10 Challenges That Ruined Video Games
9. Limbo - Die Less Than Five Times
Limbo, Playdead's 2010 Xbox 360 debut, could easily be described as "an experience". It's dark, it's harrowing, and it's got the best/worst giant spider implementation since Resident Evil.
That's not an exaggeration, it still gives me nightmares.
Part of the joy(?) of experiencing this bleak adventure is going in blind, experiencing the twists and turns it brings. Traversing different landscapes, each one rife with puzzle and pitfall in equal measure.
For the hardcore, there's an attached achievement for making it through the game dying no more than five times. If you know the game like the back of your hand, maybe you should attempt it.
But as a first playthrough, it just sucks the fun out of the game. It's impossible for players to take it the nihilistic ambience if they're getting frustrated and quick-restarting before a death counts.
It ruins what Playdead set out to do if players treat death like an inconvenient counter, rather than what makes the hazards of this macabre tale part of the adventure.