What does it all mean? People pondered that question when Limbo was first released on the Xbox 360 in 2010, and the Xbox One version adds nothing new that would illuminate the mystery of this world, so there's little reason to splurge on another version if you've already played. Loading times are short, and checkpoints are frequent, however, so death is rarely a frustration, though often a horror. Such inconsistencies aren't common, but your first time in Limbo requires some trial-and-error experimentation. Some of these deaths aren't outright fair stepping on a pressure plate could mean certain death, but so could jumping over it. It simply happens, and you revive at the most recent checkpoint to try the puzzle again. No tears are shed, no music plays-the game provides no grand gesture to honor your demise. Your head falls to the ground and wobbles just for a moment before lying still. You step onto a claw trap, and it closes on your neck. Limbo is a hostile place, home to giant spiders that would feast upon you, and traps apparently scattered by the world's other denizens. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. The pint-sized hero, his bright blinking eyes shining from his blackened silhouette, trots ahead with the charming gangliness of a six-year-old. The background provides an illusion of depth, but its branches and bridges are out of focus, as if you are dreaming them into existence. This is your chance to absorb your surroundings. Video game logic demands you walk from left to right, jumping over obstacles as they appear, a simple task that needs little attention in the initial moments. You are a boy who wakes up in a lonely world made up only of black, white, and shades of gray. Limbo, the game, is special in that while it does not wholly depict that mysterious dimension as my mind did, it captures its essence. I imagined that to be in Limbo was to feel perpetually lost and unable to find the way, or to even know what your destination might be. This conversation with my grandmother introduced me to the idea of an otherworldly realm in which I pictured children wandering aimlessly through darkness and mist, denied the pleasure of communing with God. "Nana, do little boys and girls go to heaven when they die?"
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