Inside
Publisher:
Microsoft
Developer:
Playdead
Platforms:
Xbox One
Genre:Puzzle
Release Date:2016
Inside is a puzzle platformer adventure game that is being developed by Playdead Studios and published by Microsoft. The game is the studio’s second video game after their critically acclaimed release of Limbo. While Inside is not expected to be tied to the studio’s first game in any way, there are some obvious similarities to the look and feel of the company’s first game and this upcoming title. The biggest difference between the two games is that Limbo has been released on basically every platform available. Inside is not only a console exclusive on the Xbox One but is also not coming to the mobile platform or the PC. The game was originally expected to be released in 2015 but the company had to move the release date back. Playdead is now saying its second ever game will be launching at some point in 2016. There is no official launch date yet.
Development
Playdead Studios released Limbo, a black-and-white adventure game on a number of different platforms and ended up attaining a mark that sold over a million copies, in July of 2010. The same year it released that game to a great deal of fanfare and critical acclaim it also began work on Inside. Despite, or maybe because the game is just the second for the studio there were some problems with development. Soon after the game began development the company had to delay its release the first time.
During the development, Playdead admitted that it was very similar to its previous project but this new game was going to have some more wild and crazy aspects. There is also some color, though most of the game is still going to be set in a world where black and white is the predominate color scheme. The development team also said that some of Inside‘s elements were derived from remnants of Limbo‘s development that wasn’t actually put into that game.While most development teams that are looking for money are turning to crowdfunding in order to get more money, in the instance of Inside, part of the game’s development funded by a grant from the Danish government.
Microsoft announced itself as a publisher for Inside during its 2014 E3 press conference. The company also announced that the game had originally been planned for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and the OSX but was now going to be offered only on the Xbox One. Playdead has said that it intentionally waited four years between the beginning of the development of the game and the announcement that it was coming in order to cut down the wait of the launch. That plan didn’t actually come to fruition as the developer had to eventually delay the game from its expected early 2015 release. Even worse news for people who were looking for the game was that there was no new launch window.
At the August 2015 PAX Prime event, Microsoft was able to offer up a playable demo. Running on the Unity Engine, Inside‘s developers have said that eventually it would like to have the game playable on a number of other platforms. The company also didn’t say what it’s plans for those other platforms might be or when there would be a window to bring the game to other platforms.
Story
There isn’t a great deal known about the actual story of Inside. There are a couple of things we can assume from the gameplay trailer. There is a boy that has to traverse the world of Inside. There is no dialogue or any kind of print explanation throughout the video so it’s hard to get a feel for just what the boy is running from or why he is running at all. At this point, there isn’t an explanation why the game is even named Inside. There do appear to be some sort of creatures that are chasing the boy through different scenes in the video. There are also a number of other scenes where it seems like other people that are in this world are dying in some rather impressive and horrible ways.
The world that Inside takes place in looks plenty dark and bleak as Limbo did before it, though the fact that there are other people in this particular world would seem to bring a slightly different story. While some aspects of the world where the game takes place seems to be futuristic, there are also some scenes and some items that appear to be in a more modern time, such as when the boy runs through a field where electric poles are standing by the side of the road.
Gameplay
The gameplay takes on a 2d side-scrolling look even though the graphics for Inside give the game a 3D appearance. The game has a number of obstacles that the boy has to jump over in order to get from one place to another. The development team has also said there will be some kinds of puzzles that players will need to solve in order to get from one scene to another in the game. At some point the trailer gives the indication that there will be some kind of stealth aspects as well when getting past certain enemies.
Characters
The main character for Inside is a young boy who appears to be the protagonist. This boy does not appear to have a name that Playdead has told anyone about. That has been the norm with Playdead, who never told us the name of the main character in Limbo, it’s first game. As the boy runs through the world of Inside there appear to be other characters in the background but it is not yet known whether or not the boy every actually interacts with these other characters.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game