Through your actions, but also through scripted animations taking place off in the distance, Inside paints a series of uncomfortable tableaus: armies of people marching into cages, strange shockwaves booming across the landscape, twisted forests growing inside great steel structures. In part, the story is told with visual and audio clues both overt and subtle, creating a growing sense of unease as its mysteries deepen and unfold. Not a single word is uttered in the entire runtime, and the only visible text are numbers guiding you (or are they?) towards your ultimate destination. Suffice it to say that the horror of Inside is not limited to scary environments or beastly creatures.
I really can’t stress enough how weird and disturbing Inside gets, and I’m straining against powerful urges to avoid spoiling its surprises. Piles of slaughtered pigs are just the beginning of the horror he'll find: as he descends into a nightmarish city, the vistas and goings-on get far stranger than anyone could reasonably expect. The unnamed, exceptionally well-animated young protagonist starts out in spooky woods, but soon finds himself up against an industrialised machine-state. Vegetation sways, water ripples, and dust billows in a desaturated world that leaps off the screen like a series of digital paintings.
The graphics and environment are rendered in beautiful 2.5D, with Playdead putting all those Limbo dollars to good use. Inside’s basic design echoes the simple, monochromatic puzzle-platforming of Limbo, but adds a number of literal and metaphorical dimensions. It’s also a challenge to review: all I want to say is “do not read spoilers do not pass Go just play this goddamn game as soon as you can.” At four or so hours, it’s an incredibly concentrated burst of imagination that outdoes its predecessor in just about every way - then almost mandates you jump in and play it again. Playdead’s followup to Limbo is packed with haunting visual and aural design, clever puzzles, and elegant storytelling. Not that the rest of the game is some kind of disappointment. Without spoilers or hyperbole: it’s probably the finest final act of a video game I have ever played. Playing the final act of Inside, I gasped in awe, recoiled in horror, cackled with laughter, and danced with excitement at the sheer audacity of the thing.
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