Oh, this one is bound to piss some people off, but as you know, I am fine with that. So fine, in fact, that I used this game as my lead-in pic. Take that!
Limbo may have been an Indie game, and it may have been a downloadable game, but that gives it no less right to be on this list. It truly was fucking spectacular. Not only did the gameplay harken back to my platforming and puzzle solving days of yore, but the visual style and ominous tone of the game was quite unlike anything I had ever seen or played before.
In one felt swoop, Limbo reminded us that the best games didn’t have to boast massive polygon counts or be 60 FPS to really compel us and draw us in. This was simplistic, minimalist game design, and that is what earns it a spot on my list.
Limbo reminded me that left-to-right gaming still works, even after all these years, and that art design is hugely important when it comes to smaller games.
With franchises like Halo, Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Battlefield and more all vying for our attention over the past couple of years, Limbo left me more impressed than almost anything else I played during this console generation.
