Encounters with other humans are however brief and rare. There are obstacles where The Boy simply needs to find a way to progress, there are dangerous creatures that hunt him down and try to kill them, and finally there is a gang of children who band together to ward off the intruder and set up traps for him, with a touch of Lord of the Flies. The player faces three kinds of challenges. It moves from a forest to an abandoned city and eventually an industrial zone. The world is rendered in 2D but with different layers of depth in the scenery.

It is divided into 24 chapters that seamlessly flow into each other, only from the level selection in the main menu can be derived where a new chapter starts.

The gloomy world has a dusty filter showing the game through misted glass, and no vivid colours are present. This allows him to explore the world and hang on ledges, slide down slopes, push objects, pull levers, and cling to ropes, but the player has to make most of what is present in the environment to get by, often with physics-based elements. Only two buttons are used, a feeble jump and one to perform an action, combined with movement. In that world filled with hazards and danger, his means are few and he is extremely vulnerable. Not a single clue is given at the start, there are no cut-scenes and the game starts right away. However, the story as a whole can also be seen as a metaphor for the search for companionship and getting around in a new environment. The player controls a protagonist simply known as the The Boy, who is said to enter the world Limbo in search of his sister. Limbo is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer set in a sinister, monochromatic world.

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