Dark, quirky, interesting - enjoyable. An improvement over LIMBO in every way, with nice puzzles, a vague yet intriguing back story and an unexpected twist. Highly recommended for fans of the genre. Duration is about 2-3 hours. Played it on the Steam Deck and it ran flawlessly.

Highly recommended, but due to its length better on a discount ( keep in mind both this and LIMBO were removed from other platforms, so who knows how much more time the game might be available here ).

This game did something to the pit of my stomach. Never before has my heart raced like this while gaming.

Inside lets you experience the vulnerability of being a child in an adult landscape of horrors. Strange lights. Too-loud noises. Adults as slaves to an unseen system. Adults cannot be relied upon. No place is safe. Dogs are not friendly. You understand nothing, have power over nothing—yet there’s also a strange joy in being a kid in a grown-up’s world. A sense of adventure, even in darkness.

I remember that very particular sensation well, and Inside catapulted me right back into it. One of the highlights was a moment of unexpected joy when I was suddenly surrounded by bright yellow chickadees—the only things colourful and innocent in this dark and strange world.

** This game is brutal**. After being dropped into this world as an innocent child, I truly thought there was no way the game would hurt my character. I thought it would be an innocent indie experience.

Boy, was I wrong.

The first times the men chasing me shot me through the heart and strangled and drowned me in a puddle, I had to seriously pause and catch my breath, heart racing. It reminded me—uncomfortably and vividly—of the unseen horrors of human trafficking. And that’s exactly why this game is so powerful: because it made me feel horrors that are so easy to close off from, and not easily felt through moralising.

It’s done incredibly subtly. Nothing is said, but everything is felt. Here, the game design truly rises beyond the level of film. We need a new word for that kind of visceral experience.

The fluid, natural animation and motion design added to the believability of the world and sucked me right. I couldn’t put this game down for hours after starting—and that was with zero dopamine mechanics. The story was just that strong.

And then there's the game design. You use only two buttons, yet the range of actions, movement and problem-solving you’re capable of within that limitation is astonishing. There’s a saying in my country: “He who isn’t strong, must be smart.” Every puzzle made me eager to solve it, and every time I did, I felt clever—again, exactly like a kid would.
This was the first game in a long time where I didn’t even consider looking up a walkthrough. I wanted to do it myself.

**Usually, games are power fantasies. Inside is the complete opposite.** There’s no breath bar to warn you when you’ll drown. No indicator of how high you can jump. No cutting away when rabid dogs tear you limb from limb. Just the simplicity of left or right, jump or push—and your wits to know what to do, and when.

It's truly a masterpiece of a game.
And while I usually don’t believe in trigger warnings, I'll add one here—if you’ve experienced abuse in your childhood, please consider that this game may trigger it.

---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Amazing
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average (around 6 hours)
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Rating }---
8.5 / 10