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Penumbra: "Regardless, you need a hand. I do not. Bring me a saw." No cowards or 56k!
firewaterword
SatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
SatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
Jesus Christ I can hear spiders!
Ever play a FPC? It's like an FPS, except instead of shooting, you're cowering! [strike]Thanks to the Steam sale this weekend, you can pick up three (OK, two and a half) awesomely scary games for less than a beer![/strike]
OK, no longer on sale, but @$20 for all the games, it's still worth it.
I'm talking about Penumbra: Overture, Penumbra: Black Plague and Penumbra: [strike]Poor Man's Portal[/strike] Requiem!
Shamelessly stolen Wiki info from the shamelessly stolen Wiki info from Helloween's LP:
Helloween wrote:Shall we Wiki steal?
Although Frictional Games describes Penumbra: Overture as a first-person adventure, the game blends the genres of survival horror, first-person shooter, and adventure. The use of Newton Game Dynamics emphasizes physics-based puzzles similar to those in Half-Life 2 as well as physics-based combat. The game also takes advantage of advanced artificial intelligence to respond realistically to noises and light, creating stealth-based gameplay.
There are no firearms in the game, so during combat the player is limited to improvised melee fighting with a pickaxe, or throwing objects at attacking creatures. The game is designed to emphasize stealth and avoidance over direct conflict. (For example, Philip can close doors behind him to temporarily hold off attacking enemies.)
The game's main focus is on exploration and classic adventure game object interaction: examining and collecting objects and using them to solve puzzles.
(In case you're wondering why I didn't just dredge up that thread it's because it has spoilers! It's also really good in case you want to watch someone else play it!)
Anyway, I picked these up after coming home from the bars last night, and didn't get very far into the first one before I was all "fuck this, I'm a'scared!" So I continued today, finishing the first and second, and sampling the "third".
So let's talk about it. If you picked it up on the Steam dealy, hope you enjoy it! I'd say be good about spoilers I guess.
By request, Screenshots!
Going to spoiler these - some of the fun comes from not knowing what the fuck to expect from this one. They're also big!
Goddamn spiders!
Stick by me, trusty flashlight!
"I told you to stay away from the brown acid! Did you listen?"
Mmmmph! Mmmmph! Mmmmmmmph!
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
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Overture, Black Plague, Requiem I believe. I started with Overture in any case, since the intro screen says episode one.
Yeah, the level of immersion they manage to create is pretty cool. Playing with headphones in a dark room is pretty awesome. Especially when you start hearing those fucking spiders.
And (real minor spoiler) the
Yeah, pretty much. It's really unique as games go. The only thing I could compare it to is an awesome, first person love child of Siren and the digital abortion that was Jurassic Park: Trespasser. If anyone can think of a better way to put that, let me know.
I know a seal pup is killed every time someone mentions Trespasser, and don't want to be a part of that.
Otherwise, this game is amazing.
Edit: Oh, also there are some minor graphical glitches occasionally with objects going invisible and stuff like that, but reloading usually fixes those, and that might be because I forced the game to run in 1920x1080, and by default it only wants to go up to 1280x1024. For overture that is, I hear the other two support higher resolutions?
Hey man, don't be down on Trespasser. It was way ahead of its time. It failed really hard for precisely that reason.
Gotta love Steam and crazy deals.
Thar she goes.
And BloodySloth, I'll admit that I enjoyed the demo for nearly half an hour. It was an interesting concept, I will concede.
Youtube Channel!
Heh, what's funny is I remember watching the very first one from your LP and being suitably intrigued by the opening narration. I closed the video so it wouldn't be spoiled, then decided I would buy the game. Then went and did something else and forgot about it entirely.
Anyway, I saw the deal on steam and had my memory jogged. What strikes me after playing through them is that it's a really good example of developers improving on a product. Mechanics spoilers follow:
Your weapons in the first game?
Your first play through will be terrifying
Youtube Channel!
They fixed that issue in the second game.
Even if you manage hit it, it's just going to run away. And then bring more dogs back with it.
Anyway, just blew a hole through the cave to get further in and now it's TV time. It is a really nice game, I love the puzzles
10x better than Half-Life 2's incredibly obvious 'weigh this part down!!' physics puzzles. Also I'm yet to use my torch/flare/glowstick, is that a sign that my brightness is too high or is the beginning area not that dark?
Sometimes frustrating controls aside, I'd definitely recommend this.
If you're not needing to use the flashlight or glowstick, you might want to bump down your gamma. Pretty optional though I guess. I like the danger aspect of using light, so I went with way dark.
There's a way to deal with that.
"Oh, what do you got for me, Helloween?"
"I GOT A PICKAXE"
So many memories. Awesome game :^:
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Also I found a way to kill those dogs easily, as long as you can land the first blow crouch straight away and keep swinging and it should never get the chance to stand up.
I'm not looking forward to getting to combat of any kind, though.
I understand what they're trying to do with the fov but holy shit... 55? I just played for 10 minutes and I'm gonna hurl. Thank god there's the unofficial patch for that.
Removing combat is such a cheap way to try and make horror games scarier.
Wow? 55? I like to play with the FOV at 90. :?
Also, someone needs to get that game on any digital distribution service, NOW! :x
Want a so easy it feels like cheating way to get that first blow?
No crates? Pick up some object and throw it at them (right mouse button while holding object), and then get em while theyre stunned.
Actually, sorta disappointed I figured out how to beat them so easily, as the game was pants-shitting terrifying when they were invincible demon-dogs. On the other hand, it looks like the game is going to have enough of them that it mightve gotten slightly annoying while backtracking through areas to run into the same damn ones again and again.
It's not so much that other than the fact that swinging is just so clunky to do some times. I tried doing a swing to kill them and then all of a sudden I was looking up.
I don't even care about the dogs, I just slink past them. Haven't been spotted by one yet. But man fuck. That goddamned spider tunnel.
I'm more pissed off that the two barrels I placed were completely ineffectual at protecting me. Grrr.
Also