There are times where we must contemplate death and whatever we think, believe or hope comes afterwards. The entirety of human consciousness has hinged on how we have taken that existential concept and used it to drive our actions. As a result, people have come to act, react and progress with either the presence or absence of “what comes next” in their periphery. In Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, the player is now presented with a fantastically heavy and cosmic concept that our decisions now echo beyond this mortal coil and into the afterlife.

But it is not a tale of condemnation and guilt, nor is it an exalted perception of Heaven and the Hereafter. Instead, you come to find out that death is a lot like life, and what we do not only affects our souls, but also the souls of those we know and meet.

Kulebra doesn’t even have a name when he(?) comes into being in the Limbo, the expansive way station for the dearly departed. Kulebra doesn’t know what happened, why he appears to be a snake, or what landed him in this fantastical realm. However, in short order, he comes to learn that the souls of Limbo are immune to the concept of time and simply cycle the same day over and over. He, and a handful of other beings, are aware of memory and the passage of time, and Kulebra must use that to his advantage. Souls can only move on once they’ve made peace in one form or another: it might be a complex exploration of the loss of a family member, or as simple as losing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Kulebra doesn’t have to help everyone, but his investment in releasing souls will help him discover his own identity.

I’ve got good news and bad news if you came into Kulebra hoping for an adventure similar to Paper Mario. The aesthetics and character design are perfectly suited to the 2D in 3D approach, and the care for maneuverability have been made so that Kulebra has a magnificent time traversing in his colorful, post-mortem world. There’s a lot that is tonally on point with Paper Mario that keeps players engaged in what’s ultimately a very charming and memorable journey, not least of all because of the areas and actions and how they’re executed. This could have easily been done in full 3D or in 2D, but having the dimensional design as it is makes moments of pop and display that really comes across best with an almost cardboard aesthetic for set design and characters.

Additionally, Kulebra and Paper Mario both have a way of slipping some truly shocking information into the game without addressing it directly. My time with Origami King was eye opening as to how ideas like PTSD and loss were dealt with, and I was reminded that Thousand Year Door also covered a fair share of complex and sometimes divisive topics. While it should come as no surprise that death would be a core element to a game set in the Afterlife’s Waiting Room, the specificity of some things really blew me away. Things like generational abuse, abandonment, suicide and controlling relationships all make their appearances in one guise or another. It’s never played for shock value or visceral discomfort, but the moments where you put the pieces together were, frankly, shocking.

In spite of the aforementioned roots, you’ll find no combat, turn based or otherwise, awaiting you in Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo. Instead, a vast majority of the game is spent talking, listening and utilizing the information you glean and the items you find in multiple ways. An early encounter has you fetching flowers for a lonely rock by means of a local flower shop, but multiple conditions sometimes need to be met: the shop owners lost a key, you can only buy flowers if you prove you’re responsible, and so forth. All of the necessary flags to toggle the game into the state it requires are at your fingertips if you’re willing to remember what was said and, more importantly, when to implement this information.

The time system of Kulebra is ideal for the world and the parsing of the tasks to move onto the next whatever. By having a world where most beings reset their memory as the new day dawns, it becomes essential to explore the same locations and interact with the same denizens in the morning, the afternoon and night time to get different reactions. Some locations or items won’t even be available unless it’s the right time of day. Some events won’t trigger unless you take the time to investigate in all three periods. The developers were exceedingly kind by not only having a good progression of time, but giving players plenty of outside influence to affect the speed at which time passes.

Puzzles, which come up fairly frequently, are exceedingly straightforward and fun without any real head scratching moments from start to finish. If you can take a moment to think about the way that anything should logically connect – from combining colors to thinking about numbers in order – you’ll unlock the next sequence of the game without any real hiccups. Some puzzles can even be easily brute forced, like when you’re trying to find constellations in the sky. Hint: the stars that are brighter are probably constellations, and the old astronomer trying to assist you will give you credit as long as you’re at least vaguely in the right area.

Kulebra also handles the forward momentum of the game so damn well that I honestly felt propelled at a good pace without the sensation of getting dragged. Each checkpoint is clear as a bell for what needs to happen next, and the notebook of collected information is invaluable if, like me, you accidentally skipped over an expositional event because you failed to read the “this is a new event” warning. Even with the side quests of helping different, nameless spirits get along with their afterlife, you never encounter a moment where the game feels bloated or aimless. It’s trim and slick, and you flow merrily along with occasional side streets or turns that give you something to see and appreciate but doesn’t knock you off course. For an indie RPG, this is honestly refreshing compared to the gargantuan feeling of many recent RPGs.

