I have sunk an unreasonable amount of time into this and I will continue to until the end of this game's lifespan, but I wholeheartedly do not recommend playing this, especially as your first Project Moon game
There are many positives; the story is generally great all the way through, there's a character for almost every type of person, the Sinners all become extremely likeable, and this game's presentation through VFX and sound design are impeccable. This game also has the perk of being worked on by a small and passionate studio with an equally passionate director. It's obvious that everyone working on this deeply cares for what they're making, and I will forever respect that
That's where my compliments end, though. The gameplay is a slog and a general step down in every conceivable way from the previous Library of Ruina-- main story gameplay is boring to get through and challenge content is either difficult in the most unfun possible way or borderline unfair through gating team compositions. Canto 9 has been a general step up in terms of gameplay; it's more akin to how Ruina did fights, and I'm really hoping they keep on that track for Canto X. However, in order to get to Canto 9 in the first place, you have to go through around 30-70 hours of the most mind-numbingly boring gameplay conceived
Balancing suffers from the common insidious killer: powercreep. The power difference between something from seasons 1-3 and seasons 5-7 is genuinely laughable. Some IDs are so braindead busted that they have completely broken team composition and Mirror Dungeon grinding (in which the latter is actually very cool because Mirror Dungeons suck)
The story, while great on its own, is nowhere near the same quality as the previous two Project Moon games thus far. Characters are overall less developed and less interesting in terms of personality, mindsets, and motives (with a few sole exceptions). I do say thus far since this is a live-service game, which brings me to my most major gripe with this game
Live-service games are a pain in the rear, especially if you have already completed all the current content like I have. The last thing I want to do for a game that I sink so much time into is to constantly wait for the next big thing, whether it's an ID or a Canto. Some people don't mind that; more power to them, but I think fundamentally it's not fun
While this game is a lot more forgiving with free content than basically any other gacha to exist, that doesn't nullify the fact that gacha games are inherently predatory and can become a major issue for some people. A friend of mine suffers from impulse control issues-- she went through Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina just fine, but she told me she cannot control herself with this game. The reasoning is, well, because it's a gacha game, and for people like her (and me, to some extent) it's extremely hard to keep yourself in check and figure out what you TRULY want. I understand that the only reason this is a gacha game is to fund future projects, but that will not stop me from critiquing the gacha medium as a whole. Do not play this game if you have impulse control issues, obviously
Limbus Company is an alright game. You can indeed use some amount of brainpower for genuinely engaging gameplay moments. You can read the wonderfully-crafted story and fall in love with all the various characters. But this should not be your first Project Moon game, and in my opinion, it should not be a Project Moon game you play at all. Maybe it'll improve in the next few years, but as it stands right now, this is not worth playing whatsoever
