Won’t You Come Inside Playdead’s Inside?
You burst out into the darkness, and it feels like someone is after you. The world is a cold and dark place with a shrouded air of desolation. Welcome to Playdead’s Inside, the follow up to their outstanding 2010 release Limbo. Like its predecessor, Inside delivers a dark monochromatic environment that is the backdrop to a 2D puzzle platformer that has been ported to iOS. Inside isn’t just a new version of Limbo, and instead builds upon it in every imaginable way to even potentially expand upon what is expected from a 2D puzzle platformer.
What sets Inside apart is the intricate level design that pits you in split second reactions as you progress through the world. Without giving the story away, Inside puts you in shoes of a little boy trying to avoid capture in a world that is often devoid of life. This scenario allows the game designers to incorporate all kinds of sudden shifts in the environment for you to contend with. There are familiar puzzle aspects in moving objects in the environment around to trigger switches, but that can open the door to all new action sequences. The best part is that after a few sudden changes, you come to expect them, which builds up suspense as you move through the world. You never know what’s coming next, but you know its something, and that allows even the monotonous steps to transition between scenes to have an added degree of tension to the mundane.
The best part is that after a few sudden changes, you come to expect them, which builds up suspense as you move through the world.
The world of Inside also lends itself towards the thriller style of the game. Everything is shrouded in darkness with a number of creepy elements to move past. The soundtrack matches the theme as well to work in concert with the visual design and gameplay elements to keep you on your toes. The game builds wonderfully to the point that you want to keep playing, like a good page-turner. There’s the overarching mystery of the world the boy is within as well as the core shock value gameplay elements to encounter. This is the type of game that it’s easy to blow through in one sitting, and it leaves you wanting more because you lose track of time in your enjoyment. It’s simply masterful design work with the deluxe physics engine that defines the way the boy reacts with the world as well as the way the crashing sound cuts out when you fall into the water.
Playdead’s Inside is an outstanding experience from start to finish with the only complaint being that the finish comes too soon.