Copenhagen, Denmark-based indie developer Playdead is best known for its inaugural game Limbo. A challenging puzzle platformer set within a black-and-white world, Limbo won gamers' hearts with its fascinating setting and surprising violence. After debuting on Xbox 360 in 2010, Limbo made its way to Xbox One last year. We even streamed the game on Twitch a few months ago while the developer offered us insight and advice.
Playdead's follow-up title Inside will launch first on Xbox One as a timed exclusive, not unlike how Limbo arrived on 360 back in the day. Inside was originally planned for release in early 2015. We're halfway through the year now, and it's nowhere to be seen, sadly. The developers have announced that they need a little more time to work on the game. Read on for delay details and everything we know about Inside!
What's inside Inside
Playdead plays its cards close to its chest, so we don't know all that much about Inside but yet. But what little details the developer has shared indeed indicate that the game should appeal to fans of Limbo.
Inside takes place in a world closer to our own than Limbo's fairytale landscape. Characters dress in real-world clothing, with many adults adorned in office wear.
The playable protagonist is once again a young boy. He wears a red sweater, indicating that Inside will use colors for more than just the depiction of blood.
Although Inside features a more realistic setting, it's still a very dark one. The Inside reveal trailer shows our protagonist sneaking through bleak settings with dead animals in some backgrounds and vicious live ones that threaten his safety.
The boy must sneak past a variety of surveillance lights and cars, seemingly indicating the presence of a police state or prison camp. Meanwhile, adults shuffle around like zombies. Have their captors done something to make them act that way?
Rather than a pure 2D presentation like Limbo, Inside utilizes 3D backgrounds and 2D gameplay. This type of presentation is commonly referred to as 2.5D. That way, you get the tight feeling of 2D platforming controls and the cinematic benefits that 3D graphics can bring.
Playdead built Limbo in a custom engine. With Inside, they have switched to popular multiplatform engine Unity. This eases the initial development and especially the porting process. Xbox One will get Inside first, but eventually it will come to PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and other platforms.
Coming soon, we hope
First announced at E3 last year, Inside was scheduled for an early 2015 release this year. Today Playdead explained that after five years in development, Inside is still not quite ready yet. They want it to be perfect upon release, so they need a little more time to polish it.
Playdead doesn't have a new release window for Inside just yet. Late 2015 seems likely, but there's always a (slim) possibility that it could slip to early 2016. They'll announce a new release window or date as soon as they can, and we'll be sure to tell you when it happens!
In the meantime, be sure to give Limbo a try. It's a hell of a memorable game.
- LIMBO – Xbox One – 212.46 MB – $9.99 – Xbox Store
- LIMBO – Xbox 360 – 118 MB – $9.99 – Xbox Store
- LIMBO – Windows, Mac, and Linux – $9.99 – Steam Link
