Inside

Inside is a wildy surprising successor to Playdead's 2010 indie darling Limbo. Much like Limbo; Inside is a puzzle-platformer set in a very dark and mysterious location. Where Inside breaks away from Limbo is in it's incredably detailed 2.5D art-style and it's focus on setting up the dark atmosphere and lore of the game's perplexing world. The game is set in some sort of dystopian future where a mysterious company seems to be able to utilize mind control to turn droves of people into slaves. You play a young boy who sneaks into the company's main facility. Although initially the objectives of the boy are unknown to you the player, let's just say that as you make your way through this facility and uncover some of it's secrets, things get pretty interesting... This isn't just one death trap after another, rather this is a game designed for your senses of wonder and unease.

I think Inside's greatest strength is in it's world design and ambiguous narrative. The creators hide enough hints and subtle queues within the world to allow your imagination to run wild. Exactly what has happened to this world? Why is so much of this facility flooded? Are the slaves real human beings or synthetic beings? Is the boy a synthetic being? Who and what are those underwater loli-creatures that keep attacking you? I'm merely only scratching the surface on what this game's world has to offer. Much like Limbo there is tons of shock imagery, there's dead pig corpses lying around the abandoned farms, the company's guards rally up the slaves much like the Nazis did in concentration camps, there's tons of human experimentation going on, and of course the boy's death animations are quite brutal. If you have a hard time watching a little boy being mulled by dogs or dismembered by giant propeller blades then this game might not be for you!

In the last 20 minutes of this game something drastic happens to your character (which I won't spoil) and it totally changes the pace of the game and makes for an exhilarating and utterly jaw dropping climax! Then there's still the matter of the 13 or so hidden "pods" which are masterfully hidden throughout the world! If you find and deactivate all of them you'll unlock a really bizarre secret ending (that will probably raise more questions about the story then it'll answer...). One factor that really sets up the immersiveness of this world is the game's phenominal sound design! The humming and drones eminating from within the facility, the terrifying growls of potrolling hounds, the way your character breaths heavier during tense moments, and I particularly got a kick out of the disturbing cries and shrieks coming from the slaves later in the game.

I feel like the puzzles in this game are well thought up and often force you to think creatively. But for as cognitively challenging as they are; once you've figured them all out the first time it can make proceeding play-throughs of this game feel less entertaining. Limbo got away with that because there was a lot more of a challenge put into the execution of said puzzles, and here it may feel as though you're just moving through the motions should you decide to complete this story multiple times back to back (take the really boring pressure plate section in the abandoned mine, it's a total slog if you've already completed it before!). Having said that; spending time away from this game I noticed that I couldn't help but think about it a ton! So much so that I was continuously drawn back to this aww inspiring world for several play-throughs even though I mostly remembered how to solve each puzzle.

I think the 2 biggest changes to the "Limbo" formula here with regards to puzzlplay are that you can now use mind control powers to take control of slaves, and you can also swim underwater now. Like I'd hinted at earlier quite a lot of this game takes place in flooded areas, the chase sequences with the scary-loli-girl added a unique spin to things. Even if this game does try to set itself apart from Limbo there are still some legitametly challenging platforming moments from time to time, and manoeuvring through the underground bridge area avoiding deadly shock waves was always frightening! The game also introduces new obstacles and puzzle concepts really well and the learning curve is really adequate. All and all the game takes about 2-3 hours to complete, yet so much s*** happens within this small time period that's it's just mind boggling!!!

Inside is a remarkable experience, it's a game you'll find yourself thinking about for years to come. It has a very engrossing world and tons of mind candy for you to chew on. Everything from the visuals to it's sound design feels carefully considered. Sure; it can be pretty slow paced at times, and solving all of it's puzzles the first time around can make it a bit boring to re-play it over and over. But there's just no denying that it's a very concise and well made game. I'd recommend this to anyone who liked Limbo or loves puzzle-platformers with a dark twist. ;D