenge, but it is in the game’s visual and audio design that it excels and defines itself. Beautifully textured monochromatic environments and game protagonists cast almost entirely in silhouette are complemented by a fantastic ambient soundtrack and sharp sound design. Limbo creeped the hell out of me.

Verdict: Play it in the dark with the sound up high. Do it.

Should Bradley play this: At 3 or 4 hours length, its not a huge time commitment. I reckon he’d dig this.