Those of you waiting impatiently for the next installments of all the Survival Horror franchises to come out later this year, I know where you can get your fix.

A mix of graphic adventure, survival horror, and a pinch of Half-Life 2's physics gameplay, The Penumbra series takes the best of both worlds and creates a somewhat different experience for the horror genre





The graphics are not state of the art by any stretch of the imagination, but artistically are satisfactory. and the motion blur effects support the atmosphere of the game very well.



The gameplay relies much more on wits than speed. Much of the game is puzzle solving, but navigation through the game requires stealth or circumnavigating the monsters, improvised combat with present in the first game, Overture, but not in the second. While it adds to the suspense, I found it easier just to runs every where and hoping I didn't run into any enemies. While the puzzles used traditional point-and-click mechanics, it takes advantage of the engines interface where you move the mouse to simulate the action (i.e. you click and move your mouse down to simulate pulling a switch. It's a fun mechanic, but sometimes it can be a bit buggy, requiring you to repeat a certain action, I had the most trouble with valves, as sometimes the game didn't recognize that I was spinning the mouse.

The sound is top-notch. Sound and music help the atmosphere, and the voice actors do a fine job, from the demented Red, to the malicious Clarence.



The story is what really stuck out in my mind. It tells the tale of Philip, who after receiving a letter and journal from his father Howard (get it?), telling him to destroy the journal, travels to a mine in Greenland which is mentioned in the letter. he ends up trapped in the mine and journeys deeper to find out what happened to his father and why he asked him to destroy his research.
The story takes on a very Lovecraftian theme, and interaction with other characters is done though one-way indirect conversations ala System Shock. Part of the horror also is in the fact that your character will do things that will have you questioning the sanity of the main character. While the fist game is fairly light in the story department, the second game, Black Plague manages to pick up the pace.



I would highly recommend this series to any horror game fans out there. It isn't THE best, but it is one of them, but don't take my word for it, try it out yourself. you can download the demos at their respective sites. If you enjoy them, I encourage you to buy them to enjoy a fantastic (if somewhat flawed) horror experience, and to support indie developer Fractional. I look forward to their next, and improved work.

Penumbra: Overture Demo is here.

Penumbra: Black Plague Demo is here.