Limbo/Inside reviews for Nintendo Switch

With the surprising release of both Limbo and Inside on the Nintendo Switch, I sat down and replayed them both for yet another time and was reminded again why I love these games so much. Below is my original review for Inside when it released in 2016, and all of what I said there holds true here. With Limbo and Inside both being so simplistic in design there is not much work put onto the system and both games look great in both handheld and docked mode on the Switch. Limbo has been released on just about every platform imaginable as of the time of this article, and there is not much new to be said about it. Limbo is probably the perfect dark, side scrolling puzzle-platformer. Nothing about Inside would have been realized as well without the creation and release of Limbo before it. The following is my original review for Inside when it released on the Xbox One in its entirety, along with my score for both of these games.

?If you came to me in 2010 when Playdead?s sleeper hit Limbo came bursting onto the arcade scene and told me in 6 years they would release a follow up game that would be a game of the year contender, I would have laughed at you. I loved Limbo, but I chalked that up to beginners luck. Playdead struck all the right chords at the time and it was perfect, but surely their sophomore offering would fall off. Fast forward to 2016 and you would find me sitting and eating my words as I play Inside.

Inside is fundamentally similar to Limbo at first glance. 2D, puzzle platformer, no text or prompts, no simple explanation for what is going on and one poor little boy who will die over and over in the most horrible ways imaginable. With a little digging however, you begin to open up this rich world and deep, event based narrative that goes beyond that of its predecessor. Inside takes everything that made Limbo great and expands upon it. The camera follows you and moves so seamlessly in and out, subtly adjusting its angle to give you the best possible view of what?s happening on screen at that moment.

The aesthetics of the game are second to none. The developers use a very muted color palate for the majority of the three or so hours it takes to complete the campaign, with splashes of vibrant color thrown in at perfectly timed moments. The game itself feels like a muted, dreamlike experience from start to finish. If you stop to look around at the environment you will notice all of the little details that were so clearly put in there, but so easy to overlook if you rush the experience. And Inside is just that, an experience. As I said, the game takes roughly three hours to complete and at no point in that three hours does it rehash the same puzzles or tread the same ground it has already covered. The game stays fresh throughout and never wears out its welcome.

As for the puzzles, Inside is mechanically the same as Limbo where in the only two buttons you have are (A) for jump and (X) for interact. The solutions to the puzzles are fundamentally a bit easier than the original game, but no less rewarding once completed. That feeling of exhilaration after completing one of Insides many challenges is not lessened in the slightest. There are several that will throw you for a loop at first glance but upon closer inspection become quite clear. Again, these never find themselves too daunting to discourage the player from continuing, but rather serve as encouragement to keep making progress to see what the next puzzle in store is.

All in all I would rank Inside as a strong contender for my game of the year. In a year where Dark Souls 3 has dominated the majority of my time, ranking an indie studios sophomore foray into arcade gaming right next to it speaks volumes to the quality that Inside presents. Playdead has once again struck gold with this game and hit all the right notes for another classic. If you only download one non-AAA game this year, make it Inside.?

If you own a Nintendo Switch, there is absolutely no excuse not to pick these two fantastic games up. The hardware makes sense for both Limbo and Inside, and playing on the go and docked both bring something unique and great to the table. Do yourself a favor and play Limbo first, then follow it up with Inside. While the games are not part of a series and the story does not require you to have played one before the other, I really feel that playing one prepares you for the other.

Note: Playdead provided us with a Limbo and Inside Nintendo Switch codes for review purposes.

Limbo

Inside