#scroller

listt is a jQuery based, keyboard-enabled list scroller which can be used to fade through a group of images with a vertical list based indicator.

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'Hunted and alone, a boy finds himself drawn into the centre of a dark project'.

This brief byline is all the introduction you get into the world of INSIDE on the Steam store page, and for the most part, it's all the insight you will ever likely be directly handed by the game. Much like its predecessor 'Limbo', Inside is a fantastic side-scrolling puzzle-platformer, but, unlike Limbo, to discuss even the existence of a narrative is to somewhat spoil the experience, so this might be a short review because my criticisms of the game itself are few and far between.

For those who've been lucky enough to indulge Playdead's breakout title, Inside is Limbo Mach 2, taking all the best parts of the side-scroller and building on much of it to create something similar in spirit but advanced in many ways. The basic formula for gameplay remains the same: a boy is thrust without explanation into a dark and moody world, pursued by aggressive but unknown forces, and the player is encouraged to navigate the various puzzles and terrifying threats, moving ever-onwards left to right. To what end? Who knows? To discovery, to revelation, to resolution, to death - these are all possible outcomes, but as in a great mystery novel the lead character is compelled to continue his journey into the unknown, and so are we compelled to see it through with him without knowing quite what we are fleeing from or where we are going.

Inside is a textbook example of mastery in simplicity; it doesn't try to give you the world, but the excellence with which Inside executes its aims leaves it a memorable experience and a cut above the rest. It's gorgeously animated and runs like a dream due to its simple but atmosphere-heavy visual style. The controls include four keys for movement and one to grab, and this minimalist scheme ensures that your senses are free to take in all that the game presents to your eyes and ears.

Which, speaking of sound design, is excellent and is impeccably visual and auditory story-telling. You'l learn about the world in the brief glimpses you see in the background, and you'll hear impending events before you see them, so in a place that is often desolate in terms of its soundscapes, the curiosity, fear, dread, and wonder that these moments inspire are some of the most powerful emotional instants in the game.

The puzzles are often intuitive and rarely frustrating, but the thing that sets Inside apart is the way the puzzles incorporate the player’s instinctual inclinations into their structure. You’ll experience moments in which you correctly predict and evade doom because the game adheres to logical concepts of cause and effect. Lightbulb moments will happen in which you think ‘of course’ and realise that the only reason you hadn’t figured it out sooner is because you talked yourself out of doing something that you would have otherwise done in the real world because you assumed that Inside operates by the standard arbitrary boundaries of lesser video games. Well, either that, or you forgot or failed to notice a detail right in front of your eyes. So often did I think I'd noticed an off-hand feature placidly sitting out of the way only to find out that the developers had counted on my eyes wandering to that very item or spot and being intrigued enough to interact with it. The mark of a good puzzle game is one that understands that mind of the person it’s testing, and Inside very much falls into this category.

But that’s as much as I can really say about the game without talking about the narrative. Half the fun in playing Inside is having the world unfold before you - unravelling the scroll, so to speak - so there's not a lot one can discuss about the material contents of the game without ruining some of the experience, but suffice it to say that Inside is packed with 'wow' moments and the simplicity of the game's visual design belies a world that is hinted at or rarely shown to great effect, as well as a delightfully cathartic, if mind-boggling, final act.

There are plenty of reasons why Inside is compelling to play, and why it is much more than it may seem to someone who hasn’t played it yet, but at its heart Inside’s greatest triumph is its visual and auditory storytelling. The developers have once again showcased an uncommon understanding of the player, and in designing the game have created a wonderfully intuitive and engaging experience set in a rich and mysterious world with a thick and ever-present atmosphere. It has a rather short playthrough time with some replay value, and I’m compelled to say that ideally its price point would be a few pounds cheaper, but then there’s a part of me that knows that in some way this would be underselling a truly unique and wonderful experience. 

9/10