The people who made this game understand perfectly well that being isolated, defenceless and confused\/disoriented\/in doubt of your sanity\u00a0is an ideal recipe for horror. There\u2019s really nothing scarier than what an over-active imagination can conjure up, even if the game also contains very real hostiles who want nothing more than a tasty physicist snack or some chopping practice. Imagine for a moment how it would Penumbra<\/em> takes place in first person, with a hand cursor on the screen to handle interactions. It uses a physics engine, whereby controls and movement are influenced by gravity. Say you\u2019re trying to roll a boulder: not only do you need to mimic the movement, but it\u2019ll also keep rolling if it\u2019s on a surface where it would be realistically expected to roll. Same thing when trying to spin a valve or pull out a drawer. It takes The game\u2019s major downside is combat, but, thankfully, it\u2019s only a factor in Overture<\/em>. Philip\u2019s only weapons are a hammer, a pickaxe or debris he can pick up and throw. And let\u2019s just say that ‘imprecise’ doesn\u2019t even begin to describe what swinging a pickaxe with that type of game engine is like; ‘extremely frustrating’ is probably a better description. Black Plague<\/em> mercifully does away with weapons altogether, but not hostile Other things which might cause minor annoyance are some of the textures (eg.\u00a0rubbish bags on the floor which should be 3-dimensional, but aren\u2019t) and one particular voice actor. There\u2019s also very little in the way of optional things to do, only a bunch of statuettes located in improbable places, which you can collect to unlock some Easter eggs on a subsequent playthrough. They’re rather underwhelming, though, so I ![\"That](\"https:\/\/grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/penumbra-over-2.jpg\" "\\"That")
<\/a>It\u2019s off the beaten track that you often come across the most interesting things. This applies to videogames in general, and the horror genre in particular. Like the infamous shortcut through the woods without which some horror films wouldn\u2019t exist, taking a turn into indie title territory\u00a0can yield spectacular results. Penumbra<\/em> is a shining example of just such a lucky find. Created by a small Swedish company called Frictional Games, it displays such a mastery of the mechanisms of fear that it simply begs to be tried out. If Dead Space<\/em> left you unimpressed, Silent Hill<\/em> barely affected you and even Fatal Frame<\/em> didn\u2019t quite do the trick, or if you\u2019re simply looking to broaden your horror horizons, do try this one on for size. Sure,\u00a0the game\u00a0has its kinks and flaws, and it’s pretty clear that\u00a0it wasn’t made on a big budget, but let it not be said that more is better. None of the aforementioned games\u00a0have scared me to this extent.<\/p>\n<\/a>Penumbra<\/em> is technically a trilogy, consisting of Overture<\/em>, Black Plague<\/em> and Requiem<\/em>. However, considering the three games have one common protagonist and storyline\u2013which has all the makings of a good X-Files<\/em> episode\u2013, take place in immediate succession, are each\u00a0rather short\u00a0and use the same gameplay, it makes sense to view them as a whole. The story\u00a0is narrated in what you eventually find out\u00a0is an e-mail by\u00a0Philip,\u00a0a 30-year-old physicist\u00a0with an estranged\u00a0father.\u00a0On\u00a0the day of his mother\u2019s funeral, he receives a mysterious letter from said father, directing him to a deposit box in a bank and instructing him to burn everything he finds in there without asking any questions or attempting to locate him. The box\u00a0contains an indecipherable journal, <\/a>but also a set of coordinates, which point to somewhere in Northern Greenland. Three guesses as to what Philip decides to do. The coordinates designate an abandoned mine, where he soon discovers that something is very wrong. You\u2019d think that any sensible person would just try to get the hell out, but curiosity is a powerful drive. It also has a nasty habit of terminating inquisitive felines. But I digress.