If Limbo were released today, it would have broken the internet.
In an era dominated by short-form virality, reaction clips, and algorithm-driven timelines, Limbo’s stark monochrome aesthetic and frequent character death would have flooded timelines. It would have ended up both in #hopecore and #WTF FYPs. Maybe even with the tagline: THIS GAME RUINED ME. But we watch it anyway, because of how beautiful it actually is.
At its heart, Limbo is timeless. It’s a game wrapped in grief, an uncomfortable yet universal and too-familiar human experience.
Sixteen years after its first release, we still talk about Limbo. Much like how we will continue to talk about memories of loved ones no longer here, including through loss, where no words will ever be enough to process it. (Maybe that’s why Limbo has no dialogue?)
By now, we are spoiled for choice with many games that are inspired by Limbo’s darkly endearing message, told through groundbreaking, now-iconic visuals.
If you want to have a fun time through better or worse moments, here’s a list of 10 games if you loved Limbo.
INSIDE
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
You are hunted from the moment INSIDE begins. You then move across environments like forests, farms, and industrial nightmares that feel deliberately engineered. Limbo developer Playdead makes the tense moments even more suffocating with this second release.
The unsettling feeling builds in escalation until it becomes hard to ignore. You follow a narrative thread that remains open-ended enough to question the journey as you’re going through it. Like Limbo, it refuses to explain itself. Not one shred of dialogue.
While Limbo is built around trial and error, INSIDE encourages you to plan before acting. The solutions are subtle, but often already present around you if you look closely enough. This adds another layer to the puzzle element that makes it a new experience from the acclaimed creators.
Darq
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
This title heavily leans into horror territory. Not in a spooky sense, but rather in a don’t play before sleeping way.
As Lloyd, your lucid dreams are your worst enemy, as you become trapped in a loop where you don’t truly wake up. Its ambience is punctuated by soundscapes that add to your sense of vulnerability. Small. Alone. Walls become floors. Ceilings become escape routes. It’s a lot for a boy to take in.
This dreamworld is dark, and you have to be clever enough to escape it before the walls come closing in.
This is Darq’s second time in a list. (The loop hasn’t closed yet, apparently.)
Silt
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S); Mobile (Android, IOS)
The ocean. A place that can go deep enough where no light can pierce through. And it’s not just the darkness that’s a source of danger.
Here, you are really, really small against the dark gray nothingness of the deep sea. So small, at certain moments, that you become a speck on the screen. Loss also makes you feel this way sometimes. It takes a lot of courage to keep swimming. Well, yes, also when spiky, stringy things keep appearing to grab you.
With the help of your power to possess sea creatures, solving environmental puzzles becomes an interesting experience.
What even is this strange world? And what powerful forces hide beneath this watery abyss?
Toby: The Secret Mine
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4, Xbox One); Mobile (Android, IOS)
This title begins in a quiet village in the mountains that is thrown into chaos when its residents are kidnapped by creatures that resemble your character, Toby, except they are bigger and have red eyes. From there, Toby’s journey takes him to other atmospheric hazards with somewhat less emotional baggage than its clear inspirations, Limbo and Badland.
Toby is more adventure than existential dread. Also, a little more challenging than the usual puzzle platformers. That said, this mine is not a friendly place, and it requires great amounts of careful maneuvering so the day can be saved, especially in the later levels.
Semblance
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2)
You are a squishy, purple blob aptly named Squish. You are the soft center in a journey to reclaim balance in your infected world.
The beauty here is how malleable you and your surroundings are allowed to be, showing that if the way is difficult, you can change it to survive. So you make yourself smaller to squeeze through tight spaces or turn platforms into a defense against lasers.
This evolution in platforming mechanics turns the platforms themselves into part of the gameplay, letting you reshape them to move forward. It’s also non-linear, and you can always return to a spot to solve a particularly challenging puzzle.
Here, you can just be a blob and enjoy it at your own pace.
Deadlight
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360)
This title has a more detailed feel than the rest. While your own character tackles through an action-packed scroll in the usual minimalist design, your outer world is finely modeled: wrecked trains, abandoned houses, neighborhoods in decay, and other locations that scream it’s an apocalypse. More specifically, 1980s Seattle.
This survival horror carries the emotion of loneliness amidst a failed civilization. There are long stretches of quiet traversal with no interaction. Death is also constant, and teaches your character to make better choices until the next mishap.
This was developer Tequila Works’s first title, published by Microsoft Studios and released in 2012. And what a memorable debut it was.
They are also the creators of another familiar game, Gylt.
Stela
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, Xbox One); Mobile (IOS)
It’s the end of the world. And you’re just running through its final moments. Well, this one world in particular.
This failing, ancient landscape is just as fragile as you, an unnamed woman in white who seems to be out of sorts. Quite similar to Deadlight’s character, where both are just humans in a strange land who would rather be anywhere else.
Stela mixes puzzle-solving and platforming with a dash of stealth. Its puzzles are grounded in an environment that is as washed out as it is cinematic. Who knows what lies beyond the melancholic fog? Actually, maybe there’s nothing there at all…
White Shadows
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, PS4, Xbox Series X/S)
Another dystopian entry, set in a high-contrast, monochrome mechanical wasteland. Its stunning visuals are paired with an initial trigger warning of even darker, very real social themes that it references.
Its storytelling uses lots of symbolism about power, control, and spectacle. The bright lights in dark areas make Ravengirl, your character, appear more defenseless as you jump and run across rickety infrastructure. With this, it’s not only reminiscent of Limbo, but also INSIDE and Little Nightmares.
It’s beautiful and horrifying. Its resonance can be subtle, with some symbols more obvious than others. (See what I did there?) If not, it’s time to read Animal Farm by Jorjor Wel… anyone?
Feist
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, PS4, Xbox One); Mobile (Android, IOS)
You are a creature in a massive pine forest, trying to survive through its obstacles. Less desirable inhabitants are also lurking, waiting for you to come into their traps.
In this landscape, you are the prey, so every movement matters. While most of your opponents are not significantly larger than you, they can be faster and definitely meaner. The puzzle aspects can feel muted, as action and survival become heightened.
Its great soundtrack helps pace you through the savagery. It’s strangely calming at times, then when you’re deep in a challenge, it gives you that adrenaline boost that you desperately need.
The Swapper
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Wii U, PS3/PS4/PSVita, Xbox One)
There’s a lot of running here. Not just that, but you’re also running with clones of yourself. Now there isn’t only one anxious thought of survival but several of them, at the same damn time.
In this atmospheric sci-fi environment, the ethical quandaries of cloning are thrown out the window completely. Which of the yous are having these thoughts? And how can it be possible for the mood to continue to feel isolating, knowing that you’re actually alone with one set of consciousness, just multiplied?
Its puzzle-solving elements become very interesting with you, you, and you around. You become a machine that does better each time, even when the challenges become more difficult.
And actually, who better to save you than yourself?
All these Limbo-like titles remind us that the journey of overcoming a struggle can be beautiful. They don’t offer much comfort (honestly) in the obvious sense, but rather companionship, especially in the most trying of times.
Swimming deeper. Changing the landscape. Walking through darkness. There’s a ‘The End’ for all things, even grief.
