If I had a hammer...
Released onto the Internet in 2006 as a free download, the original Penumbra quickly developed a vast quantity of praise for its creepy and interesting atmosphere. This in turn spurred the small development team to continue work on the project and reach the ultimate goal of a commercial release. Overture is the first in a series of PC games from the same team, all based around the same universe and with a persistent storyline spanning across multiple episodic releases. I can only hope that the series catches the imagination of PC gamers, as this is one title that I'd like to see the conclusion of. For those of us burned by the Shenmue debacle, you'll know exactly what I mean.
Your role in the Penumbra Universe is limited to playing a rather generic English protagonist (with some pretty bad voice acting), out to find out the meaning of a message left to you by your long-lost father. Soon enough your path takes you on a boat to Greenland, and following on from a brief on-board tutorial and introduction to the physics system, you'll be breaking locks in the snowy wastes and descending into the depths of a long-forgotten mine and research base. It's all very The Thing, and the introduction of some fairly rabid dogs early in the proceedings supports that particular notion.
The back-story soon blends into the surroundings however and becomes fairly inconsequential, and the rather generic setting and premise is testament to that. For once however, the story can suitably and understandably take a more limited role, as it becomes clear that the developers have focussed extensively on atmosphere alone; surprisingly that turns out to be a good decision.
Penumbra plays out from a first-person perspective, and as such the initial reaction from most players will be to fall into the trappings of a first-person shooter, searching for weapons and expecting conflict from the start. However, without providing any form of standard weaponry, the game constantly plays on a sense of vulnerability and survival from the very outlook, and doesn't let up. There are no general prompts towards any violent acts, and the main protagonist is often forced to run and hide rather than attempting to bludgeon any of the creepy inhabitants of the mine with a nearby object, or trusty hammer.
Of course if push comes to shove you can swing any of the heavy objects at your disposal in the general direction of somebody that wishes to cause you harm, and deal a decent amount of damage, but that choice is always a last resort. It's a refreshing change of pace to be playing a game from this perspective and not have destruction and extreme violence as the primary gameplay trigger, and kudos to the developers for attempting such a bold decision. Whether or not that converts into sales from a crowd usually hooked on Half-life and Counter-Strike is another matter.
A game based solely on running away from things (S.O.S?) and hiding wouldn't be a particularly decent spectacle though, and thankfully Penumbra contains enough adventuring and well-balanced logic puzzles to tie the experience together.
The core gameplay puzzling and adventuring revolves around a suitably robust physics engine. All of the in-game actions usually left to a single button press have been reworked in Penumbra to take advantage of this system, and the environment is lent a nice real-world consistency as a result. Opening a door, for example, requires the user to grab the handle with the mouse button and then drag outwards as if moving the door yourself. Interactions with drawers, boxes, and other objects are all handled similarly, with the puzzles incorporating this as a central facet. This can lend the game a similar tone to certain sections in the eponymous Half-Life 2, which is undeniably good company to be in.
The only charge that can really be brought against the game lies within the the aesthetics of the environment. Whilst great lengths have been taken to ensure a dark and creepy atmosphere (and largely succeed), this can be let down by some extremely primitive character models and animation. It's all good being scared by the sound of a wolf creeping around the corner, but to then be taken out of the moment as the same animal slides past as if on rails is a little jarring to say the least. The fact that the same wolf then stands motionless as you attack it with a rock is the final blow; but providing you can overlook such instances the game does a superb job of evoking the fear and primitive instincts that surviving in such an environment would entail.
Overture manages to strike out on its own path and create a unique experience that, whilst not perfect, is worthy of a look for anybody interested in the adventure or horror genres. Creeping around in the dark with only a flashlight to hand whilst the wind whistles through a passageway and footsteps can be heard around every corner can be extremely disconcerting, and it's a testament to good game design that it manages to unsettle right from the start. Big-name horror titles such as Resident Evil and F.E.A.R can certainly learn from some of the things that Penumbra gets right, and just goes to prove that getting back to basics can shine the light for progress.
Note: This text was originally written by myself and published over at boomtown.net