by Gamatroid
As Kulebra you’ll explore Limbo, a vibrant, Latin American flavored afterlife full of danger, intrigue, humor, sneakery, and deep, dark mystery. You’ll be using many tricks and skills to help the colourful (literally) residents of Limbo accept and embrace their issues of loss, trauma, and the consequences of not letting go as they repeat their days again, and again.
KULEBRA AND THE SOULS OF LIMBO
- RELEASE DATE: 5/16/25
- MSRP: $19.99
- DEVELOPER: Galla
- PUBLISHER: Fellow Traveller
- PLATFORMS: Xbox, Switch and PC(Steam)
- PLAYED ON: Xbox (Gamepass)
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo recently released day one onto Gamepass, just a few days after DOOM The Dark Ages launched, and frankly it's a miracle I even downloaded it and gave it a chance.
I'm so glad I did.
In Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, you play as Kulebra, a "shining bright soul" who helps those lost in Limbo to resolve their dilemma's and help them move on.
Screenshots don't do Kulebra justice, as it looks to have the same 2-D art style that tons of modern games seem to have, and if it was a strictly two-dimensional game, that might have been the case.
Luckily, Kulebra has more in common with Paper Mario's visual style than it does anything else. This means that each character and set piece looks like a decorated cardboard cutout moving around the beautiful world they designed, but you really have to see it in motion to fully appreciate it.
The game is what I would call "gameplay-lite" meaning it has much more to do with dialogue and unlocking the next bit of story than with hardcore gameplay, puzzle-solving, or platforming. The gameplay that does exists consists of moving around the environments, solving light puzzles, doing fetch-quests for the various characters you meet, and defeating bosses through a quiz-like format that calls on you to remember various bits of information about the characters of the current level you are on. Of course, you can refer to a diary in case you don't recall a specific fact. This is certainly a game where its more about the journey than the destination. I recommend taking your time, and if the gameplay starts to feel a bit tedious, just take a break and come back to it later. I powered through it to complete the game and be able to review it, but I don't recommend that approach.
RETRO ROOTS
While the gameplay of Kulebra is rooted in light puzzle-solving, the look and feel of the game seems to be very much inspired by Paper Mario, which started on the Nintendo 64 back in the year 2000.
Paper Mario
Paper Mario is just the graphical inspiration for Kulebra, however, since its gameplay was quite different, being more RPG-like than the way you play in Kulebra. The way the characters are made out of paper cutouts in Paper Mario, is also much more pronounced than in Kulebra, since the characters in it have a little more depth to them; think of it like Kulebra's characters being made out of cardboard, while Paper Mario is made out of thin paper sheets.
REVIEW
SCORES OUT OF 10
Gameplay & Mechanics: 7
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is what I call "gameplay-lite". It consists of moving around the environments, bumping into things to knock items loose, doing a lot of talking with various characters, solving some
Visuals & Art Direction: 9
One place where Kulebra really excels is its visuals. The whole game looks beautiful, and its cardboard cutout aesthetic is really great. Screenshots really don't do this game justice. Make sure to check out my video to see it in action.
Audio & Music: 8
The music in Kulebra fits the theme and story very well. While its OST isn't anything I'm going to rush out to buy, it does a great job supporting the narrative, and in its way is beautiful and well designed. The "spoken" audio of the NPC characters is great as well. The characters speak in gibberish that gives you a sense of the character's voice and tone, yet it isn't fully spoken audio, so you still read the dialogue and don't risk janky voice acting ruining an otherwise great experience.
The primary story of Kulebra isn't anything that special, as you are a spirit in limbo helping other spirits resolve issues and move on, however it's the style of the writing and its wit and humor that really elevate what could otherwise being a pretty bland story. Since Kulebra is rather light on gameplay, you could say this is one of the most important parts of the game. I genuinely really enjoyed seeing each character's story play out, and the silly twists the writers would throw at you. I would say that it's really good, but not especially ground breaking.
Technical Performance: 9
I played Kulebra on Xbox Series S via Gamepass, and I didn't encounter any issues with it at all. In fact I can't recall a single glitch or situation where I had any problems. Very solid overall.
Innovation & Originality: 7
As I discussed a bit in the story section, the overarching story in Kulebra is a well worn trope of spirits being trapped in Limbo, and someone helping them to resolve the issues keeping them trapped and let them move on. The gameplay is rather light as well, and I wouldn't call it especially innovative (except for the lockpicking mechanic - which was surprisingly fresh). But the way the narrative throws you funny curveballs for each story, and the humor injected, does form the foundation for Kulebra's originality, and it does a good job at that.
Value: 7
Kulebra retails for $19.99, but it was also available Day One on Xbox Gamepass, which is how I played it. On Gamepass, this is exactly the kind of game I like to see on subscription services, since the barrier for people to try it is very low, and only a download away. More opportunity cost than anything else, and I might not have given this game a try if it hadn't been on Gamepass. So if you play Kulebra on Gamepass I think it's an outstanding value. The game is still really fun even if someone pays the full retail price, but of course this puts a bit more pressure on the experience since there are a lot of games you could buy for $19.99. If I had to pay retail price, I would probably wait for a sale.
Score Summary
- 7 - Gameplay & Mechanics
- 9 - Visuals & Art Direction
- 8 - Audio & Music
- 8 - Story & Narrative
- 9 - Technical Performance
- 7 - Innovation & Originality
- 7 - Value
OVERALL SCORE: 7
Kulebra is beautiful and its narrative is funny and engaging, but its gameplay is somewhat uninspired and can feel tedious if you play it for extended periods of time (at least that was my experience). My biggest regret is that I tried to power through the game quickly so I could write this review, and as a result I got a bit fatigued in certain parts and it started to feel more like homework than an enjoyable experience. What I would recommend is to play Kulebra in shorter sessions and really take your time with it. It's not a long game, and the gameplay is fine as long as you don't do it for too long at any given time. The gameplay is not bad, but it's not really great either. Still a very enjoyable experience, and if you have Xbox Gamepass I 100% recommend you download it and give it a try. It's totally worth it.
CRITICS CORNER
In looking at other critic reviews and user ratings, the scores for Kulebra are very similar to my own, right around a 7, which is Average/Solid. I would scored it higher if the gameplay didn't get rather tedious after a while.
(Gamatroid's score compared to other critics and user ratings publications - normalized score out of ten shown first, followed by raw score if applicable)
- Gamatroid Gaming: 7/10
- Screen Rant: 7/10
- Dual Shockers: 7.5/10
- XboxEra: 6/10
- Xbox User Rating: 8.4/10 (4.2/5 raw)
- Steam User Rating: 9.8/10 (98/100 raw)
You can check out my beginning gameplay from Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo in the YouTube video below: