Limbo

Limbo is a singleplayer side view and scrolling platform and puzzle game.

General information

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Special Edition.
Epic Games Store		DRM-free when launched from the executable.^[1]
Humble Store
Mac App Store		Included with Apple Arcade.
Mac App Store
Microsoft Store		Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Steam		Steamworks API integration turns the Steam client into DRM. ^[2]
GOG.com (unavailable)		Was delisted alongside Inside on July 17th, 2025
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)
itch.io (unavailable)
EA app (unavailable)		No longer sold since June 13, 2022.^[3] Currently only available through EA Play Pro.

Demo

A demo is available from Steam.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Apple Arcade, EA Play Pro and Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	The game does not contain any microtransactions.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\settings.txt^{[Note 1]}
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Limbo/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/PlayDead/Limbo/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>^{[Note 1]} <path-to-game>\save_game\savegame.txt^{[Note 1]}
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Limbo/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/PlayDead/Limbo/
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/48000/remote/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
EA app
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

General settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Always enabled. Capped at 60 Hz by default.
60 FPS
120+ FPS	See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

The game is always letterboxed to 16:9 resolutions. Aspect ratio is hackable by replacing 39 8E E3 3F in Limbo.exe with the desired aspect ratio value according to here.

The game always uses the desktop's resolution, but by default, it uses a 1280x720 rendering resolution. It's possible to force a higher rendering resolution, but the game intentionally uses blurring and other image filtering methods combined with assets made for 720p resolution, so the impact on graphical quality is negligible.

Change the game resolution using the configuration file^{[citation needed]}
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `settings.txt`. Find and change `backbufferheight = 720` to the desired vertical resolution.

Windowed

Switch to windowed mode using the configuration file^{[citation needed]}
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `settings.txt`. Change the line `windowedmode = false` to `windowedmode = true`.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Force borderless fullscreen^{[citation needed]}
Install Special K. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game and press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`← Backspace` to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Open the Display menu and select "Windowed Mode" and "Force Override". Set Window Style to "Borderless" then "Borderless Fullscreen" and close the Control Panel. Press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`O` to toggle Special K's On-Screen Display.

Input

Control layout.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See Remapping.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		The mouse is not used in the game.
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput only.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers
Directinput button prompts

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
PlayStation button prompts
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Nintendo controllers
Nintendo button prompts
Face button layout support
Motion sensors support
Connection modes

Other controller(s)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Peripheral devices support
Additional button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback		Active even while using the keyboard. See Haptic feedback to disable.
Digital movement support
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Steam Input
Steam Input API support		Official Steam Controller bindings only.
Steam Virtual Gamepad (Legacy mode/Hook input)
Steam Input prompt modes
Steam Deck button prompts
Steam Controller (1st gen) button prompts
Motion sensors support
Official controller preset(s)

Remapping

Remap the keys using the configuration file^{[citation needed]}
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `settings.txt`. Change the `up`, `down`, `left`, `right`, `action`, and `jump` fields. For WASD control remove the # char from the 4 lines beginning "up2" "down2" "left2" "right2".

Haptic feedback

Disable vibration^{[citation needed]}
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `settings.txt`. Change `vibration` field to `false`.

Audio

External language settings (GOG.com version).

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		No volume control.
Surround sound		Stereo output only.
Subtitles		No speech.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic				Use Arabic Localization for booting menu mod
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Slovak				Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Turkish

VR support

3D modes	GG3D	Notes
Native 3D		Dual-View Rendering Anaglyph Red/Cyan. Activate with `⇧ Shift`+`3`+`D`, disable with `⇧ Shift`+`2`+`D`. For SBS or TAB, use ReShade shader Limbo Anaglyph to SBS TAB.
Nvidia 3D Vision
vorpX	Dual-View Rendering (G3D). User created game profile.

