Of all the Penumbra games, Overture is the best one.

[Zefar]

The reason I like this game most of Penumbra series is that you can actually fight back and I like that. You're not a superman and can be killed quite easily.


Just having to run from everything like in Black Plague wasn't fun and I was quickly able to get away from most things. Making things much less of a threat. Later on in the game I just ran to the places I needed to go to and this meant running past several enemies with no problem.

But not everything can be killed though in Overture.
There was another Penumbra game but that one was just a huge puzzle game. It tried to make it scary and for the first half hour I was waiting for enemies to pop up. But when none came I realized that game was just a puzzle so the horror in it quickly faded.

[K4ever]

Actually I welcomed the removal of the battle system, since I hide and used stealth 100% of the time playing overture. If you are playing the penumbra games fighting, you are playing them wrong.

[Zefar]

Originally posted by KFORCE-K4:

Actually I welcomed the removal of the battle system, since I hide and used stealth 100% of the time playing overture. If you are playing the penumbra games fighting, you are playing them wrong.

The Penumbra Overture lets you fight back and that's what I did. It's not the wrong way to play it either. If you where stuck in such situation and had weapons you might very well defend yourself.

For me it increased the horror part because I knew I had to go look for the monsters. In Black Plague I just ran away from them knowing I could just ignore them. So with such a clear escape motive I wasn't scared all that much, with the exception of one place.

The other two games in the series removes your weapons so you have to hide but the first one was much more enjoyable.

[tu-shady]

I haven't played any Penumbra games (looking into buying cause of the steam sale), I only played Amnesia demo..(scared me lol, ahh the misfortunes of having your headphones full blast :x).

Generally speaking about that aspect of a game. I agree with you, IMO running around and avoiding danger till the end of a game gets less entertaining to some extent when you could have an option to defend yourself but it is challenging tho. It would be nice if you could fight back but of course by fighting you will have some consequences in return, maybe? Like you get really afraid/nervous after the confrontation, losing your sanity idk some sort of side affect to your behaviour.. Depends on the situation I guess.

Having an option to defend your self would be nice but it will not always be a good idea to do so.

[Zefar]

The combat in Penumbra isn't the usual type where you click once and it'll do a normal attack. So for that reason it adds to the game.

For example with the hammer, you have to use the mouse movement to hit things rather than just click once and it'll do a normal attack.
That is, you have to hold down the attack, drag the mouse so it'll raise the hammer and then push it forward to attack.

Could cause some hectic moments when you don't pull it off greatly.

[Joe Chip]

I thought that the combat system in Overture added a sense of immersion to the game because some people would probably try to fight the monsters if this happened in real life. It is that fight or flight instinct that made Overture great. However, when the combat sysyem was removed, I felt even more afraid because I had to hide from the enemies who wanted to ripp my face off! That could just be my opinion but I was certainly terrified when I saw the mutant's flashlight down that corridor.

I think that if you do play Penumbra fighting your way through, you are just playing one of the many ways to play the game. Stealth is only another way to play and whatever way you play, it is your own play style. The combat may have not been fleshed out as much as the stealth but it was helpful when I was cornered by a wolf. In conclusion, the fighting was a welcome addition but I didn't miss it in Black Plague and Amnesia.