Analyzing Platformers

This is the intro of the game Limbo before the player enters the second part of the game containing the forest. As an introduction level, there are several paces where the game's core mechanics and controls are introduced almost subliminally as the player progresses. There is no danger at the beginning, allowing the player to learn how to move, then they are given a lethal obstacle to jump over, teaching them how how jump. This type of teach and learn through environment mechanics continues until the end of the game as the player learns to climb, slide, and strategize around some of the more complex puzzles and lethal attributes.

Because there are no lives or health in Limbo, all things that are deemed hazardous are instant kills. Due to this harsh learning technique, the player has multiple save points all across the game so that when a new and deadly puzzle is introduces, the player doesn't have to start all over, rather, just reanalyze the obstacle.

The story of Limbo remains nearly an absolute mystery until the very end (no spoiling) however their are enemies and later environment features that allude to what is happening in the game as this boy wakes up lost in the forest.