Software:Limbus Company

Short description: Turn-based strategy game

Limbus Company
Developer(s)	Project Moon
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android
Release	February 26, 2023
Genre(s)	Management simulation, turn-based role-playing

Limbus Company is an indie horror role-playing video game for Microsoft Windows and mobile devices using iOS or Android, developed and published by South Korea n studio Project Moon. It was released worldwide on February 26, 2023. The game is set in the same dystopian, hyper-capitalist world known only as "The City", where all of Project Moon's other works take place, including Lobotomy Corporation, Library of Ruina, and a webcomic titled Leviathan, but takes place some time after the events of all those stories.

The game contains gacha elements, making it possible to spend real money to acquire Lunacy (the in-game currency) or tickets used to acquire new Sinner Identities or their respective Extermination of Geometrical Organ (E.G.O) outside of the base ones given to the player at the start. Director Kim Ji-hoon claimed during a Q&A session that this was necessary both to fund and explore making new Project Moon games, such as a currently unnamed "3rd-person Action RPG," set in The City, and that a live service game would expand the fanbase and keep them entertained in-between full retail releases.

Gameplay

The player is able to choose up to 7 out of 12 Sinners (not including Dante) to fight in a particular map, and must balance each Sinner's strengths and weaknesses to emerge victorious. The player must choose both the Sinner's Identity and the E.G.O that they want to take with them into battle. The player cannot use two Identities of the same Sinner, and likewise cannot attach two E.G.O of the same power level to the Sinner. Once they have made their selections, the battle starts.

In normal fights, the player can drag their pointer across the circles representing each Sinner's attack, either to form a chain of attacks with similar Sin categories or to use the attack that best fits the situation. In battles against bosses or Abnormalities, players instead will be directed to pick and choose which Sinner's attack should correspond to which enemy, or a specific body part of the enemy they wish to attack. Once they have made their choice, the battle phase begins. The game decides which side's attacks are successful with a series of coin flips. A coin landing on heads will add a numbered boost to the character's power (with the exception of certain skills from various other identities, in which power is instead subtracted), while a tails will leave the number as it currently stands. A character's respective Sanity Points (SP) determines their luck in getting Heads from the coins. After the clashes are resolved and damage added up, the battle phase resets and new attacks can be launched, until one side is wiped out.

The player can choose to attack using a Sinner's respective E.G.O in place of their normal attack. However, doing so requires building up enough "Sin" of a certain category from normal attacks to feed the E.G.O and then use it on the enemy. If a Sinner's SP is low enough, they may choose to launch a "corroded" E.G.O on their own, which is more powerful but cannot be controlled by Dante; the Sinner randomly target enemies or allies until they regain some SP.

Outside of normal stages, there are dungeon maps where the player must choose a route that eventually leads towards the final boss of the dungeon, and defeat them to finish the stage. Unlike other stages, dungeon maps force players to strategize, as they are stuck with the Sinners' Identity and E.G.O chosen at the start of the map and do not automatically heal between battles. Some rooms or boss fights will force the player to make a choice where the correct answer is not always obvious, and passing the check may involve using a Sinner's respective Sin Affinity in order to pass through without harm.

Plot

Limbus Company opens with a person who has lost their memories and has a literal clock for a head being accosted by strong Fixers. This person is soon saved by Vergilius, a legendary Fixer known as the "Red Gaze," who informs them that their name is Dante, and that they are the new executive manager of Limbus Company. The company has tasked a special group of its employees known as Sinners with a mission to seek out Golden Boughs, sources of great power, that are scattered across The City in the ruins of the now-destroyed Lobotomy Corporation and its branch offices for an unexplained purpose. As they travel across The City in a customized bus named Mephistopheles (sometimes shortened to Mephi or Mephisto), Dante tries to piece back their identity, while the Sinners are forced to reckon with their own pasts as they seek out the Golden Boughs.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 75/100

According to its official website, it reached 180,000 total pre-registrations before releasing.

External links

• Official website