When it came out in 2010, Playdead’s Limbo showed the puzzle platforming formula could be turned inside out to reveal something minimalist and haunting. A side-project by one of the studio’s developers is currently trying to push that experiment even further with a version of the game built specifically for a 35-year old system.
Søren Trautner Madsen put out a reveal trailer for the effort late this week and it’s really something to behold. Using only specs of white, black, and two shades in-between, Madsen’s managed to take the dread at the heart of Limbo and render it inside a time capsule ode to the 80s.
“Actual gameplay (though zoomed in a bit occasionally) from my constant but slowly evolving Commodore 64 remake of LIMBO,” Madsen says in the description. “Now don’t get your hopes too high. Even though I have the blessing of Playdead for doing this, I am working full time on Playdeads next project, so I only have my precious spare time to use. But...maybe some time around 2024?”
And in case it seems to good to be real, here it is running on an actual Commodore from a few months ago.
“Even if released in 2024, I would patiently wait—this looks absolutely fantastic,” says the first comment below the latest trailer, and I totally agree.