SO GOOD I'M WRITING MY FIRST AND PROBABLY LAST REVIEW.
I don't play games much anymore but, after finding an interest in Penumbra I have never felt so… refreshed and genuinely entertained by a video game. Everything these days are so mainstream and mindless that it is really difficult for, mature gamers to find anything that truly speaks to them. WOW I just cannot get by the fact that a game like this hasn't received the "much deserved" attention that other "richer" games seem to buy these days.
Penumbra is not for the weak minded, the average gamer will disregard it, and take it for a boring adventure game, and most likely will get stuck on even the first of the puzzles it throws at you. But a sophisticated gamer will be intrigued by its real world puzzles. Ahhhh what a relief it is to actually be able to THINK while gaming. Some of the puzzles are so fantastically common sensed that you will beat your forehead with an "of-course!!!". Others require you to jot down and truly study the material provided to you and "THINK" in order to be successful. I have NEVER been so frightened by a game such as Penumbra. Its use of psychological fear on the basis of "that which you don't see can kill you!" works in massive effect both in part of the way the gameplay is layed-out, the graphics/physics and the fantastic use of sound effects and music. To top it all off, the game ends with an excellent "and true" message about the nature of human beings. To call it a poor ending, in my books is submitting to the Hollywood expectations we want in an ending. I mean its not everyday a game has a meaningful message for its player.
In terms of graphics, think of it this way: would you rather have a game that looks good? Or a game that acts good?. The later is what penumbra is. Its lack in some texture details and modern finishing effects, is more than made up for in terms of how the physics make the graphics REAL! The way you interact with objects has never been so true to life and well... creepy. There is nothing like slowly opening a creaky door with the mouse to see what leis behind, you really have to play it to see what I mean. Its used in great effect and is an innovation well mastered by frictional games to immerse the player into the tortured world of penumbra. The way the graphics or "physics" rather are able to immerse the player greatly improve the way I "look" at the game and because of that I think the graphics are actually quite impressive and successful.
The sound effects and musical score are spot on, in itself they make the game. The way your footsteps while running are PAINFULLY load, the way the monsters shout at you and rant as they pass by, or the lamenting shouts of a fellow human in another place you cant quite get too are truly blood curling. But over this it's the atmospheric sound effects that really give Penumbra a high "creepiness" factor. The sudden and load scream or tap of a creature unseen behind a wall, in a wall, or in the shadows. And the musical score, depressing, yet beautiful is well done. Really creepy stuff!
In the end it is only my opinion, but one that I feel many other mature gamers will sympathies with. Penumbra is a masterpiece, a game that I thought Bioshock was going to deliver. No, Penumbra is everything I wanted. Ive shot through war torn Europe in Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. I did the same thing in Crysis, just on an Island. Fear and Bioshock gave me too powerful weapons and abilities to even be afraid of anything coming my way. And blood and guts don't scare me that much. No, Penumbra doesn't give me a weapon because there ARE no weapons in the situation your in, special abilities are for fantasies. In reality a persons psyche does not tolerate or accept things that are unnatural to them leaving them to fear hallucinate or panic easily and render them too scared, or inefficient to fight effectively. That's what Penumbra gives you. A hardcore horror game that is best played in the dark with the volume turned up. And to finish it all off, the game ends beautifully by portraying the conundrum that is man.