Limbo Analysis

In 2010, the video game developer, Playdead, released a puzzle game titled Limbo. Limbo includes a unique setting, characterized by its black and white color scheme peppered with unknown items and nasty traps. The main character, a boy-like figure silhouetted like all the others, must traverse this terrain in angst, worried about the state of his sister. The setting of this game in particular hints to the true meaning of its plot, even though the game includes no narration, as the character’s surroundings and game title hint that the character is trapped in a dream-like state caused by a disturbance in the character’s normal life; the illness of his sister. The setting of Limbo represents a time after the character witnesses his sister fall very ill, then dies, and gets trapped in a space between heaven and hell, not yet having made his peace. The character arrives …show more content…
After traveling back to the forest where the character had started his journey, he encounters a young girl. Soon after, she stands up, and the game abruptly ends. This is the point in time where the character knows that his sister is alive and well, and this state of confusion and unknown happenings is ended, and he is able to move on to heaven, finally having made his peace. Once he has performed the task he has been struggling to complete, he is now prepared to travel beyond the living world and greet death and as old friend. He has no other task to complete in limbo or in the living world, so the part of him that saved his sister will remain with her and now the rest of him can finally accept death once he has done all he needed to do and he can travel to heaven. Now that the character is satisfied knowing his sister is well, he is ready to go, and has made his peace, and when he makes the journey to heaven, his time in limbo ends with the