To start us off with our first Indie of the Week article, Peter decides to trek through the shadowy paths of LIMBO. Ideally, you should have played the game already, but if you haven’t then now is a fine time to.

Ever wondered what it would be like to suddenly wake up in a world with no color without a clue as to what your purpose is in this strange place? That’s how I felt upon starting LIMBO for the first time and it didn’t take long to realize one important fact: I was not in Kansas anymore and Toto was nowhere to be found.

But just like in The Wizard of Oz, LIMBO also placed the main character in a strange world where nothing was quite as it seemed, although this place was far more hostile than anything found in Oz. Danger lurked around every corner and since I decided not to be overly cautious, Death himself become an all but too familiar face during my journey. The experience was both terrifying and incredible at the same time, because with each failed attempt at passing a certain obstacle – which often resulted in my untimely demise – it was almost like there was someone there, telling me to get up and try again and again until I got through it.

That said, I was in fact entirely alone in this strange world which was completely devoid of color, and more than once did I face off against horrors likely to make some people hide under a blanket, but I knew the boy whose life I had been put in charge of had a mission to complete and that it was up to me to see it through to the bitter end, so I pushed on through one area after another and eventually there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The light was a double-edged sword however, because while lighting up my path it also shone upon a huge buzzsaw that was racing towards me! And that was just one of countless hazards lying in wait, lurking in the darkness.

It’s a good thing I was so determined though, because after getting cut to pieces by buzzsaws, drowning and even having my body crushed by boulders once or twice, I reached the end of my journey and honestly it was not a second too soon. While I was a bit sad to part ways with the nameless boy after all that we had experienced together during his time in LIMBO, it felt good to be able to close the book on it once and for all.

What happened in the end, you ask? Play the game yourself to find out. Luckily for you, LIMBO is included in Humble Indie Bundle V right now so you could potentially get it for very cheap – or you could be generous.

One man developer Simon Jager has submitted his platformer, Evaporated, to XBLIG and is working on the PC version, but wait a minute…isn’t that Limbo?

There’s been a fair amount of hot air about clones in the indie game scene, especially in the mobile market where many games are either clones of previously successful titles or just straight rips from the original game with a fresh price tag and developer label.

Here’s one for the console/PC market then. Simon Jager is a student who has been hard at work on his latest project which is a sidescrolling platformer with monochromatic visuals. In your journey through a forest as a dark figure with bright glowing eyes (come on now), you’ll encounter bear traps that will cut you to bits, spikes and some very weird little critters that will roll towards you. When you see this in action in the game’s teaser trailer you’ll not be hard pressed to see the similarities.

Is this a clone of Limbo though? Pretty much, if we’re honest. Even though it’s going to be sold on XBLIG and on PC, we doubt that it will cause much of a riot. If anything it’s nice to see that so many people are inspired by indie games to make their own. Though, you might try being a little more original with your concept – the bear traps really are the cherry on the top though.

Evaporated: Episode 1 has apparently been submitted for review on XBLIG so it will probably show up there soon and the PC release is slated as April 22nd.

Thanks Armless Octopus!