Penumbra Collection

80

Showing the bigger companies how it's done

This collection is an admirable attempt at something new and makes for a nice break from all the running and gunning in first person perspective games. There's plenty of logical puzzles to work your way through and a hair-raising story that will have you hooked right to the end. The graphics are not exactly cutting edge and it's not as scary as it tries to be (it gets better with each installment though) but overall it is a good series.

85

Frictional Games know how to make a horror...

Penumbra was a breath of fresh air. I started playing these not knowing what to expect. I heard good things about the place, but the low production value made me sceptical. Shortly after the first 30 minutes of Overture I was crouching around...too scared to make a noise, barely the courage to continue. Black Plague quickly became by favourite horror game (maybe even better than Amnesia, for me) and the lack of weapons really introduced a truly helpless feeling and made the whole experience more terrifying. Don't expect anything special, graphics wise, but the atmosphere will suck you in and spit you out at the end of the ride wanting more...with breaks every 10 minutes to calm down...

88

survival horror to the next level

Penumbra series brought the horror genre to another level. The immersion is one-of-a-kind, the sounds, the fact that you can't actually fight back, everything is there to create the perfect nightmare for you. You will also find a unique control scheme based on mouse movements imitating real life actions. A really interesting story is awaiting you to unravel it, mostly in the first two games of the series (Overture and Black Plague). The third one, Requiem, is far less scary and more of a puzzler, than an adventure. One con is the combat system, it shouldn't even be there in the first place. Works really bad and it can easily be exploited to ruin the entire experience for you, making pretty easy to counter and kill the monsters in the game. If you want to actually enjoy the game as it should, avoid messing with combat glitches etc. Even better, ignore combat as much as you can. Overall a great horror experience, from a dev studio that proved they can play with your emotions more than you could possibly expect when first meeting the game.

93

Worth It For The Experience

This isn't a survival horror game like Resident Evil, it's a psychological horror game. If you are interested in some scary ambiance, a neat physics system, and a (mostly) interesting story line with some great scares then check it out. Some of the events from this game are probably my all time favorites along with a few from Condemned and Quake.

My only complaint is that it has some dry parts a few times it build up but doesn't deliver. It's still a great game though and those little things shouldn't hold you back.

77

Scary without a reason

This game is one of the most scary games out there even not having reasons for it to be.

This is a game where you don't have to worry too much about enemies because there are only a few esay to kill dogs, and looks more lika an graphic adventure than a FPS. However it builds an claustrophobic atmosphere which is scary by itself.

If you love to play scary games and don't care that there are no real danger you should definetly get it.

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