Penumbra - it's good.

[DraQ]

I've heard it's lovecraftian and atmospheric as hell - I take it as yes?

 

[Raapys]

Excellent. At least the two first ones, got bored in the third one.

 

[Hory]

Finished the first part and found it boring. It's just crawling through vent ducts. I don't want this kind of gameplay, regardless of how well the atmosphere is done.

 

[Wild Slop]

Same.
I heard it mentioned around here before so go it.
Now I'm wondering if I should ever bother installing the next 2 expansions.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Do it. Not Lovecraftian, but atmospheric as fuck.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

Penumbra

It's vaguely, indirectly Lovecraftian (doesn't use the Cthulhu mythos per se, but the overall "cosmic horror" ambiance, frozen polar setting and names of certain characters all hint at HPL). Good story and puzzles, great atmosphere.
Level design (as in: levels of the mine in Greenland the game takes place in) has its flaws (the basic layout of rooms and tunnels is fairly similar for each level, albeit with enough variation in content). Crawling through duct vents (and crawling in general) does play a role, but never bothered me. It fits with the setting.
Second game is fairly similar, the third is actually an expansion of the second, with nothing but puzzles.

 

[Squirly]

Terrifying. Never even finished the first one because I got to fucking scared.

I'm a pussy.

 

[DraQ]

Ok, I'm playing already and it's one of very few games that have actually penetrated my super-assburgers fear shield.

Only X18 in STALKER was comparable (and this partly due to superior graphic engine, and enemies far cooler than some stupid dogs), but in STALKER you weren't practically unarmed, even if you had to ration your ammo and not panic while shooting - here you are - flimsy hammer combined with daggerfall-like, but more clumsy combat controls and mobile enemies, together effectively simulating character's utter ineptitude at melee combat make fighting an excessively bad idea. The character is a pretty good sneak, though (if he doesn't panic).

 

[Squirly]

Just don't look at it. Don't look.

Don't.

 

[Multidirectional]

For some reason only games that can truly scare are first three Silent Hill installments. However, Penumbra is tense at the very least. Great atmospheric experience.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

First two qualify as the reinvention of adventure games into something wonderful.

I want to imitate it badly, that's the sincerest form of flattery I can come up with. Truly engaging at all levels. Lovecraft + The Thing + Every genuinely immersive horror story you've ever read.

If you can get your hands on it try the original beta demo, it was pretty spectacular as well and free.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Finished the first part and found it boring. It's just crawling through vent ducts. I don't want this kind of gameplay, regardless of how well the atmosphere is done.

I'd have to disagree. The story was weak and was not resolved satisfactorily but the overall immersiveness was easily worth the price of the game.

Imagine if somebody who could actually put together a decent story could also put together a Penumbra-style game. That would be good.

 

[Wild Slop]

and combat (or rather violent encounters ) would need much fixing.
I never expected much and do like how its severely discouraged , still.

But yeah my initial impression was this is sort of like first person point and click adventure.
Really enjoy the manually creaking open the doors aspect - adds much to the atmosphere (though at times certain interactions came off clunky).

 

[DraQ]

and combat (or rather violent encounters ) would need much fixing.
I never expected much and do like how its severely discouraged , still.

But yeah my initial impression was this is sort of like first person point and click adventure.
Really enjoy the manually creaking open the doors aspect - adds much to the atmosphere (though at times certain interactions came off clunky).

More like click and sneak.

 

[DraQ]

Ok, finished the Overture-Black Plague duology.

Good games, but, before delving into their more or less awesome aspects, a little rant:

If you make a chemistry/physics/biology/astronomy/ancient Greek/ballet/etc. based puzzle in your game, either DO YOUR FUCKING HOMEWORK, or hide the puzzle components under uninformative (and thus inoffensive) designations, like numbers or something "blahblah... I know you're not a chemist, so I labelled the containers with numbers, so you won't risk confusing the chemicals".

I'm dead serious, whenever I encounter this kind of puzzle in a game, I can bet it'll make me feel extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Given that doing your homework is perfectly possible, as evidenced by Deus Ex and fact that it usually amounts to 2-4h of rummaging through wikipedia/google scholar and that it greatly reduces bewilderment and disgust of players who happen to be well versed on the subject, while also earning their appreciation, not doing homework is not an option.

Now, back to the games:

Overture was atmospheric - eerie green light of your glowstick, sneaking, panic mechanics and awkward combat greatly helped here - if crude in some places. It was also bug-free, which is a nice surprise.
I loved the part where you had to

Spoiler

crawl across the frozen underground lake

, another memorable moment was the

Spoiler

UV room

.

The only problems (apart from stuff detailed in my rant) were:
Enemies being rather poorly animated, very limited in variety

Spoiler

apart from occasional scripted huge worm there were two types - actually deadly zombified dogs and mildly dangerous spiders[/quote] and not terribly alien - once you realized that you probably won't encounter any actual eldritch abomination from out-of-space, the atmosphere degraded a lot.
The puzzles were disappointingly simple, I only used the walkthrough twice - once because I failed to notice a crucial note in complete darkness in rather unexpected place, and second time, because I got annoyed by a puzzle involving remembering (or writing down) a prolonged pattern of steam ventings, so I just sought the pattern online - I abhor timed dexterity puzzles, as well as "learn by dying" if you haven't noticed.
Also,

Spoiler

Red's death failed to hit me until I've explored his room - it was a bit too much of a "Wut?" moment, despite the nicely done inability to turn the incinerator off, so I guess they kind of dropped the ball here

.