Issues fixed

Run the game at screen refresh rate

The game has Vsync always on by default and also forces the monitor refresh rate to 60 Hz, resulting in a 60 FPS cap.

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher.

Set screen refresh rate^{[citation needed]}
Install Special K. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game once and close it immediately to allow the Special K configuration file to be created. Open `<path-to-game>\d3d9.ini` or `%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\limbo.exe\SpecialK.ini` depending on the installation method you used. Change `RefreshRate=-1` to `RefreshRate=0` under `[Render.FrameRate]`.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
OpenGL	2.0	OS X/Linux only.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	ARM	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Box2D	^[4]
Audio	Wwise	^[5]^[6]
Input	SDL2	Linux only. Handles input and windowing.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	150 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support

Integrated graphics and very low budget cards may not work.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6
Processor (CPU)	Intel
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	150 MB
Video card (GPU)	256 MB of VRAM OpenGL 2.0 compatible Shader model 3.0 support

Integrated graphics and very low budget cards may not work.

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Linux
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	185 MB
Video card (GPU)	Shader model 3.0 support

Integrated graphics and very low budget cards may not work.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-07-20
The game can be launched from the .exe even after closing the Epic Games Launcher and renaming its main and AppData folders.
↑ Verified by User:Silverkeeper on 2025-12-21
↑ Upcoming Changes to the EA Origin Catalog - last accessed on 2024-12-07
↑ Tweet by Erin Catto - last accessed on 2020-07-14
"Nice to see a Box2D game (Limbo) winning an Apple Design award."
↑ How difficult is it to port a game from Windows to Linux? More or less simple than porting from 360 to PS3? PS3 to PC, etc? - last accessed on 2020-09-23
"Ethan Lee (flibitijibibo): “As far as I know, the biggest reason for games not being ported to other platforms is [third-party technology]. Had Limbo used something other than Wwise, it may have gotten a native Linux version.”"
↑ Fully native LIMBO version now available from the Humble store. SDL2 with controller support! - last accessed on 2020-09-23
"Ryan C. Gordon (icculus): “It was wwise. We made an agreement with AudioKinetic to let me port wwise to Linux, for Limbo, and I would contribute the port back to them. Limbo got backburnered, but it was still beneficial in the meantime: the wwise port went into Papo Y Yo, AudioKinetic officially announced Linux support, etc.”"

[gamedir-4] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[1] Verified by User:Rose on 2019-07-20
The game can be launched from the .exe even after closing the Epic Games Launcher and renaming its main and AppData folders.

[2] Verified by User:Silverkeeper on 2025-12-21

[3] Upcoming Changes to the EA Origin Catalog - last accessed on 2024-12-07

[5] Tweet by Erin Catto - last accessed on 2020-07-14
"Nice to see a Box2D game (Limbo) winning an Apple Design award."

[6] How difficult is it to port a game from Windows to Linux? More or less simple than porting from 360 to PS3? PS3 to PC, etc? - last accessed on 2020-09-23
"Ethan Lee (flibitijibibo): “As far as I know, the biggest reason for games not being ported to other platforms is [third-party technology]. Had Limbo used something other than Wwise, it may have gotten a native Linux version.”"

[7] Fully native LIMBO version now available from the Humble store. SDL2 with controller support! - last accessed on 2020-09-23
"Ryan C. Gordon (icculus): “It was wwise. We made an agreement with AudioKinetic to let me port wwise to Linux, for Limbo, and I would contribute the port back to them. Limbo got backburnered, but it was still beneficial in the meantime: the wwise port went into Papo Y Yo, AudioKinetic officially announced Linux support, etc.”"

[1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 1]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Developers

	Playdead
Linux	Ryan C. Gordon
Publishers
	Playdead
Release dates
Windows	August 2, 2011
macOS (OS X)	December 21, 2011
Linux	May 31, 2012
Reception
Metacritic	88
IGDB	84
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Side view, Scrolling
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform, Puzzle
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Dark, Horror