A Better Approach to Storytelling

Limbo, the downloadable story of a shadowy boy in a shadowy world, was the best-selling Xbox Live Arcade title this summer. It would be inaccurate to claim that the puzzle-platformer is unlike anything that’s ever been developed for the PC or a console, though. With its wordless storytelling and insanely hostile environment, Limbo might be considered the (twisted) little brother of Eric Chahi’s legendary Out of This World (a.k.a. Another World)first published on the Amiga in 1991.

But Limbo still manages to feel completely like its own game. Not only because its little protagonist peers out at a dangerous world with opaque white eyes set deep in his silhouetted body, but because unsettlingly quiet games are a rarity. Most games are full of things that want to kill your hero. But the overwhelming majority of those games outline the reasons why the bad guys want to pump the good guys full of lead, poison, arrows, or whatever pointy reckoning is at hand.

In Limbo and Out of This World (not to mention other titles like the once-popular Flashback) you’re dropped into a nameless land that aims to kill you ASAP. No specifics are given. Presumably, the wildlife is hungry, and you are soft and fleshy. Whatever the reason, both games isolate you and gnaw slowly on your nerves. The bare bones storytelling leaves you with only one objective that screams at the fore of your brain: Survive.

That’s not to say every game should try to be the next Limbo. But minimalist storytelling is lacking in games, and Limbo‘s success indicates that gamers enjoy embracing silent, deadly worlds once in a while. “Show, don’t tell” is an expression every writer hears often (repeatedly, in ours case). If a giant black spider crawls at your heroes from its sheath of trees, there’s no need for characters to exchange exclamations about “Oh my God, someone grab a can of Raid.” In Limbo, that danged arachnid let its creepy, purposeful movements speak for it. And we all heard it loud and clear.

Note to developers: Consider letting your games employ a dark, silent sense of foreboding once in a while. Instead of jokes about the title’s insipid dialogue, your payoff might just be screams of gamers jolting awake from dreams of stalking spiders. Isn’t that a magical thought?

About Nadia Oxford
Nadia is a freelance writer living in Toronto. She played her first game at four, decided games were awesome, and has maintained her position since. She writes for 1UP.com, Slide to Play, GamePro and other publications, and is About.com’s Guide to the Nintendo DS.

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