Game Review: Penumbra: Overture

 Penumbra: Overture

 




Game system: Windows, Linux, Macintosh

Release Date: 30/03/2007

Developer: Frictional Games

Publishers: Frictional Games / Paradox Interactive / Strategy First, Inc. / Noviy Disk / Got Game Entertainment / Lexicon Entertainment / 1C Company

            







Penumbra: Overture is a first person survival-horror game developed by Frictional Games (which are now famous for having made Amnesia: The Dark Descent). It is the first part in the Penumbra trilogy.

       
You play the rôle of Phillip, who after having received a letter from his presumably long dead father, travels to Northern Greenland due to the clues given with the letter, in order to try and find out more about his father. He ends up in an abandoned mine in which the game takes place.

It only took me a short moment to realize what was Penumbra: Overture's greatest strength: from the gorgeous graphics viewed in first person, the realistic pacing, the fitting soundtrack and sound effects, you will be completely immersed into the game's world right away.

Controls also add a lot to the immersion and to making you feel as if you were the protagonist : a lot of simple movements, such as turning a wheel, pushing a crate or opening a door, have to be realisticly imitated using the mouse (which makes me wish the game was ported to a console with a motion controller).

The game is divided into seperate segments, all of them composed of long maze-like corridors and a few rooms. The layout of each segment is in the same style, which I found a little repetitive by the end of the game even though texturing and architecture differs from segment to segment.
Once you reach the following segment you can not go back to the previous one.
Each segment has its sets of puzzles to solve and the same monsters to deal with.       

Regarding monsters, there are overall few of them, the developers clearly prefered to focus on immersion, puzzles and storytelling over action. However, they get more numerous as you progress through the game.

       
These monsters can be be divided into two categories : dog-like creatures that I will call « lurkers », which wander around and which you have the choice to either avoid or kill; as well as spiders and giant worms, that I will categorize as the « runner » type.

       
The « lurkers » sadly didn't pose much of a threat to me, I played on the normal difficulty skill, and I was quickly able to figure out their attacking patterns and weaknesses, making them easy preys to the different melee weapons at my disposal.
However they can kill you more easily on hard so I'd recommend playing on that skill setting even on a first playthrough to experience them as they were meant to be.

       
Though like I said you do not have to kill them, if you keep your distance and be careful enough by making little noise and turning off your flashlight or torch, they won't notice you.
The game advices you to fear them and to prefer avoiding them, but I found that killing them was always the best solution in order to be able to focus on solving the puzzles.

       
The type of action with the « runners » is at the opposite as the « lurkers ». With lurkers the game wants you to keep a slow and quiet pace or to try to find another route; « runners » will trigger faster paced straightforward chase sequences (which can be compared to what you can find in Devilman, a Japan exclusive survival-horror game for PSX, or to Silent Hill: Shattered Memories).
If a « runner » catches up to you, in most cases it's a sure death, so you have to keep running while avoiding obstacles or finding ways to block the path behind you.      

      
The concepts behind those two type of action are good, but I found the execution flawed in both cases: you're supposed to fear the « lurkers » by remaining silent and avoiding them, but killing them ends up being the best solution. « Runners » are a bit more interesting because they offer more varied action, but this action is ruined by heavy trial&error with a lot of deaths.
Plus, the fact that you're given unlimited continues that make you respawn right before the beginning of the chase renders null any fear of death you're supposed to have from them.

Gameplay-wise, puzzles are the most interesting point of the game. There is a lot of variety in them : from physic puzzles, to combining different items, or turning a set of valves in the right order with given clues, each one is different.

       
What makes them so interesting is their realism. In Penumbra you will have nothing like using a blazon to move a clock. Here, they are realistic in design (for example the way you have to build your own explosive using different ingredients) and also because they are directly linked to surrounding environment (like having to turn on the power generato of a whole segment): they make sense.

       
This is quite notable for a survival-horror game, or even for adventure games in general, and it is another point that helps immersing the player into the game's world.

    
However, I can't help but to nitpick on a couple of puzzles. Regarding the puzzle I mentionned in which you have to mix different ingredients to make an explosive, you have to use that explosive to blow up a barrel of TNT. However, the player is provided with dynamite and a room nearby even has small bombs that you can carry around; yet you can use neither to blow up the TNT barrel. Only the explosive you have to make yourself will work.

      
A similar thing happens later on in the game as well, again with an explosive you have to make; if you throw it away on the boulders you want to explode, it WILL explode but kill you at the same time. You have to put it on the boulders, use a fuse and your lighter and that however won't kill you even if you stand closer to where you would have thrown it from.

Again, this is nitpicking, but the fact that I'm nitpicking about it proves several things. It proves that overall the game succeeds in making realistic puzzles with sense to them, because these two explosive related puzzles stand out as being « flawed » while this « flaw » is common in the vast majority of adventure games. It also proves that overall the game succeeds in immersing the player, as only these two minor points cut down the immersive experience I was going through, which means that the rest doesn't. Finally, it also proves how difficult it is to make a game with good immersion and that Frictional Games did an overall great job with that.

To summarize, Penumbra: Overture is lacking quality in terms of action but it has smart puzzles.

By the end of it, the story has given more questions than answers, but that's probably partly due to the episodic concept of the trilogy (each episode is a direct sequel to the previous one).

However it will immerse you incredibly well into a creepy and disturbing world; and that alone makes it worth playing.

 In Penumbra: Overture, you don't just play a video game, you experience an adventure.

Score : 3,5/5
Review by Ness 26/11/12.