One element that still sticks with me are the Soul Marks. While most spirits simply exist in a perpetual loop, occasionally Kulebra will enact something that affects them and creates an instance where they won’t forget. This isn’t always a good thing; a heartbroken father will remember it was you who set up an ill fated meeting with his son. But a majority of them are positive, like getting hot sauce for a bartender who’s run dry, or showing a flamingo concierge that you are a legitimate guest in this hotel. But the phrasing for each mark is not “they will remember this.” Instead, the far more frisson inducing phrase is “They will not forget this.” While subtle, the language of such an indelible mark has far deeper repercussions implied, and you really see the effects of that unfold as the story progresses.

Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo follows a lot of influences in both concept and design. In theory, it carries some of the same traits as Spiritfarer, at least in terms of helping both the living and the dead face death. While Kulebra does need to assist multiple spirits, it falls into a secondary task pretty early on once it’s revealed there’s something darker happening in Limbo, something that’s tainting restless spirits and preventing them from releasing. This malevolent presence brings in a certain degree of intrigue as well as indigenous myth making, as there is a throughline that seems to hail back to tales told around cooking fires. As much as this is a modern game, there is clearly a nod to a story that existed before traditional medium, a spoken word fable of hubris, nemesis and what we learned from ancient ones who were burned by the sun.

This is where up-and-coming developer Galla really shines in having Kulebra be filtered through the magnificent lens of Dia de Los Muertos, a tradition that brings such a humanistic element to death and loss. Instead of having the world of Limbo be gray and shapeless (like the game of the same namesake), the entire game positively explodes with color and personality, giving the sinister undertone of the background villains some much needed relief in terms of visual stimulus. As dark and heavy handed as some of the plot elements become, having a skeletal snake as a driver injects some much needed brevity, and the cultural impact of putting in masks and different, angular designs keeps everything feeling fresh even as it slowly disappears.

Lastly, the soundtrack covers a vast swath of styles and affectations, and I’m here for every moment of it. When we began in Dead Valley, I was fully ready for melancholy piano and string to carry me throughout the entire game; it was fitting and very sweet for the story. But instead we get a full transformation throughout, from some sultry tunes in The Long Boot bar to some incredibly thrash-worthy metal licks during some face melting moments within the final chapter. The choice to also have the speech patterns of each character represented by clips and chirps of not quite talking gave it a distinctly Moon vibe, and I sincerely appreciated it.

The only thing that I truly did not love about Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is that it’s unfinished. Had there simply been an end to the game where I found it, that would be fine. But “finishing” the game brings you to an epilogue that hints at more to come that…simply doesn’t exist. Had I not poked around the Steam forums, I would have driven myself mad trying to figure out what I was or wasn’t doing in order to get back on track. I totally get that there might be more to the tale – the ending was a bit abrupt, but necessarily so – yet having half a pier leading into the ocean is worse than no pier at all. I get the choice, but I don’t agree with it.

But other than that niggling issue, I had such a memorable, gorgeous time with Kulebra. A combination of Paper Mario, Coco and Undertale, this beautiful game brought me on a journey into unknown reaches of empathy, hope and utter heartbreak. It treated the player gently, touching on ideas of life after death without being aggressive or definitive, and it did so with absolute grace. It was a joy to explore, it never flagged, and I was dead set on finding and reading everything. Finally, I am at peace, and I simply must recommend this sweet memento mori to whomever it can reach. I promise: you won’t forget this.

Graphics: 9.5 Beautifully decorated worlds that change with time and influence, accompanied by denizens and characters of all shapes, colors, sizes and motifs. Could not have done better justice to the Paper Mario aesthetic if it had been made in house by Nintendo.	Gameplay: 9.0 Take the concept of an RPG and turn it into an adventure that incorporates paying attention, listening and not being punished too greviously for making a mistake. Puzzles are fun and not overly challenging. Side quests are optional and not daunting. Kulebra handles excellently and can navigate his world in so many different ways.
Sound: 9.5 I would imagine the soundtrack for the afterlife would be different for everyone, and you get just touch after touch of every possible audio delight that you could fathom. Bonus points for the foreboding tones when Dark Spirits appear, plus the eclectic mix of “voices” for every character.	Fun Factor: 9.0 Had I never clicked the continue button to know there was an unfinished ending, this would have been a perfect 10. Even with this flaw, Kulebra was such a searing delight that it burns brightly inside me even now. I hope we get more answers soon, but, for now, the snake has stuck the landing.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is available now on Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo was provided by the publisher.