Penumbra (computer game)
| Penumbra | |
|---|---|
| developer |
 Frictional Games
|
| Publisher |
Paradox Interactive
|
| Designer | Thomas Grip, Tom Jubert, Jens Nilsson |
| First title | Penumbra: Overture (2007) |
| Last title | Penumbra: Requiem (2008) |
| Platform (s) | Windows , macOS , Linux |
| Genre (s) | Survival horror , horror adventure |
Penumbra (for "Latin penumbra ") is an (originally a trilogy planned) computer game - two pieces of independent Swedish game developer Frictional Games , which internationally by Paradox Interactive has been sold. It is a horror adventure game that is played from the first person perspective .
Penumbra: Overture
| Penumbra: Overture | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
Frictional Games
|
||
| Publisher |
Paradox Interactive Lexicon Entertainment Got Game Entertainment Strategy First  
|
||
| Senior Developer | Thomas Grip Tom Jubert Jens Nilsson |
||
| composer | Mikko Tarmia | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Windows March 30, 2007 Linux May 25, 2007 macOS January 10, 2008 Steam March 7, 2009 Source code May 14, 2010 |
||
| platform |
Windows macOS Linux |
||
| Game engine | HPL Engine 1 | ||
| genre | Survival horror , horror adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard | ||
| language | German | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
action
In Penumbra: Overture (German title: Penumbra - Im Halbschatten ) the protagonist, the young physics student Philip, receives a letter from his father, who was believed to be dead, after the sudden death of his mother. A key for a bank box is enclosed with the letter . His father asks Philip to destroy all documents in the relevant compartment. Philip decides to heed this request, but instead of destroying the documents, he studies them and, in addition to cryptic writings, discovers some geographic coordinates that lead to a remote place in northern Greenland . He decides to get to the bottom of the matter and takes a ship to Greenland.
There Philip finds the entrance shaft of an abandoned mining facility . There the player must look for clues to the father. There are various puzzles to be solved in order to progress.
In the further course you get to know the only survivor in the mine, an insane foreman named Red, who leads the player to him with puzzling clues. At the final meeting with Red, he persuades the player, hiding in an oven, to turn on the oven and thus kill him. This gives you a key and access to the interior of the facility. On the way there you get knocked down and the game ends.
Game principle and technology
You move freely in a three-dimensional world that is perceived from the first person perspective . There are also typical adventure elements such as actively searching through cupboards and boxes as well as combining objects in an inventory. Searching and moving objects is implemented in the game in such a way that the movement sequences that are necessary to open a drawer , for example , have to be carried out in their actual sense. The player has to grab the drawer and pull the mouse back to actually open the drawer.
Various simple puzzles have to be solved by means of the physics engine and the aforementioned control principle. These are mostly very linear courses of action, and you rarely have the opportunity to come to a result in different ways.
Production notes
In the run-up to the sales versions, a free tech demo was released in 2006 , in which the physics engine , rough information on the storyline and the new control principle were presented. The first part, Penumbra: Overture , was released on March 30, 2007 and was distributed in Germany by Kalypso Media and is the only one completely available in German.
Penumbra: Black Plague
| Penumbra: Black Plague | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
Frictional Games
|
||
| Publisher |
Paradox Interactive
|
||
| Senior Developer | Thomas Grip Tom Jubert Jens Nilsson |
||
| composer | Mikko Tarmia | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Windows : February 12, 2008 macOS , Linux May 13, 2008 Steam March 13, 2009 |
||
| platform |
Windows macOS Linux |
||
| Game engine | HPL Engine 1 | ||
| genre | Survival horror , horror adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard | ||
| language | English with German subtitles | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
action
Penumbra: Black Plague (engl. "Black Plague ") aims at the end of the first part. The player (Philip) wakes up in a locked room and hears someone being murdered in the next room. The player can escape through a ventilation shaft and finds himself in a secret research station, the shelter . Almost all of the station's crew are infected by a strange virus that killed or mutated most of them.
Shortly after entering the main facility, the last survivor of the research station, Dr. Swanson, who asks the player to free her. On the other hand, due to various symptoms , the player realizes that Philip is also infected. His mind is subsequently occupied by a being who gives himself the name Clarence and is able to manipulate Philips' senses and thus what is happening on the screen . In the further course of the game you find the corpse of Philips father Howard. His records shed light on the true background of the deadly virus. It's a kind of collective intelligence . Clarence, however, has no contact and develops her own evil personality . Dr. Swanson promises Philip to cure him - and drive Clarence away. Clarence wants to prevent this from happening, and this eventually leads to the player Dr. Swanson slays.
