Limbo is a game which utilizes a lack of sight, sound, story and complexity of control to fully immerse the player in the bleak world created. As such, Limbo is a game of no words. It's communication I found to be very primitive, a bit like how animals communicate. There is no confirmed story for Limbo, but at the core of it's wonderful ambiguity rests an idea at the soul of each person who plays it. It's an experience that leaves an impression like no other.Limbo is deeply symbolic and suggestive. Even the word Limbo, which is Latin for edge or boundary, contributes to a wild sense of urgency and doubt. Rightfully so, the game stands on the edge of right and wrong. It teases you and judges you, yet it's very forgiving to you when you do die, perhaps, to reward you for recognition. The game's grotesque imagery and disturbingly graphic violence command the distinction of right and wrong, much like a scientist to a rat in a maze. Yet, even so, it's content is inveigled in blackness, self imposing it's own concept of morality and allowing you the choice to do the same via a content filter or simply- imagination.
Like I said before there is no confirmed story for Limbo. All that is known for sure can be taken, in multiple contexts, from the games one sentence description. It was the game designers specific intent to be vague and challenge you to dream up your own. I've read a lot of theories on the plot. Most people seem to believe that the story represents Limbo in a religious sense and that the boy finishes his sentence and starts over again at the beginning, creating a loop, just like the Dante's limbo. It could also be said that the title screen, depicting flies swarming around the exact location of where the boy and his sister stood at the end of the game, is their actual fate outside of Limbo.I have an entirely different theory however that I would love to share. To me the game represents the history of human life on the earth since the dawn of mankind. Symbolically the boy represents mankind and the girl represents the Earth. At the beginning of the game we see the boy open his eyes, symbolizing the birth of mankind. When we walk left, instead of looping back around to show the girl, we find that we cannot go back, this is symbolic of evolution. Gradually as we move forward, in a single direction we discover primitive traps like punji stick pits and bear traps. This is symbolic of civilization and the meetings with others are wars. As we continue to move we start to see the birth of technology, steam, industry, electricity, neon lights, magnets, elevators, automatic weapons, anti gravity, artificial gravity. Eventually the boy or humanity reaches the end and the boys body is tossed forward through glass to symbolize that. Mankind returns to Earth and the process starts over again.
Interesting huh? I realize this interpretation is really far out there, that the timeline and objects aren't always relevant to our timeline (for example the flaming tire at the beginning of the game) and that my theory about evolution falls apart when you take one step backward. It's just an opinion based on how the game made me feel. If the description was “Unsure of his brother's fate, a boy enters Limbo.", I probably would have written a post about how it was a Christian game.
If you've played Limbo, I'd like to hear your take on it as well. Please post it in the comments.





