And it looks miles better than the crappy pixel art that’s rampant among indie games. This is a good approach that works well to describe a world without having to fall into hyper-realism. But it’s still strikingly similar, even in the graphical style, using polygon-like elements rather than very detailed features. It’s way, way longer of course - you can go through Another World in 40 minutes or so, while it takes about 3-4 hours to finish INSIDE. INSIDE is really the grand-child of that game. The more I played through it, the more it felt like I was playing Another World (aka Out Of This World) like in 1991 when I first discovered it. No background soundtrack here, just some subtle notes and effects to emphasize what is happening on screen at some very specific times. INSIDE relies on sound too, to create a suitable atmosphere, only when needed. It is probably overused, though, but more on that later. It helps of course to showcase absolutely giganormous structures around you, to give a real sense of space and depth. And it’s not just characters: INSIDE plays a lot with the foreground and background action. Seing them run together feel surreal and absolutely gorgeous, compared to hundreds of games out there which just copy-paste animations from one character to the next. At some stage, you will lead a small troop of a dozen humans of different sizes and weights: as they run to follow you, every single one of them moves in a slightly different way. It’s difficult to express how well done everything is, and how just “right” it feels down to the bone. And it’s hardly a chore: you get to enjoy on the way the absolutely stellar work done by the graphic artists and level designers. Curiosity will make you progress sooner or later. Because you will always have in the back of your head “what the hell is happening here? Where is this game headed?”. You will get used to it.Īnd you will not given up. It’s smart, and not always obvious at first. I really like that stance of making the gamer feel threatened and vulnerable when they least expect it. That’s a good example of “out of the box” thinking the game forces on you, instead of letting you get good at doing the same thing all the time. This is when you realize that you have to try a completely different approach. And at some point, it feels like you could almost get to pass if you just run fast enough, or just jump at the right place at the right time, but somehow you fall short no matter how many times you try. Just like in Limbo, you progress by trial and error: you will die many, many times before getting things right. PlayDead know their stuff, that’s not even a matter of debate. I can still remember vividly at least 3-4 scenes that scared the hell out of me. Most of the game will make you feel tense anyway (well, I was always playing it late at night in the dark, so I guess it did not help), but some tricks the devs play on you are very, very powerful. I don’t want to spoil any of the story further, but know that INSIDE has some seriously frightening scenes. The whole genius of it is that nothing is every told you directly: you will get to understand most of it piece by piece as you evolve across buildings and landscapes. The boy you control is on the run, trying to escape those behind this sad state of affairs. Why and how it happened is somewhat mysterious. INSIDE tells a story where humans are treated as cattle, brainwashed and imprisoned after losing all will of their own. I guess the main difference between Limbo and INSIDE is that INSIDE has a deeper, richer world to it. And I think I don’t want to play any of them more than once, while I really enjoyed them both. Both tell a story without any dialog or any text: you just progress from left to right, and grasp somehow what is happening just as you explore the world. Both feel very pessimistic and involve elements of mind control, death and despair. It involves the same 2D mechanics and minimalist controls: one button to interact with objects, and the gamepad directions to move around and jump. Both games have a very dark visual style, monochromatic for Limbo and pretty much in shades of gray for INSIDE. In each you control a child, lost in gigantic and oppressive environments. And honestly you can’t miss the parallels between the two games if you played both. INSIDE is the last creation from the developers behind Limbo (which ended up getting a Linux client, ported by Ryan Gordon). Inside what, exactly? That’s the pitch of the game.
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