Nevertheless, the player finds in Dr. Swanson's office a guide to a cure . It comes to the final showdown with Clarence, who receives his own body by taking the remedy and attacks the player. The collective intelligence destroys Clarence and protects the player. Contact is made and the player is subjected to some kind of mental test that revolves around the principles of a society of individuals .
In the end, Philip sends an email with the coordinates of the station and the call to destroy the collective intelligence.
Game principle and technology
The control essentially corresponds to that of the predecessor. However, weapons have been permanently removed. The player is now forced to flee from his opponents and can only throw objects at them to briefly distract them.
As in the predecessor, there are simple combination and physics puzzles, i. H. the player has to move or change boxes and other material in the area in order to progress.
Production notes
The second independent title of the two- parter was Penumbra: Black Plague on February 15, 2008. The game only had English voice output, but provided German subtitles.
Penumbra: Requiem
| Penumbra: Requiem | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
Frictional Games
|
||
| Publisher |
Paradox Interactive
|
||
| Senior Developer | Tom Jubert Thomas Grip Jens Nilsson |
||
| composer | Mikko Tarmia | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Windows August 27, 2008 macOS , Linux November 17, 2008 |
||
| platform |
Windows macOS Linux |
||
| Game engine | HPL Engine 1 | ||
| genre | Survival horror , horror adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard | ||
| language | English with German subtitles | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
Penumbra: Requiem (for “funeral mass”) is designed as an add-on for the second part of Penumbra: Black Plague and cannot be run without the main game. It was released on August 27, 2008 for Windows and November 17, 2008 for Mac OS X and Linux. The add-on replaces the originally planned third part of the series. Work on the follow-up game Amnesia: The Dark Descent began during development .
action
The add-on continues the main game's action from the moment the message is posted. The player experiences in a short sequence how he is knocked down from behind while standing in front of the computer . You wake up in a vault from which you have to come out via portals using keystones hidden in the room . These lead the player into further rooms in which you have to find the keystones again in order to get through the portals.
After the player solves the last puzzle and travels through the portal, he finds himself in the room in which Red hid himself in the furnace in the first part. You now have the choice, either you go mad and enter the oven to die with Red; or you leave the room through the door and find yourself in the ship, where you can start your journey again.
Game principle and technology
Penumbra: Requiem has a strong focus on various physics puzzles, such as repairing an engine or restoring a work system with the help of gears . These workflows are linear and cannot be solved in any other way. Working with the inventory is limited to picking up the stone keys and painkillers.
Production notes
Penumbra: Like its predecessor, Requiem only has English voice output, but German subtitles.
Reviews
Penumbra: Overture
The first part of the game was largely received positively. The new control and the first person perspective were the main arguments of the proponents, as well as the atmosphere successfully staged by lighting effects and background noises . However, critics found the combat system, which included swinging back with the weapon, too difficult. The sometimes monotonous graphics were also criticized. The overall poor voice output also gave reason for criticism.
Penumbra: Black Plague
The second part of the Penumbra series received better reviews than its predecessor on average. The complete removal of weapons from the game and the slightly better graphics quality were praised. The varied puzzles to be solved and the introduction of a tutorial on how to control the game were also viewed as positive. However, the lack of a German language version is noticeable negatively. The trade magazine Adventure Gamers placed Penumbra: Black Plague in 2011 in its list of Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games at number 87.
Penumbra: Requiem
In the add-on, the atmosphere suffers mainly due to the lack of opponents. Likewise, the lack of a real story behind the player's actions was criticized, whereas the more complicated physics puzzles that make the game an adventure were positively received.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Penumbra: Overture, HPL1 Engine And OALWrapper Released As Open Source Linux Gaming News, May 14, 2010
- ↑ Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Interview with Frictional Games about Penumbra and the future (English)
- ^ Penumbra: Overture Review - PC Preview at IGN IGN
- ↑ Penumbra 2 - Black Plague - Review ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Adventure archive
- ↑ Penumbra: Black Plague Review - PC Preview at IGN IGN
- ↑ Test: Penumbra: Black Plague. In: Adventure-Treff . March 13, 2008, accessed August 15, 2019 .
- ↑ AdventureGamers.com: Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games. Retrieved January 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Penumbra: Requiem Review - PC Preview at IGN IGN