Black Plague was kind of a mixed bag.
First things first - the bugs. The bugs weren't numerous, but most were aggravating and disorienting.
First bug to hit me was that

Spoiler

lighting up the barrel failed to trigger the fire alarm

. After the ordeal of patching up the Polish version of the game, I was hit by a very disorienting bug involving two doors not properly closing, despite behaving as if they have. While not blocking progress it was probably the most disorienting and immersion breaking bug I've ever encountered in a game. It also forced me to check the solution, as I wasn't sure what's happening.
Apart from bugs there was a handful of dismaying things in the game, first was inability to fight - while the combat was mostly not an option in Overture, it was nice, and realistic, to have such capability. Complete lack of ability to grab a tool and whack someone over the head with it felt forced in Black Plague.
Second, were attempts at comic relief - don't. If you make a horror hinging entirely on suspension of disbelief, suspense, tension and atmosphere, just don't try to add comic relief to it, unless you'd bet your both balls that you can be really subtle about it.
Third,

Spoiler

"Clarence" - he *was* too human and his incessant babbling detracted from experience, even though him messing around with protagonist's brain created several excellent mindfucks and one high-calibre playerpunch. They should have toned his, hm, 'verbal aspect' way down.

.
Fourth - explosives, namely visible lasers and the fact that protagonist can disarm them. He wouldn't.
Fifth - the 'hide and seek' derived atmosphere is greatly reduced and the environments brighter and much less creepy.
Sixth - the chemical puzzle is back and it's shit.

On the other hand, the dream sequences were deliciously twisted and the overall atmosphere is still there, although different.
The puzzles, although still simple, improved in quality and required much more thinking.
The execution was much less crude than in Overture.
Finally, the ending was cool and rather unexpected.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Apart from bugs there was a handful of dismaying things in the game, first was inability to fight - while the combat was mostly not an option in Overture, it was nice, and realistic, to have such capability. Complete lack of ability to grab a tool and whack someone over the head with it felt forced in Black Plague.

I didn't mind it. In the later parts of Overture, the dogs and spiders annoyed me so much that I didn't bother sneaking or running away and just bashed them all to hell. Black Plague had a lot less enemies, and hiding from them was a lot more fun for me. Although, their 'lightning speed' made running away too easy.

Second, were attempts at comic relief - don't. If you make a horror hinging entirely on suspension of disbelief, suspense, tension and atmosphere, just don't try to add comic relief to it, unless you'd bet your both balls that you can be really subtle about it.
Third,

Spoiler

"Clarence" - he *was* too human and his incessant babbling detracted from experience, even though him messing around with protagonist's brain created several excellent mindfucks and one high-calibre playerpunch. They should have toned his, hm, 'verbal aspect' way down.

.

Spoiler

Disagree. I think Clarence was great from start to finish, his 'comic relief' moments included. That annoying, 'ranting old guy' voice that kept yakking all the time, distracting you from the task at hand (because that WAS his goal, after all) and mocking you was splendid, since his very 'human' nature makes you wonder whether you really have some strange cosmic shit in your head or are you just schizoid. Plus, everything he 'knew' was taken from the protagonist's mind, so it feels 'logical' that he'd also take some forms of human behaviours, such as sarcasm or mockery. I thought that Clarence wasn't the problem, but the 'trapped doctor chick' was. I felt that her presence was completely forced, not to mention the times she contacts you, and her monologues were mostly plain and utter nonsense. It also took away a lot of the feeling of seclusion present in Overture.

Finally, the ending was cool and rather unexpected.

Again, I disagree.

Spoiler

While the series of 'tests' to which you are taken by the Turngaait (spelling?) was neat, the very end was stupid. 'I HAFTA THINK... *looks at poster* NO I HAFTA THINK MOAR... *looks at some totally unrelated random shit x10* YES, I THINK I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ENUFF! *writes email*

.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

i also found the ending of black plague to be a bit... boring...

Overture is, in my opinion, the superior game of the two.

 

[Pussycat669]

Given that doing your homework is perfectly possible, as evidenced by Deus Ex

DX had puzzles? Where?

 

[Kingston]

Lack of Red makes Black Plague a bit worse, maybe. They are both superb games, though.

 

[DraQ]

Given that doing your homework is perfectly possible, as evidenced by Deus Ex

DX had puzzles? Where?

No, but it had ample evidence of homework well done. See description of combat strength augmentation, for instance.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I haven't got far (horror is not my genre) but I find Penumbra is excellent.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Since no one has mentioned it, you can get the pack of all 3 for $5 on Steam this weekend. Picked them up and have done a bit of the first one, seems neat.

 

[DraQ]

I've got pack of first two in "Top Seller" series.

 

[asper]

Since no one has mentioned it, you can get the pack of all 3 for $5 on Steam this weekend. Picked them up and have done a bit of the first one, seems neat.

Thanks for the heads-up. Wanted to buy this for a long time, but 20+ euros was just too much.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Penumbra is kind of like M. Night Shymalayan for me. Sure, sometimes his stuff is less than stellar ... but compared to what? Shymalayan's worst flick THE HAPPENING is ten times better than anything Hollywood has otherwise produced in the past decade.

So too, Penumbra, with all it's many flaws and story holes, including glitches in the mechanics of the game, was so much more immersive for me than the latest fragfest. I believe that Penumbra at it's core is really the future of single player games if there is going to be one.

The best way for me to prove it, of course, is to write my own game in a similar style but with a stronger story and narrative.