INSIDE

About INSIDE

INSIDE was made and published by the Danish studio Playdead, the makers of LIMBO. It came out on Xbox One on 29 June 2016 and on PC through Steam on 7 July 2016. It is also sold on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and the App Store, where it is listed as free with in-app purchases. On Xbox it is a Play Anywhere title and is included with Game Pass.

The game tells its story with no words at all. A boy in a red shirt is on the run, alone and hunted, and it is clear from the start that he must not be caught. Guards with flashlights, vehicles with spotlights and guard dogs chase him through a forest and onto a farm, and from there he moves toward something the store page calls a dark project.

It plays as a side-view platformer in a 2.5D world. You run, jump, climb, swim, push and pull, and each scene is a puzzle about how to get past what stands in the way: a locked gate, a machine, a guard, a searchlight. The boy cannot fight, so most threats are about hiding in shadow, timing a run, or finding another route. Hidden rooms off the main path lead to an alternate ending.

What frightens is the mood and the helplessness. The world is grey and quiet, full of people who move like they have no will of their own, and being caught usually means a sudden, violent death: drowning, being shot or being mauled by dogs. It is rated M by the ESRB for blood and gore and violence, and PEGI 18. It leans on dread and disturbing images more than on jump scares.

On Steam it has colour alternatives, a keyboard-only option, full controller support, and it is listed as playable without timed input. IGN gave it 10 out of 10. INSIDE suits players who liked LIMBO, Little Nightmares or DARQ: a quiet, puzzle-led horror story told through what you see.

How to play INSIDE

1. Buy INSIDE on Steam, the Epic Games Store, the PlayStation Store, the Xbox store or the Nintendo eShop, or download it from the App Store, and start a new game.
2. Move the boy left and right, jump and climb, and grab objects to push or pull them.
3. Study each scene before acting: look for what blocks the way and what you can move, switch or use.
4. Stay out of searchlights and out of sight of the people hunting you; when you are seen, run.

Tips

• Watch how guards, lights and machines move before you commit to a run; most puzzles are about timing.
• Look at the background and the edges of each room; objects you can use are often easy to miss in the dark.

Questions