This is the game that changed the horror genre once and forever. It became the point of no return. This is indie low-budget game that influenced the industry up to AAA blockbusters. Outlast, Daylight, Alien Isolation, all these run-and-hide horror type games grew up from Penumbra and tried to evolve its mechanics in some way or another with no doubt. Nevertheless this game started it all, started so called new golden age of horror games.

Dog killing simulator.
Kidding. [Not Really.]

In all seriousness though, Penumbra is probably one of my favorite horror games so far. Got through the series once a few years ago, and I still think about it to this day. Despite it's age, it's well crafted and has an interesting and surreal storyline.
Everyone's played Amnesia (or at least seen it), so imagine an older version of that, set in the caves of greenland (iceland? I always get the two confused. The really snowy and cold one).

Sure the graphics are dated. Sure the controls can be a bit clunky at times. *Sure*.
But the story is good, and it's a fun playthrough with a lot of good content.
Pick it up and enjoy the ride.

Frictional Games of Amnesia and SOMA fame first horror adventure and you can tell based on clunky controls, unwieldy combat, stilted animations and awful path-finding. Saved however by an awesome atmosphere enhanced with terrific sound design and exceptionally well written and voiced narratives. Enable save on demand (F4) in the .ini file.

Forget Amnesia, this is Frictional Games' underappreciated child that needs more recognition. Compared to Amnesia: The Dark Decent, this game brings more feelings of terror, two-fold the amount Amnesia had on me. In Penumbra, you cannot just run and hide from a situation to make everything okay, in most instances you are faced with a challenge to complete all while being stalked by a demon dog or infected crazies, which can be extrememly overwhelming. The storyline is intruiging, and the visuals are pretty good for a low-budget horror game. The monster AI can be a bit stupid at times, but it doesn't really take away from how terrifying they are. This is a game you will truly find yourself immersed in, and I would recommend it to any horror game fanatic (who doesn't already own it).

9/10

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

No one read my reviews so I'm ♥♥♥.

Would you like to know what was before Amnesia? If yes, Penumbra is for you as you have a chance to see the first survival horror game of Frictional Games.

Although not as terrifying, Penumbra Overture is still a relatively scary and interesting game where you pick up the story of Philip who has just arrived to Greenland to find his father based on the mysterious letter he'd received from him. To make it even more interesting: Philip had always thought his father had been dead.

The game puts emphasis on physics-based puzzle solving and physics based combat. Combat would be a bit harsh as usually the best thing to do is to run and other than a pickaxe or hammer we will not have any weapons at our disposal. Now, similarly to Amnesia, the protagonist has his own notepad where he writes his thoughts so this is how the story will gradually progress.

While somewhat short, Penumbra showed something new in this genre and those who liked the Amnesia games should definitely give this one a try.

Since I'm in a reviewing mood I thought I'd write a review about this game.

Honestly, I really wish there was a "Meh" button for reviews instead of giving it a Positive or Negative because that's exactly what this game is, however I'm leaning towards Yes so I'll give a positive review.

Penumbra Overture is the first in the series, the game after this is Penumbra : Black Plague and you have an additional game which is Penumbra : Requiem which is just a puzzle-solving one. These games are surrounded in horror, puzzles and story telling.

Length/Replay Value
First thing that pops in to my mind when I'm purchasing a game is the actual length of the game and how much replay value it has. I purchased this game at the end of 2014 and didn't really touch it up until this day where I managed to finish it in pretty much one sitting. This game on average will take around 5-6 hours to complete... yes I said it... 5-6 HOURS! To me, I think that a horror game such as this deserves much more time to it. Is this game one I can go back and play? Not really. Maybe in a few years since I finished Penumbra : Black Plague a few years ago and now I've got the urge to play it again but other then that there isn't really anything to do in the game. No collectibles or anything like that. Just a game which requires you to avoid dogs, solve puzzles and be trapped in some creepy atmospheric mine. The replay value just isn't there.

Graphical
The game was released in 2007 and still looks pretty damn good considering it was released almost TEN years ago! Of course, it won't be as good as modern day games but for it's time I would have said that this game was great and it still is!

Gameplay
The game itself is actually very immersive, the music is creepy which really adds to the scary atmosphere and you are stuck underground in mines/caves with flesh eating dogs after you, massive worms and caves full of spiders, solving puzzles and trying to survive. Sounds cool right? Weeelllll... the game does start off great, the first time you enter the mine and hear the sound of a dog really does shake you up! But as the game progresses you realise that there is a lot of repetition that is used. You see, throughout this game there are sections where the level layout is very identical... similar looking corridors and mines which branch off different ways to different rooms which require you to go to in order to get specific items to progress and using them specific items to open a "locked door" in one of the corridors. It gets boring after a while and what makes it even more boring is that the monsters that roam the corridors/mines are just dogs. In the caves there are spiders and there is a part with a worm but we're talking corridor/mine sequences... pure dogs. Unlike Black Plague where that had the Tuurngait [http://penumbra.wikia.com/wiki/Tuurngait_Infected], this one had dogs that you had to constantly avoid and could easily be avoided by throwing beef jerky around and locking them in cages. The Tuurngait actually carried flashlights in some stages and could see you in the dark, the dogs couldn't do that. I went through the game without getting spotted by a dog once because all I did was wait corners and wait for them to pass. That's another thing that annoyed me, Dogs are supposed to have really good noses and be able to smell stuff better than a human can yet they couldn't smell a sweaty guy trapped in a mine who was sneaking behind them or right around a corner, staring them in the face?

SCARE Factor
Now this is a hard one, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but games don't seem to scare me as much anymore unless it's a jumpscare but we all know they're no good in a horror game master-piece. Amnesia seemed to get it right. Back on point, this game had no jumpscares but was actually quite creepy when I played it briefly in 2014. If hiding from dogs, running from spiders and worms is your cup of tea then good! The atmosphere was kinda creepy? Personally though, this game didn't really have me scared or on the edge of my seat, If I was to rate it out of 10 on scare factor I would give it a 3.5/10


OVERALL
The game itself is quite an interesting game to sit down and play if you're in to puzzle solving and a slight bit of horror at the same time. It isn't that long and isn't on the edge of your seat scary so if you're someone with a weak heart and who hates scary games then this may be for you! Would I say it's worth it's price? Yeah. However, Black Plague was scarier in my opinion. :)

I hate my life so I play horror games which I can't handle. I hid from one dog in the same place for 5 mins. Was fun.

I played this 10 years ago. I was scared ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ then.
But now I am playing it again. Im a grown ass woman and I can do this.

I am still scared ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

If u are a fan of amnesia and soma, this is a MUST PLAY

Perfectly simulates being a toddler in a dog park