Last month, Penumbra had a special weekend where you could buy the collection (Overture, Black Plague, and Requiem) for only US$5 (which, at the time, came to $6.66).
I’d previously played the Penumbra tech demo, which didn’t have any storyline, but showed me that the game had a big emphasis on physics and interaction. The actual Penumbra game makes very clever use of physics to create a very interesting and challenging puzzle game, with game graphics, including awesome shadow effects, that create a very spooky atmosphere.
Turns out that they have a Linux version of the game, so of course that is what I bought for the special.
Penumbra is a horror series, which, I have to admit, is not my cup of tea. I cannot play scary games in the dark, and the slightest noise or puff of dust makes me jump. However, the intriguing storyline kept me playing. A friend of mine, Josh, who also bought the series about a year ago, tells me that the storyline is very Lovecraftian. Having never read a Lovecraft book, I will have to trust his observation.
Throughout the series, you navigate areas which are mapped out and labelled. Unfortunately, after you get near the end of the series, getting to a new area, and being presented with a new map feels like eating stale bread — rather repetitive.
Throughout Overture, the first episode of the series, are savage dogs that guard many of the areas. The dogs were the only real enemies in Overture, and the only creatures that you could kill. Killing the dogs was painfully repetitive — I would throw an object at it to stun it, and then hack at it with the pickaxe until it died.
However, I did like many of the puzzle elements of the series. Having to decode morse code coming in through the radio, and working out how to open a door without the key in it come to mind immediately.
The horror elements of the game were certainly well done, and actually served a second purpose: I dreaded going on to another area because I knew there would be more horrible surprises waiting for me, so I spent more time in existing areas paying attention to detail, reading notes, trying to find additional clues, etc.
Black Plague, the second episode, I felt had more variety, but the addition of Clarence, an alter ego voice inside your head that is apparently a symptom of your ‘infection’, kind of spoiled a lot of the sequences. It was interesting that though the storyline was wrapped up in the end, it wasn’t a very happy end. Josh tells me that is typical of Lovecraftian stories.
Not only that, but Black Plague was plagued (heh heh) with bugs. There was an area where you would walk into a small room, and the door would close behind you, trapping you in with a giant worm that you had to figure out how to kill. The door, however, got stuck (or possibly moved the wrong way), and didn’t close.
Also, in another area, I had to lead a zombie into a room full of cyanide gas and trap it in. However, the door failed to close (I checked walkthroughs later on, and the door was definitely meant to close), and just shuddered and made a looping sound. Luckily, the zombie disappeared anyway, as it was scripted to do that. In the same area, I had to program computer “interface cards”, and slot them into a “server” to activate a computer terminal. Unfortunately, the interface cards kept getting stuck in the slots on the server, so I had to keep reloading from a saved game until it worked.
Requiem is mainly focused on puzzles, so I haven’t played much of that yet. Penumbra minus the storyline is only half the game.
All in all, I think Penumbra is a great series that despite not being made by a zillion-dollar company has realistic horror, an engaging storyline, challenging puzzles, and satisfying physics.
