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Limbo of the Lost
 Remember the tale of the Mary Celeste that set sail from New York back in November 1872, headed for Genoa, Italy?
On board were Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife and young daughter, plus a crew of 7 (or 8 according to some sources). Of course that legendary 'ghost ship' was later found derelict, heading towards the Straights of Gibraltar, with not a soul on board.
Whatever did happen to the captain and crew?
Well what if Captain Briggs was spirited off to the land of Limbo and imprisoned in the Keep of Lost Souls where Fate and Destiny are battling for supremacy. If Fate wins then all is lost when he plays his evil games of war and plague and famine. If Destiny wins then deliverance is at hand and the world is spared such tyranny.
In Limbo of the Lost you guide Captain Briggs in his endeavours to aid Destiny and keep the Seal of Sufferance safe. It's a point and click adventure game in the traditional style with traditional adventuring puzzles. Right click to walk and watch for the animated cursor to move to a new location.
 The inventory opens at the top of the screen where items are clearly named and can be inspected in close up. Active hotspots are also named when the cursor passes over them. Then just left click to display the action menu or Ouija Board, where you can 'look', 'sense', 'take' or act upon the object (or person, or creature). Click the letter 'S' to save from the Ouija menu, 'L' to load, and 'Q' to quit ... simple!
A Ouija Board, it's a well chosen image for this ominous and sometimes grotesque world of the dead and not so dead. Limbo is a dark, foreboding place yet there are areas of strong illumination to rest the eyes and show off the graphics. The mood is driven by slow, almost moaning background music. It's unobtrusive, but it's always 'there'. The crisp, eerie sound effects contribute to the edgy feel. You can clearly hear doors clunking, footsteps clipping, and cauldrons spitting in the dungeons of the Keep of Lost Souls.
And Captain Briggs is not alone. Other characters here move in mysterious ways and offer advice and help in payment for a favour or two. There's a touch of humour too, in the bizarre characters and in the dialogue, contrasting with the sombre surroundings. Fortunately every word is subtitled because the voice distortion can sometimes make it difficult to understand.
 For this preview I played the Prologue to Limbo of the Lost and helped Briggs get his hands on the bone key to escape the lower dungeon. The way forward wasn't too difficult with a few items to find requiring a little thought and some careful searching of the varied locations. It starts off relatively easy and I'm assuming that the challenge will become more intense as Briggs moves onwards and upwards.
The few characters I met were a varied bunch, each with their own eccentric personality and 'looks' ... not very pretty I must say, but what would you expect in the land of the dead! There are close-ups of characters in conversation mode and they are quite humorous and nicely animated. The close ups appear centrally on screen in a window, and I did wish that it was pushed to the side because it invariably covered the main action on screen. It's not a big thing, but it was a little annoying. Also I wanted to get Briggs to move a bit faster but couldn't figure out how. Hopefully the full game will remedy this.
Limbo of the Lost is looking like an interesting journey through the macabre with the edge dulled by a serving of humour. I really appreciated the way objects in the gameworld are identified; it's always good to know exactly what you're picking up before you take it. Mind you, what you carry around in this game might make you think twice ... a rotting limb, a bottle of snot ... hmmm!
I'm intrigued. A story of the land of the dead interwoven with the legend of the Mary Celeste. Will we meet some more lost souls from that ill-fated ship?
Copyright © Rosemary Young 2007.
All rights reserved.
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