Inside Reviews
Instilled with a pervading sense of disquiet and a knack for the disturbing, Inside is a memorable, beautifully realized puzzle-platformer. The game’s middle drags as it leans too heavily on puzzles, and the game’s short length and ending will no doubt put some off, but some strong puzzle and world design and an engrossing, murky narrative makes Playdead’s latest is an adventure worth taking.
Inside's quiet confidence is a maneuver invented to not only disarm the player, but also destabilize assumptions that seem inseparable from an entire class of games. Plenty of games have pulled the curtain away to thunderous applause. Only Inside has room for shock, panic, and the inconceivable notion that the nightmare isn't yet over.
INSIDE is a product of absolute quality, which will be able to make you embark on an incredible journey, disturbing and oppressive, in which to be the absolute protagonist is the first-rate visual language used by Playdead to tell a very particular story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dive into a dark and dangerous world full of death, despair, oppression, and yet still a little bit of hope. Guide a lost young boy through puzzles and gorgeous environments as he searches for safety and purpose. The game provides a deeply meaningful story and is complimented by philosophical lessons up for perspective and interpretation by all players.
So few games come close to perfect but Inside is a true gaming treat for XBox One, especially if you like dark puzzles!
Inside does not lose any of its peculiar features in this version, showing the best of the gameplay both on portable console and through the porting on TV. This amazing indie game shows its incredible dystopic narration, which has not lost its brilliance and emotions after two years of its first release.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Even if players only progress as far as 'I don't get it', playing Inside—and stepping outside of that comfort zone—will leave you changed, even if only a little, on the inside.
Inside is a masterclass in minimalist design. Enthralling and enjoyable.
When it's not sending you into cardiac arrest, it's bending your mind with plot twists and challenging your reflexes and brain power with a series of platforming and puzzling challenges. In the end, lightning strikes twice for Playdead. Six years was worth the wait.
Dark, sombre and thoughtful, Inside is a brief experience that's satisfying in the questions it creates.
One of the finest games of the generation
That Inside manages to start really well, and then keep building up to an ending which is absolutely bizarre but simultaneously wonderful is a real testament to the skill at work from the team at Playdead. Inside is a pure consistent work that manages to play to its own strengths in very smart ways.
Fun, easy, creepy, scary, bizarre, and oozing with atmosphere, but doesn’t quite stick the landing.
You’ll get roughly four hours out of the game, and there’re a couple of hidden things to find throughout for Achievement and Trophy hunters. But it’s hard to establish the thought of replayability -- each puzzle you pass is a hardwired solution, meaning the thought of going back and just finishing something you already know how to do is hollow in exercise.
Inside is a brilliantly crafted game that will keep you talking about it long after you’ve finished playing. Its moody, atmospheric world and terrific puzzle-platforming are simply the hooks to first draw you in.
Inside is great. It does everything a good puzzle game should do. It is top shelf material and really should be played by anyone who calls themselves gamers. You can beat it in 4 hours, and feel like you accomplished something amazing. It can get incredibly weird at times, and actually intense and frightening.
No missteps, no mistakes. Any way you look at it, Inside knows what it wants to be, while succeeding on nearly every level.
Puzzles vary from simple to gob-smackingly brilliant with equal frequency and often simultaneously
At four or so hours, it’s an incredibly concentrated burst of imagination that outdoes its predecessor in just about every way.
It's remarkable how effective a game Playdead have created from a few static backgrounds and a bunch of playforms and ladders. I suppose it goes to show that games as art are as good as the emotional investment of the designers. Good for you, Playdead. I'll be interested to see where you go next.