Before I say anything else, I’d like to clarify that @luigidb2 was the first person to beat this on 144hz, not me. They’re a very skilled player, and you should definitely go check them out.
When MindCap first approached me about his brand new project in early 2020, I was super excited. Not only was it a memory demon, my favorite type of level, it had a stacked creator roster and a sick color scheme. And on top of all that, he was giving me the opportunity to verify it! I accepted instantly, and over the course of the next few months I eagerly waited as the first few parts came together. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as planned, and in early-mid 2021 I dropped the level for various reasons. Its fate was uncertain at this point, due to MindCap’s absence from the community, but eventually he made his return and development resumed. The level was finished in late 2021, and BGram managed to pull through with the verification about a year later. My interest in Limbo had dwindled after dropping it, but when I saw that it was finally released, I decided to give it a try.
Before I could start doing runs, I had to learn all the parts, which was a very daunting process. Luckily this didn’t take too long, and I surprised myself afterwards with some fast progress, getting 31-100% in a little under a week. My motivation started to dip around this time, though, as the first 30% of the level is extremely difficult to get consistent at. It felt like I had finally hit a wall. After struggling with this section for a few more days, I decided to take an indefinite break from Limbo, but I promised myself that I’d return to it at some point over the summer.
Once my summer break started, I came back to the level right away. It still felt slightly out of reach for me, but I knew that I could do it if I committed to it. Sure enough, I was finally becoming more consistent, and sometime in early June I got a new best of 48%, as well as a 27-100% run. Unfortunately, I lost nearly all of my motivation shortly after this, and my progress slowed to a crawl as a result. I could no longer play the level for long periods of time without getting bored, and eventually I stopped playing it altogether. There’s a good chance that I would’ve kept sitting on it until the end of my break if it weren’t for Cobrablitz’s Slaughterhouse completion in early August. Most extreme demon completions don’t mean much to me anymore, probably because I’ve witnessed hundreds and hundreds of them over the years, but this one felt different. Seeing Cobra overcome his own struggle was very inspiring to me, and I believe this gave me the motivation I needed to finish Limbo once and for all.
I returned to the level once again on the 12th, and this time I was determined to beat it no matter what. Despite how inactive I’d been, my consistency was just as good as ever, and I managed to pull off a crazy 18-100% run the same day, as well as a new best of 49%. These runs motivated me to keep playing Limbo even more than I already was, and the very next day the unthinkable happened: I died at 89% as a fluke from 49%. This death was devastating, and the failed fluke made it hurt even more. I knew I had to keep going, though, since my summer break was about to end. Getting back to the second half proved to be a massive struggle, and my confidence was beginning to falter, but on the 18th a miracle happened. On this day, out of nowhere, I managed to beat the level. It feels like my entire GD career has lead up to this moment, and I couldn’t be more proud. Special thanks to all my friends, as well as everyone that’s supported me over the past few years. I love this game and I’ll never forget the impact it has had on my life.
With that all out of the way, there are a few important things I should mention. You may have noticed that there are no pulses at all, and that is because I beat this with no music (the song was edited in). I recently discovered that if you set the in-game music slider to zero, your input delay will decrease by a noticeable amount. This may sound like it’s placebo, but I promise that it’s not. I’ve always been able to play levels just fine without audio, so when I discovered this trick, I decided to take advantage of it to make my Limbo experience a bit easier. Additionally, I was in a call when I beat this, but the call audio has been edited out. You can hear me press my deafen key at 2:27. Lastly, I had to lower the volume of my reaction since it was really loud, which is why it sounds like there’s a cut at 3:20 (even though this isn’t actually the case).
This is my last 2.1 completion, and my last 144hz completion by extension, since physics are going to work differently in 2.2. I don’t have any plans for when the update comes out, but I’ll definitely still be around in the community regardless. See you all then!
Attempts: 24802
Enjoyment: 6/10
Song: Isolation by Nighthawk22 (remix by VepiumOfficial)
Thumbnail by @Zerex