Inside

I feel like I missed out on the cultural impact that Limbo had when it was released. I played the game and enjoyed it, but did so years after it dropped on Xbox Live. By the time I had gone through it, everyone had more or less cooled on the game. Videos had circulated and the shock of the grim tone and grizzly deaths had subsided. That’s why when I found out that Playdead’s second game Inside was dropping this year I was determined to get my hands on it and be part of the experience right up front. I’m glad I did, because there are parts of Inside that simply have to be experienced by playing. Finding out about them second hand would be doing yourself a disservice as they’ll lack the element of surprise that accompanies them if you’ve been drawn in by their respective lead-up. I’ll attempt to stay away from any major spoilers, but if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing I would recommend that you put a hold on reading this review and go play the game. Rest assured, it’s well worth your time.

Those familiar with Limbo will feel at home in the early goings of Inside as it handles in a similar manner. It’s a side-scrolling platformer where you manipulate items to solve physics puzzles and make platforms to reach previously unattainable areas. Though while up front it might seem like it’s aping Limbo a little too closely, it’s shortly revealed that there’s quite a bit more going on in Inside.

There are a breadth of new and more interesting mechanics in Inside. For example, occasionally you’ll come across a yellow, glowing headset that allows you to take control of the lifeless figures that usually hang out in the background. Initially, you’re rendered immobile during these segments, but as the game progresses, your character is given free movement as well. This means that you’ll control the player character and the background characters in tandem in puzzles that feel reminiscent to 2013’s sci-fi puzzle platformer The Swapper. On top of this, the game uses mechanics familiar from most games - walking and jumping - in some interesting scenarios. One puzzle in particular has you walking in line with a legion of seemingly braindead people. When they reach a painted box on the ground they’ll stop, jump or turn around like some spooky line-dancers. If you don’t conform to their methods of movement you’ll be found out and killed. It’s a genius way to take simplistic mechanics and craft a uniquely tense puzzle around them.

Inside is second to none in mood setting as well. The game makes use of a washed out colour palette - almost everything is a shade of grey, save for some injections of colour here and there - very effectively. On top of this there’s nothing in the way of music throughout the game. This leaves room for some highly atmospheric sound design. The barking of an attack dog or squealing breaks of an approaching van are dread-inducing and the gentle rustling of leaves or abject silence of a seemingly derelict lab facility allow your mind to wander to some chilling places.

The game’s visuals aren’t technically outstanding, but the art direction of the game is sensational and Inside makes tremendous use of foreground and background space. It feels like absolutely nothing is wasted. The lighting is also top-notch which is a nice touch for a game that’s often content to lead you through the darkness.

Animation is another area where Inside excels. There’s a remarkable flow to your character’s movement. The player character has a flail to them that’s pleasant to watch. It also makes chase sequences that much more dire when you leap over a rock and wildly swing your appendages when you roll along the ground before continuing to run. Like most aspects of the game, the animations are strongly used to reinforce the mood Playdead has set. When you’re flailing during an escape scene, you really feel like you’re just barely making it away from your assailant, and near the end of the game, animations are used effectively to support another feeling altogether.

Without outright spoiling anything, I have to say that the last twenty minutes or so of Inside contains one of the best moments in a video game that I can recall in recent memory. It’s a complete tonal shift from the early goings of the game and is absolutely fantastic. It’s something that I couldn’t have expected, and was made all the more impactful by the few hours leading up to it. It manages to even alter the game’s horror aesthetic and bring it into the realm of something more Cronenbergian.

If it hasn’t become obvious up to this point, I absolutely loved Inside. It’s masterful in its mood setting, the art direction is stunning, and there are some puzzles in the game that feel genuinely rewarding upon completion. I wish I could write more about the game’s end, but I feel like I would be doing potential readers a disservice in doing so. What I can say, though, is that if you’re even part way interested in the game, and you have the means to do so, you owe it to yourself to play through it.