<\/p>\n<\/a>feel to be stuck in an abandoned mine in the middle of nowhere with strange whispers periodically fading in and out of your hearing range (my god, the pause menu in Overture<\/em>\u2026), alarming messages left behind by miners and scientists whose corpses you periodically come across, bizarre Inuit artefacts that give you out-of-body experiences (those are the save points), escape and concealment as your best means of defence, and god-knows-what prowling in the shadows. Philip\u2019s frightened\u00a0gasps, which punctuate some of the more intense events, really don\u2019t help. Contrary to what you might expect, there are other people down there\u2026But a) you can count them on the fingers of one hand, b) they\u2019re really not all that helpful\u2026or reassuring, for that matter, and c) Philip begins and ends the game alone; you do the math. I find that these additional characters\u00a0only serve to exacerbate the\u00a0deep sense of loneliness and fear the game instils, with help from a minimalistic, cold and forlorn-sounding\u00a0musical track. Black Plague<\/em> also adds a nasty\u2013and very successfully\u00a0<\/a>executed, might I add\u2013twist into the bargain, whereby Philip finds that he can no longer trust his perception. I would also like to\u00a0remark that, if you manage to get through the kennels in Black Plague<\/em> without having to pause the game to collect yourself at least once (especially with headphones on), you\u2019re a better man (or woman) than I.<\/p>\n<\/a>some getting used to, but the game gives you adequate time to ease into it. Other than that, there\u2019s a basic inventory, available at the press of a key, which you can also use to combine items or assign them to keyboard shortcuts, as well as check on Philip\u2019s general health (which regenerates over time if he gets hurt and can be remedied with painkillers) and the state of the flashlight\u2019s batteries.\u00a0However, since the glowstick is just as useful as the flashlight\u00a0and doesn\u2019t need batteries, this is a moot point. There’s\u00a0also a journal,\u00a0in which\u00a0Philip collects the various notes he picks up, as well as jotting down his thoughts on what to do next.<\/p>\n<\/a>creatures, thus ramping up the fear factor. Philip can still try fighting them by throwing debris, but it\u2019s really not safe and takes so long that you should understand that you\u2019re simply not meant to do it. The point is that Philip, being a physicist, and not, say, a marine, is just no good in a straight-up fight. What\u2019s more, he\u2019s actually not half bad at hiding: enemies are far<\/em> less likely to notice him if he crouches in a dark corner with his flashlight or glowstick off. The game even automatically switches to night-vision when he crouches undisturbed for a\u00a0couple of\u00a0seconds: this is signalled by a relieved sigh, a slight change of angle and everything taking on a bluish tint. Conversely, you\u2019ll find that\u00a0staring directly at an enemy for too long will make him panic, jolt out of night-vision and become more noticeable.<\/p>\n<\/a>Another part which might disappoint some people is Requiem<\/em>. Developed as an expansion to Black Plague<\/em>, it serves as a sort of coda to the storyline. It\u2019s much shorter than its predecessors, and while it looks and feels similar, it\u2019s also more unorthodox, in that it clearly doesn\u2019t take place in reality, as indicated by\u00a0several not-so-subtle hints…such as exploding ketchup bottles or infinite batteries.\u00a0There are also no\u00a0enemies. Or well\u2026no real<\/em> enemies. Just a succession of puzzles. And while some of them are set in rather disturbing environments, the fact that there\u2019s no actual threat of bodily harm, except from falling, does tend to somewhat defuse the sense of fear, which may be disappointing. Still, once you figure out why Requiem<\/em> is the way it is, I find that it\u2019s not a bad conclusion to the game. Certainly atypical, but\u2026why not? It also has two endings, one of which is more obvious than the other,\u00a0but this is the only game I know of where the “hidden” ending is actually the bad<\/em> one.<\/p>\n<\/a>shouldn’t worry if you can’t find all the statuettes. Just goes to show that replayability isn\u2019t exactly the game\u2019s strong suit. Still,\u00a0I\u00a0find that none of this quite mars its effectiveness. If you\u2019re receptive to psychological horror, you’re in for a treat. Just don\u2019t be surprised if you find yourself\u00a0too frightened to turn a corner or open a door, every once in a while. It certainly happened to me on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n