Hop on Board
Join Dante and the 12 Sinners as they fight to recover the Golden Boughs in Limbus Company from developer Project Moon. Touted as a “vicious, sin-resonating RPG,” Limbus Company plays like a standard gatcha RPG, but with a greater focus on story elements. Players must manage the Limbus Company and its Sinners while exploring the City’s 26 districts and the ruins of the Lobotomy Corporation. With its stunning comic book-style graphics and a superb OST, Limbus will transport you to its dangerous world. Do you have what it takes to survive?
Beat the Clock
With its lore-heavy narrative, Limbus Company is not for players who enjoy fast-paced or casual games. However, if you want to experience a game with fantastic world-building filled with memorable characters and a unique battle system, Limbus is for you. While Limbus Company takes place in the same world as Project Moon’s other titles, the story remains accessible to players unfamiliar with the game’s canon.
The game opens as Dante struggles with amnesia after undergoing surgery that replaced his head with a clock. Suddenly, a mysterious cult-like group attacks Dante, with each member named after an animal. However, the 12 Sinners intervene in the nick of time. After the leader of the Limbus Company kills the bizarre assailants, Dante is made the manager of the Sinners and joins them on their bus.
Corporate Control
The City consists of 26 provinces, better known as Nests. Each Nest is looked after by one of the 26 significant conglomerates called the Wings. These conglomerates ensure the safety and well-being of the citizens residing in their respective Nests.
Lobotomy Corporation in Nest L was an energy company that generated considerable power by exploiting supernatural creatures known as Abnormalities. Fortunately, despite the company’s decline after the “White Nights and Dark Days” episode, its branches remain throughout the City. The primary objective of the Executive Manager is to lead their team of Sinners through these facilities and retrieve valuable energy sources, known as Golden Boughs. These Golden Boughs are the core of the corporation’s energy production technology. They can be found in the deepest parts of the facilities.
Gear Up
While Limbus Company tells a deep, enticing story filled to the brim with lore, the gameplay leaves much to be desired. As Manager, Dante leads the Sinners during battle. Players must first give orders to the Sinners by chaining skills on the Dashboard at the bottom of the screen. Next, tap the gear on the left to form a chain of skills. Then select the gear on the right to begin combat.
Your main objective in combat is to cause Sin Resonance. Resonance boosts the damage of skills with the same Sin Affinity (their color). Players should aim to chain as many skills as possible to increase their damage. Later, players learn that each skill has its own attack power and effects. Chaining three or more skills of the same Affinity in a row will cause Absolute Resonance, creating a damage boost. Once an enemy’s health hits the yellow threshold, they become Staggered—a state where combos and effects deal extra damage and physical resistances are Fatal. Unfortunately, the game shoves all of its mechanics at you in the first few minutes of gameplay, with little time to absorb and understand them. Limbus should introduce these mechanics slowly over multiple battles, giving the player more time to master them.
Another significant downside of the battles is that players lack full control over their characters. Most of the time, you cannot choose the order in which your team attacks, nor can you decide which enemy to attack. This can make battles seem like they are solely up to chance. Allowing players to choose which enemy to attack each turn would add strategy and depth to an otherwise lackluster battle system.
Final Destination
Limbus Company immediately captures players with stunning visuals and a fantastic soundtrack, then introduces them to a world rich with interesting characters and lore. From a story standpoint, the game performs excellently, but the gacha mechanic and uninventive gameplay hold it back. These issues slow the story’s pace and prevent the gameplay from being more fun and rewarding. If you are looking for a good story, but are okay with being stuck with a lackluster gacha, hop on the bus. However, if you crave a game with entertaining gameplay, look for another stop.
