Complete Penumbra Collection (PC DVD)

Switch the lights off and immerse yourself in the eerie world of Penumbra. If you like creepy, atmospheric games like the Thief series or Call of Cthulhu, where the protagonists aren't too good in a fight and tend to have you skulking in the dark a lot in order not to draw unwanted attention, then this collection might just appeal to you. The important thing to know here is that in Penumbra combat is rarely, if ever, the solution to a problem but concentrates far more on solving puzzles, using the physics engine to directly manipulate objects in order to reach your goal. This series was created by a very small team of developers which are responsible for the very successful Amnesia: The Dark Descent and if you are thinking of playing Amnesia then I'd recommend you consider trying Penumbra before you do. The graphics are dated but it's the sound that stands out and really helps draw you in to the experience. All in all the Penumbra collection is well worth it for the price.

The Penumbra series is easiest the scariest series of games I've ever played and I've dabbled in many so called survival horror games.

Story/ The story follows Philip a physics teacher, he is man of science and facts so he has most likely never really done anything rash in his life. Philip receives a letter from his farther that's been missing for years assumed dead. So Philip goes on a journey to Greenland in search to find his dad or at least discover the source of the letter. Through a rash decision Philip ends up in some mine who knows how far underground and must keep alive despite multiple dangers, I can't really say much more without giving any surprises away.
Graphics/ good but also manageable as in you can get away with running it on low end spec computer, with still decent visuals.

Gameplay/overview. This is a good group overall as each Penumbra episode/ game is rather short and the game time totally depends on your speed completing the numerous puzzles scattered through each game, with requiem having the majority and in my opinion the weakest of the three. The games are all about the tense building of fear, this isn't resident evil or dead space where monsters jump in through a hole in the wall or window, this game is more about putting you in a situation where many monsters roam and around most corners there is imitate dangers. The game is rarely boring and has save spots in case you get tired or too scared. Penumbra likes to let you sweat in a hiding spot as creatures goes past or in some cases have you flee for your life putting obstacles in the way of your pursuer. There are no weapons to speak off except in the first penumbra which has a hammer and axe but the combat systems poor making it clumsy trying to hit monsters and your best option is hiding or simply making a break for the exit. What Penumbra does best, apart from making you crap yourself, is atmosphere the music is moody most locations are dark requiring a torch and the generally game makes you feel all alone and totally screwed.

Conclusion/ so yeah its very good if you like horror, the controls simple, the game has a nice physic engine so you can move stuff throw stuff and generally muck about with the environment. Nice touch is you don't need a disk to run either episode and the games can all be installed at the same time or separately. So now some nit-picks, the plot can get a bit confusing gets downright weird by the end of all three so if you love plot driven games which give you ALL the answers you might find Penumbras story lacking. Also in the last episode of three, Requiem I got rather bored it's just puzzle after puzzle with little danger, who knows you may enjoy the puzzles I however didn't not to say I hate puzzles I love the Portal games it's just these come off rather tedious to me, indeed Requiem was made due to people complaing about the ending of Penumbra Black plague, so you can in essence stop at black plague. These sounds negative but overall every episode had something to give I personally enjoyed the first the most. Overall defiantly worth a look if you fancy a scare or adventure game, any issue I have with the game gets overshadowed by the way the game makes you feel i.e. scared to death, I recommend lights low or off completely and headphones. 10/10

If you want more or maybe a different setting or up to date graphics you may have heard of the game Amnesia made by the same developers which is available of steam.

Just finished the first of the three chapters (Penumbra Overture) and I really enjoyed it. The story is good and the puzzles are challenging and require patience (and frequent use of the "SAVE" function). There are only two or three types of enemy so the killing part of the game is a bit repetitive I'd say.

A couple of things to note. Firstly, the game is so dark I couldn't play it in daylight because I couldn't see the detail on the screen. So I played it at night with the lights out and I guess this adds to the atmosphere. The main problem I had though was the control system. You learn to use the mouse to swing and manipulate weapons and objects. It's OK but if you play for any length of time it really hurts your mouse hand. In fact I'm leaving Chapter 2 until I've got over the repetitive strain!!!!!

I hope Chapters 2 and 3 are as entertaining.