One of the first things that stood out to me in developer Galla Games’ and publisher Fellow Traveller’s ‘Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo’ was its papercraft art style backdropped against a simple but elegant 3D world. I have a deference for the whole paper-look—matter of fact I’d say it’s a heavily underutilised style in the gaming industry. It’s what drew me to this cute little adventure game which carries heavier themes than it initially lets on. I also walked away quite satisfied if not a bit sad, but that’s only natural when you’re dealing with the dead.
These souls may be in Limbo but that doesn’t mean you have to be.
Our story begins with a pile of bones dropping in from nothingness into a “Forest of Beginnings” (trademark pending). We’re a bony snake, stuck within the confines of a 2.5D worldspace, and have bright blue glowing eyes. After freeing some old lady who seemingly got herself tied up between a rock and a hard place, we learn that we are in the land of Limbo, a place where the dead with heavy baggage, among other things, keep them chained to their past lives and prevent them from finding peace. And our job, it so turns out with us being “bright souls”, is that we are to help these people move on and find peace.
Kulebra’s game wears its Latin American culture on its sleeve and to great effect. Día de los Muertos is more than just a colour palette after all. And throughout the game’s aloof demeanour, players will encounter stories of familial struggles, mistakes being made, promises broken, etcetera. I found that the script generally did a great job intertwining heavy (and depressing) subjects without feeling overbearing—its only problem being that it tends to be too on-the-nose with its narrative themes, but I found that this did help hurry the pacing along without inundating the player too much. It’s okay to feel sad, but moving on is a part of life—and I think Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo handles that wonderfully, with pleasant music in tow. I do think that the penultimate moral of the story is a bit flawed, but it works in the context of the living dead.
But of course, our snake slithers through all the trouble and twists he encounters with grace. Mostly anyway—moving around the papercraft game world feels like you’ve put wheels on a tyre and sometimes this comes to the game’s detriment. As an adventure game, you’ll be wheeling about collecting information about the souls of Limbo, helping them along with their problems, and occasionally combatting the darkness that emerges if a soul falls too far off the deep end. Kulebra keeps things varied quite a bit as you’ll answer trivia, solve simple puzzles, eavesdrop, roll into things, so on and so forth. Some of these challenges even grow to be a bit grand, like with a Resident Evil-style mansion challenge that pops up later in the game.
Repetition is not this game’s forte, and I appreciate the mix ups as adventure games tend to fall into the gameplay loop pitfall all too often.
Now, all of this is held together by a time system. Kulebra takes a bit of influence from other games like ‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’ and (in my humble opinion) ‘Shenmue’ by splitting up a day into three zones: daylight, evening, and nighttime. Different objectives must be completed in these time zones—but it’s not like it’s the “end of the world” if things don’t work out in a whole day’s course as by next morning, all the interactions you’ve had with most souls in Limbo will be reset as part of the “Curse of Limbo”. Discovery is part of the fun, even if part of that means becoming too familiar with the mechanic, knowing ahead of time what needs to be done, and then just being left waiting for the right time to come to complete objectives. Kulebra doesn’t quite escape that loop, but it offers a polished experience that reacts to the player’s actions over the course of the game.
I walked away from Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo a happy camper. It’s a charming adventure title that boasts colourful visuals and family-friendly dialogue while broaching topics of frustration and other matters that might hit close to home. A variety of challenges will keep new players in the genre busy and older ones entertained through the game’s mix of comedy and tragedy. Quite literally, a good time for all ages. ∎
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo
Played on
Windows 11 PC / Xbox Series X
PROS
- Lovely papercraft visuals.
- Story mixes comedy and pain with grace.
- Varied gameplay challenges.
CONS
- Controlling Kulebra can be a bit of a hassle.
