The absence of direct narrative, such as through cutscenes or in-game text, was a mixed point for reviewers. John Teti of Eurogamer considered the game's base story to be metaphorical for a "story of a search for companionship", and that the few encounters with human characters served as "emotional touchstones" that drove the story forward; ultimately, Teti stated that these elements make Limbo "a game that has very few humans, but a surplus of humanity". Hatfield praised the simplicity of the game's story, commenting that, "with no text, no dialogue, and no explanation, it manages to communicate circumstance and causality to the player more simply than most games". Both Teti and Hatfield noted that some of the story elements were weaker in the second half of the game, when there are almost no human characters with whom the player comes into contact, but that the game ends with an unexpected revelation. GameSpot's Tom McShae found no issues with the game posing questions on "death versus life and reality versus dream", but purposely providing no answers for them, allowing the player to contemplate these on their own. McShae also considered that the brief but gruesome death scenes for the boy helped to create an "emotional immediacy that is difficult to forget". The New York Daily News Stu Horvath noted that Limbo "turns its lack of obvious narrative into one of the most compelling riddles in videogames".
