Penumbra

Reviewed by: DeathDude

Positive Points: Fantastic graphics
Excellent physics engine
Creepy vibe

Negative Points: Not much music
Can’t save whenever you want

Genre: Adventure

Size: 160,608 KB

Requirements: Minimum requirements
Windows 2K/XP
1 GHz CPU
256MB RAM
400MB Hard-drive space
ATI Radeon 8500/NVIDIA GeForce 3(GeForce4MX not supported)

Questionable Content: 13+ Blood,

Editor Rating: 4.8

Homepage: http://frictionalgames.com/penumbra/

Download location: http://frictionalgames.com/penumbradownload/

Its time to check out a game that has gotten mentioned in such publications as PC Gamer, for not only being a high quality freeware title, that is still in development, but that manages to not only create a very creepy vibe for horror fans. Which also executes on many other elements within the game that makes it a completely different adventure game that you would not expect to see. In Penumbra, you not only get a fantastic looking game, you also get an intriguing physics engine, that allows you to manipulate most of the environment to your liking, and you will have to do so, with some of the puzzles and challenges in this game. The game also creates a suspenseful environment for the player that may have you looking over your shoulder, to see if something is behind you. The game creates all this and much more and it is definitely a must play for any adventure fan.

The story of the game begins with our main character, telling his story of how he came to receive a key and a message from his father after his death. Although he was never close with him, and harbored a deep resentment to him for abandoning him, he still wanted to know more about who his father really was. Using the clues from the message and later the journal he finds, our main character manages to make it to Greenland, to find out more about his father. A harsh storm though, traps our hero, but he manages to find cover in an underground base, and that is where the game begins.

Before you start the game however, make sure to tweak the controls, and graphic settings, to get the most out of the game. If you have a low-end graphics card, you probably will not be able to run this game, you need a fairly recent one to get the game to run, much less for the game to not look badly. Once that is done, you will notice right away, the magnitude of how good the graphics are. From the different environments and locations, to just every little object, it is all rendered quite nicely. Just the general look of each location, as you explore them, it really looks like an abandoned base, quite dark, murky and just that little sense you wonder, if you really are alone, all exist. It is not hard to see why this is one of the best looking freeware games out at the moment.

One of the other high points of this game, has to do with its excellent physics. The great thing about the game is that you are able to manipulate and move objects in the world. You can move them in many ways, to either help in a puzzle or just have some fun moving objects around. As you move your mouse around, you will see how an object reacts, and it looks very realistic, or how you would imagine how an object moves. It is done within reason, luckily, as your character is only human, and he will not be able to lift up heavy and large crates for example, but he can push them around, so at least it is also done realistically. It has great potential this feature and it is great to see implemented and done so well.

The general vibe of the game finally, is just done perfectly. You really feel you are in an abandoned base, as you just explore and try to discover why it is abandoned and what clues you can gather. Things happen as well, like lights flickering, blood on the ground, and it really just adds to the whole experience in the game, it is quite creepy when you are exploring around and just trying to make sense of the entire situation. 

There really is not much wrong with this game, other than not a lot of music being used at times, it is quite quiet which can be a good and bad thing, some may prefer music, while others for this type of game, music does not really belong. It is there would have been nice if there were just a tad more. As well, the game saves for you at key points in the game, which means you do not have control of when you can save, it does add to the challenge of the game but at times would have been nice to have. Especially if you have to leave when you are playing the game and as a result have to revert back from an earlier quick save.

Nevertheless, this was a great game to play and highly recommend you check it out, if you’re an adventure fan or just like to play scary sorts of games, definitely check this one out. Its called Penumbra, see it for yourself.