Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition

If played on steam deck this requires Lutris to be able to finish. My proton save is stuck on a puzzle were you have to put a dead dog on a pedestal this just stun locks you in a burning room and running the Linux version crashes within seconds. The game runs and looks better than the first game, the story is just as good and the enemies more varied. Thankfully the developers seen the error of their dog-hating ways and took out the dogs to kill by 8 yes 8 axe hits but in a act of defiance put in a game breaking bug for us steam players by none other than a flaming dog impaled on a pedestal - thats irony for ya. Recommended but not for dog lovers. Woof!

I'm not usually a fan of horror games, but I really like these ones by Frictional Games. Most horror games rely on sudden shocks and gore to scare the player, but Penumbra: Black Plague is much more effective at creating a feeling of fear. This isn't about monsters lurking in every corner; it's about the slow loss of sanity in an underground facility where something has gone terribly wrong. Frictional Games understands that what you don't see is often more scary than what you do. The sound effects are great, every creak, whisper, and distant sound builds up the feeling of fear. Black Plague also introduces psychological elements that make it hard to tell what is real and what is not. It's a great example of storytelling that creates a realistic feeling of fear.

Ten sequel to było coś! Cała placówka, ogromna i bardzo tajemnicza a zakończenie zostawiające wiele do myślenia. 10/10 "Zabij ich. Zabij ich wszystkich."

I honestly really like Black Plague, don't get me wrong, feels relatively straightforward, no combat option like overture, it really is more scary and definitely a little less frustrating than overture with much more leniency on some of its scripted quick encounters. What I really can't recommend is Penumbra: Requiem, it feels like they were just trying to throw in more puzzles for penumbra. Like all of the puzzles just feel really forced and rely a little too much on their buggy physics engine. I get it...this game is old...but puzzles shouldn't make me want to pull my hair out because their own systems aren't cooperating. Shit, I played the Alone in The Dark Reboot on the xbox 360, and even that games platforming and puzzles was less frustrating than this games puzzles, at least it was consistently buggy and you could kinda work around it. Feels like with Requiem, I'm fighting the damn code itself.

Better than Amnesia

Having played all of the Amnesia games (Except The Bunker) and Soma (My personal favorite Frictional Game), I decided to go back into the developers evolution and picked up the Penumbra games. While Overture didn't stand out to me and wasn't memorable, Black Plague rounds the series out a bit more. It's a 17 year old game, it has the classic old game jank they almost always have. Movement is sluggish, interacting with objects (while probably impressive physics for at the time) feels weird and moving things across the floor is especially fucking wonky. The visuals definitely show age, and the game is weirdly loud at points. Despite all this the game ran really well, with nothing that stuck out as a bug to me. The story is really simple with basic characters you'll likely forget, it does wrap up everything it set up from Overture, but there are a billion games with similar stories that are better. The main story can be understood by hearing the dialog, but all of the background lies i...

absolutely amazing atmospheric storytelling. barrel puzzle made zero sense though, they could've easily come up with a better one.