It may be done by the team behind LIMBO. It may start like LIMBO. It might feel like LIMBO. But INSIDE is very much not LIMBO.
Where LIMBO was the puzzle platformer first and foremost, with cool minimalistic visuals and sound design serving not much more than a (fantastic) backdrop to a great puzzle game, INSIDE feels like a proper full on cinematic platformer that aims at what classics like Another World aimed. It tells a story, a very simple, yet intricate story told through dystopian horror future and rather disturbing symbolism. And does it so well, that I often felt that it would be easy to just record the gameplay without much editing and show it to someone as an independent animated movie and people would believe that… And yet, INSIDE always remained a great game to play, without the often seen pitfalls of “cinematic” games.
It’s rather short, it should be said. I felt that the time it took me to beat everything, which was around 3+ hours, was simply perfect. And that game did in those 3+ hours more than many titles do in 20. But it’s still worth pointing out for those, who value hour count a lot.
It also not always designs a puzzle great or prepares you for a quick reaction action and it sometimes repeats puzzles and challenges in a more or less same way. These nitpicky things happen very rarely, I wouldn’t have even mentioned them if I wasn’t trying to be more or less thorough, but they do exist.
Overall, though, INSIDE is one of the best cinematic platformers ever being made. It’s an exciting, thrilling, shocking game that simply should not be missed.
P.S. Bonus short video review: