It got me thinking of the stages of the game itself: from the wilderness with its natural adversary in the form of a spider, then moving into human settlements with huts and primal-seeming homicidal children, and onto the cold, mechanical backdrops of the modern world with no hint of humanity, just cogs, gears, and the impersonal buzzing of electricity and chainsaws. I love the fact that something so simple like the journey of a boy in a phantasmagoric world in search of…something, someone, can go all origami-like in its interpretations once it’s fallen into the hands of gamers - or better yet, “readers.” It’s brilliant.
I love every single one of these thoughtful theories. No, it was meant to taken at face-value in a way. There weren’t giant neon signs (except for that hotel one, of course) telling me YOU SHOULD BE FEELING LOSS, DESPAIR, PROFOUND MEANINGLESSNESS IN THE VOID OF HUMAN CONTACT. Not only do participants become sprinkled. Instead of a pole or stick, use a garden hose. 'Water Limbo'- On a hot day this is a great silly game. The minute a body comes into contact with the light, the body part becomes illuminated, and its clear who is out. I thought it was a giant love poem to keeping things simple not cluttering it all up with bombastic OVER-MEANING. Play Limbo using the light of a flashlight instead of a stick. Even the poignant ending with its silent acceptance that maybe the Boy had finally met up with his Sister…or maybe he hadn’t? Either way, I didn’t care. When I played through the game, I took the entire romp as a very simple tug on the heart strings wordlessly told through movement, sound, and mechanics. You and your black, white, and shades of gray–ness.
And now that the flash is over, he finally dies, reverting this game back to the title screen, which also happens to suggest a grave site. That’s him realizing he could never really let go of his family. Credits, then back to that scene, where both the boy and the girl are gone. This reflects the boy/man’s effort to finally figure out where he stands – is his past over, his family and friends a relic, or is this continued life of cold machinery more important? That last puzzle, where you break through the wall, is him finally shattering his old view and changing perspectives, realizing that he’s been wrong to exile his family for power, and only then can he approach his sister. By the time you reach the very, very end, you’re flipping the levels all over the place. You’re beating yourself up the whole time, always a sliver of doubt about your life’s zealous path. These conflicting thoughts, about whether you’ve made the right choice by abandoning your past, are represented by the traps and the deaths you suffer.
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