Penumbra Overture (Youtube)
 

Hello y'all!!

Well I know I said I would take a beak form these videos for a while but a mate suggested I played the Penumbra series and after a short while I knew I wanted to do a review on it. Then I heard that Frictional Games was about to release their new title Amnesia: The Dark Descent, like next month or something, so I quickly pumped this out.

Penumbra is a strange mix of genres and while the game resembles a survival horror it is much more in tune with older first person adventure games than games like Clock Tower or Dead Space. The game plays exactly like Zork Nemesis. You basically walk around in first person, exploring and solving puzzles, mainly item and object puzzles, though there is a few code puzzles. The big difference though from Zork or Myst or w/e is that as you walk you are simply terrified. I mean this game is really scary. There is little, and depending on your play style zero combat, so this defiantly isn't an action game But a big part of the game is focused on exploration of the spooky environment. So unlike traditional first person adventures the simple act of walking about is part of the gameplay design. Meaning that the puzzles, though a big part of it, are not as dense or complex as some tradition adventures due to the game needing to keep a strict eye on pacing. You see to keep us scared the game needs to constantly give us new areas to explore, it is the unknown that keeps us on the edge of our seat. So the pacing and puzzle density is also a bit different to what you may be used to. While this feels different to a classic adventure, it is a very unique game and if you are interested in a adventure style type game, but with a very well done survival horror twist, topped with a really unique and extremely good interface design then I would strongly suggest checking this one out.

Well that is it! I tried something new with this one... normally when i do a vid I just babble into the mic and then cut video to it, but this time I wrote it out first. I think it is a mixed success. While i seamed to get a lot more information into it, witch was the goal, I think it lost some of the "casual feeling" that the ad-libbing had. Also as it was a contained written "article" so I found editing it to fit the time was extremely hard, as removing any one bit would make the preceding or following section not make sense. So I ended up having to speak a little fast and my words kinda run together. So while this is pretty dense in information it is a bit formal and just lacks a bit of personality. I think this could be just practice... so we will see if I get better at this way of doing things

YouTube = Penumbra Overture (Review)

(PS - Tubezen has disabled direct linking to download YouTube videos. So all my old direct mp4 download links do not work anymore. If you wish to keep any of my vids I recommend using the FIREFOX browser and simply installing the free plugin "Easy Youtube Downloader" You can then at a click of a button save any res version of the video on youtub e or grab a mp3 at a click of a button)

Happy Adventuring
---A4L.

I'd like to say thanks for this review - every now and then I use your video to get me back into the mood for playing Penumbra. :D

It's been lounging around on my hard disk for quite some time now, mostly gathering virtual dust, unless something gives me that little extra nudge. I have frozen to death half a dozen times trying to open the shelter door at the very beginning, inexplicably couldn't figure out how to open the metal hatch down into the beast-infested basement, and now the last thing I remember is to have been mauled by a bunch of guard dogs in a fenced area. That was a few months ago... time to give it another go, unless Silent Hill 2 DC gets in the way. ;)