While the game is nowhere near “completion” at the time I’m writing this, with ~45 hours logged and all of the currently available main story content finished, I feel like I’ve had enough time in the game to justify sharing some sentiments.
It is imperative that I mention how much I despise gachas, battle passes, games with “dailies”, all that stuff; they are systems put in place to prey on as much of your time and money as possible, it’s an irrefutable fact and one that these types of games usually barely even try to disguise. That’s not something I would ever feel comfortable with outright dismissing or excusing in any way, so to make it perfectly clear: I do not agree with any of those decisions, and it’s absolutely a knock against the game. With all of that being said, it’s hugely impressive that my unwavering belief in the absolute artistry Project Moon has proven themselves capable of crafting twice before in Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina supersedes my vehement hatred for the format. I was more than willing to download the game and give it a shot because I need more of the world they’ve so loving and carefully crafted, and I’m really happy with my decision to do so.
To my complete and utter lack of surprise, most of everything that makes these games so phenomenal is still here in full effect. Going from having a small, isolated piece of the world in Lobotomy Corporation with only a vague understanding of outside happenings, to a more concrete understanding of how the world is structured and how society works in Library of Ruina, to being able to actually explore through that world from the perspective of characters who are actually there is really satisfying. It’s such a natural stream of progression but it’s executed brilliantly. I’ve played a lot of games, and there are very few that can come anywhere close to Project Moon’s world-building prowess.
I was initially a bit concerned about leaving the cast we’ve grown comfortable with since Lobotomy Corporation behind in favor of replacing them with an entirely new menagerie of characters, but it turns out those worries were totally unfounded because the Sinners are great. It took me a little while to warm up to the Lob Corp cast, but I’ve loved the Sinners from their introduction and it only got better as the story went along (and will only continue to get better from here, I’m sure). As a Kid Icarus: Uprising and Higurashi super maniac, character chemistry and the enjoyability that ensues from character back and forths is just as important (if not moreso) than how “good” a character is individually. The Sinners all bounce off of each other really well, whether they’re brutally eviscerating/maiming one another or sharing a nice chicken kebab. Lots of room for the characters to grow, too, even though there have already been clear-cut examples of development. The found family vibes are STRONG.
The one area I’m kinda down on the game about is the actual gameplay. To put it bluntly, Limbus Company’s gameplay feels like everything Library of Ruina already did…but worse. There’s not a single thing it does better in my eyes, which is really disappointing considering that Ruina has one of the best gameplay systems I've ever encountered. An ok Ruina is still pretty good though even if things can feel a little too luck dependent for my liking sometimes, especially in the Chapter 3 difficulty spike where a lot of difficult fights are made difficult because you have no control over which enemies you’re attacking. I'd chalk things up to "it's a necessary evil to water things down, it needs to be easily digestible" if not for the fact that a better version of the game's combat system literally already exists within the game itself. The abnormality and boss fights, while still not perfect, are much more enjoyable simply on the merits of giving the player control over what clashes happen, what enemy you're attacking, etc. I think with some slight improvements, they could really be onto something even if I personally doubt it’s going to ever quite reach the highs of Ruina’s snappy, tactical moment to moment gameplay (I would love to be proven wrong though!)
So yeah, really excited to see where things go next with this one. #LimbusSweep and Don Quixote will be the first character in history to have one Limbillion fans.
It is imperative that I mention how much I despise gachas, battle passes, games with “dailies”, all that stuff; they are systems put in place to prey on as much of your time and money as possible, it’s an irrefutable fact and one that these types of games usually barely even try to disguise. That’s not something I would ever feel comfortable with outright dismissing or excusing in any way, so to make it perfectly clear: I do not agree with any of those decisions, and it’s absolutely a knock against the game. With all of that being said, it’s hugely impressive that my unwavering belief in the absolute artistry Project Moon has proven themselves capable of crafting twice before in Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina supersedes my vehement hatred for the format. I was more than willing to download the game and give it a shot because I need more of the world they’ve so loving and carefully crafted, and I’m really happy with my decision to do so.
To my complete and utter lack of surprise, most of everything that makes these games so phenomenal is still here in full effect. Going from having a small, isolated piece of the world in Lobotomy Corporation with only a vague understanding of outside happenings, to a more concrete understanding of how the world is structured and how society works in Library of Ruina, to being able to actually explore through that world from the perspective of characters who are actually there is really satisfying. It’s such a natural stream of progression but it’s executed brilliantly. I’ve played a lot of games, and there are very few that can come anywhere close to Project Moon’s world-building prowess.
I was initially a bit concerned about leaving the cast we’ve grown comfortable with since Lobotomy Corporation behind in favor of replacing them with an entirely new menagerie of characters, but it turns out those worries were totally unfounded because the Sinners are great. It took me a little while to warm up to the Lob Corp cast, but I’ve loved the Sinners from their introduction and it only got better as the story went along (and will only continue to get better from here, I’m sure). As a Kid Icarus: Uprising and Higurashi super maniac, character chemistry and the enjoyability that ensues from character back and forths is just as important (if not moreso) than how “good” a character is individually. The Sinners all bounce off of each other really well, whether they’re brutally eviscerating/maiming one another or sharing a nice chicken kebab. Lots of room for the characters to grow, too, even though there have already been clear-cut examples of development. The found family vibes are STRONG.
The one area I’m kinda down on the game about is the actual gameplay. To put it bluntly, Limbus Company’s gameplay feels like everything Library of Ruina already did…but worse. There’s not a single thing it does better in my eyes, which is really disappointing considering that Ruina has one of the best gameplay systems I've ever encountered. An ok Ruina is still pretty good though even if things can feel a little too luck dependent for my liking sometimes, especially in the Chapter 3 difficulty spike where a lot of difficult fights are made difficult because you have no control over which enemies you’re attacking. I'd chalk things up to "it's a necessary evil to water things down, it needs to be easily digestible" if not for the fact that a better version of the game's combat system literally already exists within the game itself. The abnormality and boss fights, while still not perfect, are much more enjoyable simply on the merits of giving the player control over what clashes happen, what enemy you're attacking, etc. I think with some slight improvements, they could really be onto something even if I personally doubt it’s going to ever quite reach the highs of Ruina’s snappy, tactical moment to moment gameplay (I would love to be proven wrong though!)
So yeah, really excited to see where things go next with this one. #LimbusSweep and Don Quixote will be the first character in history to have one Limbillion fans.