Playing Dead: Limbo Interview

Did you hear? After having been stuck in an undetermined state for a long time, Limbo is now PC-bound, releasing via Steam on August 2nd. I caught up with Dino Patti, CEO & Co-founder of Playdead, to ask him some questions about it. He was kind enough answer them all, so I thought I'd share his responses with you:

RPS: Limbo has now been confirmed for a PC release next month, fantastic news. What took so long?

Dino Patti: We are a small team, and with a new game in the mold, we've had our hands full.

RPS: In the very early days, Limbo was originally intended as a freeware title for PC, but escalated into much bigger commercial project, eventually releasing as an Xbox exclusive (until now). How have the business developments you've made help shape the final game?

Patti: All major decisions which shaped the game from beginning until the end came from Arnt Jensen, with no influence from any commercial aspect. The smaller decisions probably came from the team. It has been a hard fight to keep commercial interests out of game decisions, but that is really how we like it.

RPS: Was there no possibility for a dual Xbox/PC release? Was that a decision from Microsoft or from you?

Patti: It was a long process of getting those details in place, and in the end there were a lot of reasons for a small studio like ours to just focus on that single release.

RPS: How is the resolution support? Will PC players with massive monitors get extra detail compared to the console version?

Patti: You should really not worry about that. Use this game as an excuse to upgrade your gaming rig with good speakers or good headphones.

RPS: Will we be able to Alt-Tab if it gets too scary?

Patti: Yes you can do that. Though, I recommend holding your hands or a piece of cloth in front of your eyes.

RPS: Is there anything else that's different about the PC version compared to the other versions that you are particularly proud of?

Patti: With no format QA on the PC, Arnt has gotten us closer to the original visions about accessibility. You will notice FX changes, in the way the menu works.

RPS: There's been a wave of hugely popular indie platformers over the last few years, which Limbo has been very much part of. Do you expect this trend to continue?

Patti: This does not apply to platformers specifically, but more indie titles in general. I definitely think these games are the most interesting games out there.

RPS: Any clues as to what we should expect from Playdead next?

Patti: Color, freakshow, more death.

RPS: Thanks for your time.