A narratively driven turn-based RPG game | First Impressions - Limbus Company

Limbus Company is a free-to-play turn-based RPG game with a focus on storytelling, available for Mobile and PC platforms.

The main character is an amnesiac named Dante, his head is a burning clock for some reason, and he encounters this trusty mystical crew called the Sinners that follows his lead. He sort of serves as a coach / manager for this team, but he has no damn idea why anyway, conveniently sharing the same confusion he has with the players. The game is voiced in the Korean language but thankfully there are English subtitles. All I can think of is that the premise is a darker, more twisted 2D version of a Persona game.

This free-to-play game packs more story that I had anticipated, even more so than many full-pledge PC and console games. The game’s introduction hits like a bus when it comes to the exposition to the plot, showering you with tons of text ridden panels explaining the lore, and introducing you to more than 10 anime-like characters — inspired by real-world literature — in your first 15 minutes of play.

The battles are simplistic mechanically, just as simple as drawing a line to form a chain of attack commands for the whole team at once. Combos are done by chaining similarly colored moves and abilities to each other. Nevertheless, the presentation of the combat is visually stunning and action-packed.

The animations are cool and felt like anime characters duking it out with over-the-top stylish slashes and gory dismemberments. This system overall feels like a three-match game in disguise that ranks color combos and associations above everything else.

The whole game comprises a linear progression system through various levels inside chapters, back and forth-ing between visual novel-esque cutscenes that advance the story, or battles that you have to complete. The end of the chapters culminates in a mini dungeon-crawler experience that presents the players with more battles to conquer.

There is a time-currency aspect that limits your ability to enter battles, and you have to wait out real-world time in order to replenish this currency. However during the first few bits of the game, I’ve had more than plenty of currency to play continuously without it being a show-stopper.

Of course, in time, this will probably be a huge limiting factor in the later parts of the story. There are gacha elements, but they mostly serve as additional flavor to the characters and not really a soft requirement in order to progress, at least for the early parts of the story.

Limbus Company is a weird enough game with a matching weird story that compels me to play for some reason. Add to that the mesmerizing combat system and presentation; and it makes for a highly intriguing unique game that anyone with a mobile phone or PC can try at no cost.