Penumbra: Overture

About Penumbra: Overture

Penumbra: Overture is the first game of Frictional Games, the Swedish studio later known for Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA. It is the first episode of the Penumbra series. It came out for Windows in 2007, with Linux and Mac versions after, and is sold on Steam for all three. GOG sells it DRM-free as part of The Penumbra Collection with Black Plague and Requiem.

The year is 2001. You play Philip, a physicist whose mother has recently died, and who receives a letter from his father, long believed dead. It leads him to a safety deposit box with notebooks and a map of northern Greenland. Once there, the cold forces him into an abandoned mine, and the entrance collapses behind him. From there he works his way deeper through tunnels, storerooms and caverns, with a man called Red talking to him over the radio.

The game is built around its physics. You open drawers, turn valves, stack boxes and swing objects by moving the mouse as if your hand were doing it, and most puzzles ask you to use the world in this direct way: you combine items from your inventory, stack crates to climb, or find a way over an electric fence. Notes left by the people who worked in the mine give clues, and a notebook keeps track of your goals. The same system handles combat: you can swing a hammer or pickaxe or throw things, but it is clumsy, and the creatures often win a straight fight.

The better answer is to stay unseen. Crouching in the shadows hides you, and the screen turns blue to show it. Many creatures walk set routes, so you can watch and wait for a gap. Staring at one for too long brings on panic and can make Philip stand up and give himself away. The flashlight, glowstick and flares help you see, but light draws attention. You can also shut doors behind you to hold a pursuer back. It suits players who liked the Amnesia games and want to see where that way of making horror began, and who do not mind dated graphics and an older game's rough edges.

How to play Penumbra: Overture

1. Read the opening letter and notes, then make your way down into the mine once the cold drives you inside.
2. Move objects, open doors and turn valves by holding the mouse button and moving the mouse in the direction you would push or pull.
3. Pick up batteries, tools and notes and check your inventory to combine and use them on puzzles.
4. When you hear or see a creature, crouch in a dark spot and wait for it to pass instead of fighting; the screen turns blue when you are hidden.

Tips

• Keep the flashlight off while the music that signals a nearby creature is playing; light makes you easier to spot. If you need light, throw a flare and stay away from it.
• Do not stare at an enemy for long while hiding, and look away until it has gone.
• Watch for glowing eyes in the dark: they show you where a dog is.
• Throw an object to draw a dog away, and keep your weapon for when there is no other way.
• Read every note: they often hold the answer to the next puzzle.

Questions