Playdead

Lore & Background

Arnt Jensen, a former IO Interactive developer, drew sketches in 2004 that led him to conceptualize Limbo. Having tried programming himself and secured government grants, he then sought additional help through an art-based teaser for the game in 2006. This led to a meeting between Jensen and Dino Patti, and they realized the project was larger than the two of them, so they reached out to investors and with the money they founded the entity 'Playdead ApS'.

Playdead eventually came to have eight employees during Limbo development, with temporary increases of up to 16 through freelancers. Limbo's success led them to be able to reacquire the company back from investors, making Playdead completely independent. Within the same year as Limbo's release, Playdead began working on Project 2, which later became Inside. The game was partially financed by the Danish Film Institute.

Considered a spiritual successor to Limbo, Inside has many of the same themes, including being a 2.5D platform game using a primarily monochrome palette. After using a custom game engine for Limbo, Playdead used Unity to simplify development and a custom temporal anti-aliasing filter which was released in March 2016 under an open-source license. The game was officially announced at E3 2014 with planned release in 2015, was later pushed to mid-2016 for further refinement, but had a demo at PAX Prime in August 2015.

Martin Stig Andersen created the soundtrack again after Limbo, creating sound via bone conduction with a human skull. Inside was first released in June for Xbox One, and later on Microsoft Windows, and received more overwhelming praise than Limbo. Shortly after the release of Inside, on 19 July 2016, Patti left the company, selling his shares to Jensen. Patti felt that he was leaving Playdead 'in a state where it can definitely manage itself'.

Danish newspaper Dagbladet Børsen reported that a rift had developed between Patti and Jensen around 2015, which Patti described to Kotaku as 'the supposed timeline for the next project(s) and where I am in my life now'. The rift led to Jensen submitting a resignation letter to Patti from his position as creative director, though intending to stay on as a company executive.

Reader's Guide

Playdead's third game, which has been teased as early as January 2017, will be a 'fairly lonely sci-fi game somewhere in the universe', according to Jensen. This game will likely use a third-person perspective within a 3D world, as Jensen stated that the studio has 'been tired of the limitations in 2D games'. Image teasers of the game were released through Playdead job listings over several months in 2019. Playdead and Epic Games announced in March 2020 that Epic Games will publish this title, providing full development costs and support of the Unreal Engine, while giving full creative control to Playdead, and will split profits 50/50 after Epic recoups its investment on release.

Development and Technical Evolution

Playdead initiated work on Inside immediately following the success of their debut title, Limbo, initially intending to utilize the custom engine built for that predecessor. However, the team eventually pivoted to the Unity platform to streamline the development process while maintaining their distinct visual identity. To achieve this signature aesthetic within a new framework, they implemented proprietary rendering routines, which were later released as open-source software for the community.

The project received partial financial backing through a grant from the Danish Film Institute, highlighting its artistic ambitions beyond standard commercial gaming. Although the game premiered at Microsoft's E3 conference in 2014 with an anticipated 2015 launch, production complexities necessitated a delay until mid-2016. This extended timeline allowed for the refinement of their 2.5D gameplay mechanics and atmospheric design before its eventual multi-platform rollout across Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 4, mobile devices, and later macOS.

Gameplay Mechanics and Atmosphere

Inside functions as a puzzle-platformer set within a surreal, predominantly monochromatic world where color is utilized sparingly to emphasize the protagonist or critical environmental elements. The player guides an unnamed boy through a dystopian landscape using basic movements like running, swimming, and climbing, alongside object manipulation to overcome obstacles. A unique mechanic involves controlling zombie-like bodies via a mind-control helmet to solve specific puzzles, drawing comparisons to similar mechanics in other titles.

The game features hidden rooms containing glowing orbs; deactivating all of them unlocks an alternate conclusion. Death is frequent and presented graphically through various means such as drowning, gunfire, or mechanical crushing, contributing to the title's Mature rating. While the protagonist can die repeatedly, later stages introduce control over a massive creature known as the Huddle, which possesses immense strength but still requires strategic navigation to survive.

Narrative Structure and Endings

The story follows a young boy escaping masked guards and fierce dogs in a forest before reaching a farm overrun by parasitic worms. He eventually traverses an abandoned city filled with mind-controlled humans and enters a vast underground facility containing flooded rooms and underwater laboratories. Here, scientists conduct experiments on bodies, and the boy acquires a device allowing him to breathe underwater. The narrative culminates when he discovers a monstrous mass of conjoined human bodies called the Huddle inside a spherical chamber.

Upon freeing it, the boy is absorbed into the creature, which then escapes confinement, crashing through offices and killing scientists before rolling out onto a sunlit coastline. Alternatively, if players deactivate all hidden orbs, they access a secret bunker where the boy unplugs a computer socket, causing him to mimic the stance of the mind-controlled zombies, suggesting a different fate regarding player agency.

Critical Reception and Cultural Legacy

Upon release, Inside garnered widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers frequently citing it as a significant improvement over its predecessor, Limbo. Praise was directed specifically at its exceptional art direction, immersive atmosphere, and refined gameplay mechanics. The title received numerous nominations for Game of the Year awards and secured several independent accolades recognizing technical achievement. Its impact on the industry is further evidenced by its inclusion on multiple lists compiled by journalists regarding the greatest video games of all time.

Beyond commercial success, the game sparked extensive community discussion and theorizing regarding its ambiguous narrative and dual endings. Players and critics alike have debated interpretations ranging from the boy being controlled by the Huddle to metafictional theories about player agency, cementing Inside's status as a thought-provoking masterpiece in the horror-puzzle genre.

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