Why is Inside's puerile protagonist subjected to a collection of disturbing deaths? Between this and Playdead's spiritual predecessor Limbo, you never receive any explanation of why a boy is savagely maimed, mutilated and obliterated by living organisms and vicious traps-perhaps adolescent truancy has reached the brink of disobedience and the authorities have started using heartlessly rogue tactics to ensure they never skip institutionalised education again. Anyway, Inside is the latest platformer from the delightfully morbid PlayDead studios, and like its forebear it's not afraid to shock and surprise you in disturbing ways. Unlike Limbo though, Inside is smarter, articulately refined and is an excellent downloadable game managing to best its contemporaries with subtleties rather than size.
Inside literally soaks you in its atmosphere, not least because the adventure has plenty of water for you to get your head wet on, but because the tone is bleak throughout-this is the kind of misery that has you running and leaping blindly at a constant rate like you were a criminal on the run, but this pace makes certain that you feel like you're surviving by a cat's whisker, enabling you to feel full of energy during the minuscule two hours it takes for you to reach a state of serenity.
No need to pinprick Inside's diminutive duration, as this platformer knows when to end and it's clear that the time taken for completion is conducive enough to leave you with a stark impression embedded in your mind. What you should pay attention to are the deft ways Inside makes you feel vulnerable and hopeless when almost everything you run into can cause a violent death.
Besides trying to scrape by with a clean bill of health, puzzles both pivotal and puny will impede your path towards progress, many of which includes pulling boxes to climb over walls and fences or to reach higher ground. Some will require you to wear a mind control helmet on your noggin to control zombie-like clones to solve puzzles for you. Getting clones where you want them to go is a challenge, but the cleverness of the solutions will make you think more practically moving forward if one head-scratcher stifles you with confusion.
Inside literally soaks you in its atmosphere, not least because the adventure has plenty of water for you to get your head wet on, but because the tone is bleak throughout-this is the kind of misery that has you running and leaping blindly at a constant rate like you were a criminal on the run, but this pace makes certain that you feel like you're surviving by a cat's whisker, enabling you to feel full of energy during the minuscule two hours it takes for you to reach a state of serenity.
No need to pinprick Inside's diminutive duration, as this platformer knows when to end and it's clear that the time taken for completion is conducive enough to leave you with a stark impression embedded in your mind. What you should pay attention to are the deft ways Inside makes you feel vulnerable and hopeless when almost everything you run into can cause a violent death.
Besides trying to scrape by with a clean bill of health, puzzles both pivotal and puny will impede your path towards progress, many of which includes pulling boxes to climb over walls and fences or to reach higher ground. Some will require you to wear a mind control helmet on your noggin to control zombie-like clones to solve puzzles for you. Getting clones where you want them to go is a challenge, but the cleverness of the solutions will make you think more practically moving forward if one head-scratcher stifles you with confusion.
Looking at Inside's gorgeous artstyle makes you want to savour every dark detail from shadow overlaps to the way the water shimmers in the moonlight, the strokes of artistry are so chilling and pleasant, you may want to stop what you're doing and waft in all the elegance-that is if you can refrain from getting your nabs bitten off.
Trying to find downers to an upward soaring sensation is a perilous task, but Inside's almost peerless execution does hold some very minor quibbles. Jumping and clutching hold of your environment is mostly spot on, but some may find it a tad floaty. Then if you really feel pedantic you'll take aim at Inside's length but you really shouldn't. Lastly you could point out the similarities to Limbo and how it's not drastically different as relates to platforming and grisly death animations.
The very best platformers are short but they also leave you feeling something profound. Inside effortlessly accomplishes the objectives necessary to be classed among the pantheon, but even more so because it's a formidable improvement over the developers' previous work. When the trifecta of outstanding visual storytelling, engrossing platforming and shocking imagery come together, you know it's a bona fide classic and on current generation hardware- Inside leads the charge, blasting away its competition and settling confidently as the best platformer on PS4 and Xbox One.
Trying to find downers to an upward soaring sensation is a perilous task, but Inside's almost peerless execution does hold some very minor quibbles. Jumping and clutching hold of your environment is mostly spot on, but some may find it a tad floaty. Then if you really feel pedantic you'll take aim at Inside's length but you really shouldn't. Lastly you could point out the similarities to Limbo and how it's not drastically different as relates to platforming and grisly death animations.
The very best platformers are short but they also leave you feeling something profound. Inside effortlessly accomplishes the objectives necessary to be classed among the pantheon, but even more so because it's a formidable improvement over the developers' previous work. When the trifecta of outstanding visual storytelling, engrossing platforming and shocking imagery come together, you know it's a bona fide classic and on current generation hardware- Inside leads the charge, blasting away its competition and settling confidently as the best platformer on PS4 and Xbox One.
STORY: 9/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
PRESENTATION: 10/10
LIFESPAN: 6/10
SCORE: 9/10
A small but sublimely formed puzzle platform adventure title, Inside is simply incredible and along with its insatiable subtexts-is a game you'll keep trying to peel back meaning from. Beautiful Inside and out.