Okay, so the last 10 minutes or so of the game was a bunch of pretty neat gravity stuff where the trial-and-error wasn’t bothersome either. The sunk cost fallacy paid off, mostly. So time for my direct post-finishing verdict.
The vast majority of the difficulty in Limbo comes from the imprecise controls coupled with timing puzzles. Most deaths are cheap. In rare circumstances you can see the puzzle or the beginnings of it, but often you have to die first to tell. It’s a par for the course trial-and-error rage game with far above average atmosphere that fairly easily carries you through the first hour.
This game coaxes by on its atmosphere and that works a lot better than you might expect. Occasionally it has glimpses of interesting ideas, like forcing you to go one way with a brain control parasite on your head, only to have to make your way back afterward. The game finishes very strongly with a bunch of gravity related puzzles.
Final verdict: the puzzles mostly rely on poor controls. There’s way too much filler, which is odd for a 3-hour game. It looks very nice. Certainly not recommended for €10. Play VVVVVV instead for a conceptually similar yet vastly superior experience. The ending sequence of Limbo is where it’s at its best, and yet it’s a less enjoyable version of some of the worst parts of VVVVVV.