You are about to get the Inside Scoop

 Indie Game Review- Inside
Written by JD Estrada 

Mode: Single-player video game

Developer: Playdead

Original author: Playdead

Composers: Martin Stig Andersen, SØS Gunver Ryberg

Genres: Puzzle, Platform game, Adventure game

Some games might be good but somehow outstay their welcome. Other games might feel too short and you feel shortchanged because something in the experience felt underdeveloped or what-have-you. 

Inside is none of these. 

It’s long enough and has enough to invite you to dive in more than once to be worth your time and then some (or to get the special ending). Saying a game is perfect is going a bit overboard, but I wouldn’t feel bad about anyone who said that about Inside. A spiritual successor to Limbo and also developed by Playdead, the cinematic quality of this game rivals some big-budget Hollywood movies, let alone many other video games. 

It's artsy, meticulously crafted, impeccably designed, amazingly responsive, and sucks you into a fascinating narrative that at times feels like tributes to equal parts David Lynch, John Carpenter, Stephen King, Nietzsche, and who knows what else. 

The plot revolves around a young boy who is on the run escaping from or to a pretty creepy facility where we see people in post-apocalyptic queues waiting to be sorted or executed, you’re never really sure and that’s part of the beauty of Inside and on several occasions. You’re never 100% sure of what’s going on but it’s also 100% engrossing. 

As for level design, controls, and the balancing of challenge, ABSOLUTE kudos to the team because it’s a masterclass of being easy enough to pick up but challenging enough for you to not want to let go because you need to pass it. Puzzles were never obvious, but all of them with one exception in the entire game I was able to figure out on my own, which just adds to the experience. Might I also add that there are very few if any prompts. A slightly more illuminated button/lever is one of the dozens of examples but rarely if ever did I get stuck. 

It's the type of game that you wonder how the dynamics are in the development because everything is so well balanced and feels well thought out even without reaching a proper conclusion to the ending. Though the level design never reaches for the likes of AAA games like Super Mario, Zelda, or Metroid (particularly the Prime series), it nonetheless has a knack for creating surreal, intense, and engaging scenarios for you to survive. 

Like its predecessor Limbo, expect to die a lot...though not as much as in Limbo. Seriously, this game for me had a perfect level of difficulty that organically prompted you to do X or Y while NEVER pandering. 

I’m actually not sure how much I paid for this game but that’s a moot point. If you like creepy puzzle platformers, you owe it to yourself to play this game and let your imagination run wild afterward. It plays like a 4 hr. movie that at least for me had a very intense ending that leaves you wondering, questioning, and unlike many characters in the game, feeling. 

Why should you champion this game?

When a game pays as much attention to the mood lighting as it does to its precision perfect controls, you feel the passion and commitment to excellence. Its soundscape, music, artistic direction, and desire to create something you won’t soon forget runs throughout every single aspect of the game and I can’t say this enough, screenshots do this game zero justice. It’s a stark and stunning game and one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever played through.  

Fanart created by Pius Bak  

THE MOST AFFORDABLE OPTION WE FOUND TO PLAY THE GAME IS HERE ON STEAM FOR $4.99