Penumbra thread

I have the penumbra games in my steam library, is it any good, any decent story?

>>385099817
Read alot of reviews of it on steam just now. People liked the first one, hated the second one. Going to try it out and see for myself.

>>385100257
like worse Amnesia

>>385100378
I prefer Penumbra for its setting, although Amnesia is still a great game.

>>385100257
Play them through in order it's one of my favourite game series

Overture > Black plague > Requiem

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>>385100361
The 2nd one being black plague? That's my favourite of the series. Requiem is usually seen as the worst though.

Somebody explain the story for me, please. I understand the plot of the first game, but 2nd and 3rd are too fucking weird, especially 3rd.

>>385100717
>Requiem is usually seen as the worst though.
because that shit was like evangelion rework 3.0

i rate them 1>2>3

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>>385099817
>tfw had all three penumbra games in my steam library for multiple years
>way too much of a pussy to play them
anyone else know this feel

>>385100929
why are you scared of things that aren't real

Anyone played the amnesia necro mod? I've heard pretty good things but never tried it

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>>385100361
>>385100620
>>385100717
Overture was the best one, it struck the right balance with combat and fleeing. Black Plague was good too but the lack of combat lead to the cat&mouse gameplay we have today.

Amnesia is probably the weakest entry in the series, all the problems of SOMA but none of the cool setting and monster designs.

>mfw Red at the end of Overture

>>385100929
It's really good anon, try to play them some time

>>385100717
Requiem completely didn't fit the mold of the previous 2 games
they felt like horror story games with puzzles
requiem felt like a puzzles game with a very loose horror backstory

it's like requiem really wanted to be portal, with very obvious puzzle rooms with linear progression

>>385099817

better than amnesia desu

the stupid insanity mechanic ruined it for me

>>385100750
OK, here is the story:
Penumbra originally started as a fan project of a bunch of young kids just playing around. It largely a tech demo, focused on physics-based interactions and puzzle solving - it consisted basically of the first few levels of what would later become Overture, distributed for free.

They did catch attention of a publisher with this: Paradox Interactive reached out to them and offered a deal to them. The deal proposed essentially an episodic project: three episodes each released about year after another.
Frictional (as the guys started calling themselves) made the first episode, called Overture, and immediately started working on the second one, which was supposed to be the mid-peace of the story.
HOWEVER, about 2/3rds into the development of the second installment of the trillogy, Paradox changed their mind. The claimed that Overture was not as successful as they hoped it would be, and told them the third game will be cancelled: forcing Frictional to hastily conclude the story in the second game, without extending the budged or deadlines. Frictional were terrified, basically mashing what was supposed to be an entire third game into the last third of the second episode, resulting in confusing, hasted, cheap and largely unsatisfying finale.

The result was shipped as Black Plague.
However, not long after Black Plague was released, Paradox changed their minds AGAIN, saying that they want the third game released after all.
When Frictional said that they JUST concluded the story because they were forced to, Paradox declared that they don't give a fuck, and that they still have the original deal.

As a result, Frictional was FORCED to create SOMETHING to fullfill their obligation and somehow create a sequel to what has been incredibly tightly concluded story already.
They were, of course, not very passionate about it.

And that is how Requiem was made and why it utterly sucks and feels entirely needless and pointles.
So that is the story.

Wouldn't you just football kick that thing in the skull?

>>385101132
Nah, the absolute retarded combat system of Overture ruined it.

Black Plague was both mechanically and narratively the strongest one, I'd argue strongest of all the Frictional games all together. It only suffered from the terrifyingly forced and rushed conclusion which was result of unfair publisher meddling.

That said, the very ending of Black Plague is arguably ONE OF THE BEST ENDINGS OF A VIDEOGAME EVER.
I will never fucking understand why it does not get wider recognition. It's an absolutely amazing twist, up there with games like Bastion or Cryostasis. Really, really deserves more praise for it.

Apparently Frictional is now doing 2 different games at the same time, one more in the horror side like Penumbra and Amnesia and another more story-focused (possibly sci-fi too) like SOMA. I think by separating it we get both good sides without, hopefully one or the other feeling tacked on, which was an understandable complain in SOMA, even if I think it's their best game.

>>385101275
Fuck Paradox, honestly.

>>385100257
>I have the penumbra games in my steam library, is it any good, any decent story?
The story is remarkably good, but it has incredibly weak parts to it.
Mechanically, they were an indie studio debut titles, exploring an approach to horror that was not exactly explored at the time, and they do have a LOT of flaws. From clunkiness to poor balance, they are just hell unpolished.

They do have decent atmosphere - amazing at times, even. And are generally worth playing.

>>385101498
No shit. Actually, Frictional were so pissed, so utterly dissillusioned with the whole deal that they vowed NEVER to work under a publisher again. So they went indie. The problem was that this was LONG before crowd-sourcing, long before EA, long before the gold club of Steam was dissolved and the floodgates opened, hell, it was in an era where physical distribution still had majority share.

So their decision to go Indie (on PC) was pretty insane and very much unprecedented. They were one of the very firsts to try it. And there is a rumor (I never found confirmation of this) that they would have not succeeded if the project did not just catch Gabe's personal attention. He reached out to Frictional and offered Amnesia a place on Steam, even offered it to be sold free of royalties for first month or so.

It does not sound impressive, but this was really an era where the ONLY way to get a game on Steam was by having a major publisher behind you.

>>385101724
Now that you mention it, I remembered many years ago there was a lot of controversy because apparently the pirated version of Amnesia came from one of the versions they gave to the press, and Frictional was obviously fucking pissed because on top of that the game had received unfairly negative reviews for very little reason and had sold poorly up to that point. The whole thing gave them some exposure thankfully, and I think it was not too long after that the whole Youtube thing would make the game highly popular, for good or bad, but at least it probably saved the company.