Exit Limbo: Opening is a game created by the developers at Virtual Craft Studio. It is the first episode of a neo-retro side-scrolling beat-em-up that kinda reminds me of Battletoads mixed with Slaughterhouse.
The story has you play as Mr. Rhino (yes, Mr. Rhino not much thought there) who is the sole survivor of a train crash and wakes up in this dystopian parallel universe where his hometown has been infected with some type of zombie plague. You are soon brought to an underground city of rats by the leader’s daughter.
Not long after, she’s kidnapped and you are asked to help save her and so, your journey begins. The story is a little cheeky if you ask me. It’s basically a “save the princess” plot, but I am loving the visuals of the game with its 2D character in a 3D world, and the soundtrack is one hell of a headbanger, I can’t deny that.
On your way to save her, you’ll fight three bosses in this chapter. A Ram, a Hog, and whatever the hell this is.
I said this game reminded me of Battletoads and Slaughterhouse when I first saw it and I was pretty close. You’ll encounter enemies as you make your way through the city and will run into arena fights as well.
For combat, you have your standard X combos, and Y grapples. I am going to recommend a controller for this because of the combo system. To pull off the ultimate moves (I guess you can call them that), you need to hold the block, and perform variants like back, forward and X, and other variations like this. The combat is a little clunky and your punches don’t really feel like you have a lot of weight behind them.
Even the zombie sheep take quite the beating before they go down. The combos are alright, but I feel like I use that more because trying to combo on punches or kicks is only done through X. I feel like it could have been implemented better by putting the Punch on X and B for kick to add more variety instead of just moving the joystick and hitting one button. But some of the kill animations and the bosses are unique, although fall a little flat on the move set but then again, what boss doesn’t?
Visually, the dystopian visuals are a great mix between futuristic and run-down. The cutscenes are short but play like a rolling comic book. The 2D characters in a 3D space is a little weird at first but you quickly get used to it. It’s strange they went for this style, but I guess it makes it stand out because it got my attention.
The music is a perfect match for this game, a mix of metal and EDM-but-not-EDM that fits the futuristic destruction atmosphere. Some of the boss fights and the town’s music had my head banging as I was ripping zombie sheeps heads off.
It’s a relatively short game and a little lacking on the combat side, but this is the first episode and while I’m not usually one for episodic games, I think this is a smart choice for this one. They’ll learn from the feedback and fix the mechanics. The story is what I’m already invested in and the last cutscene of the game had me sold. I want to know where they are taking it because it might not be just a save the princess story.
So, if you like 2D, 3D Battletoad-like games, this might be a good one to pick up. It’s only $7 and you might just get invested in the story as I did.
Links
Get Exit Limbo: Opening on Steam
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