Penumbra: Overture was the first major game made by Frictional Games, published in 2007, predating Amnesia: The Dark Descent by three years, and is the first game of the Penumbra series, followed only a year later by the sequel Penumbra: Black Plague.
Like the Amnesia games, Penumbra: Overture is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective, involving a high degree of object interactibility, and progression depending on managing resources, dealing with deadly monsters, and solving puzzles.
Gameplay[]
Plot[]
Penumbra: Overture is set in AD 2000, primarily in a mining complex in northern Greenland. It follows one character, thirty-year-old physicist Philip Buchanon, searching for the solution to a mystery, while also trying to escape and avoid the horrors lurking in the isolated, frozen, and eerie mine.Overture is the first in the Penumbra trilogy, and the story of the game Penumbra: Black Plague is a direct sequel to it. The story of Overture notably draws on Lovecraftian themes of cosmic, science-based, and occult horor—insinuating deeper powers at work, the activity of a cult, and scientists meddling where they ought not—as well as on more straightforward types of horror, such as fear of isolation, fear of unfriendly elements (the deep cold), claustrophobia, fear of darkness, and fear of predators.
Storyline[]
Philip Buchanon receives a mysterious letter from his father, who was thought to be dead. Philip follows the clues laid out by the letter to take a vessel to an unknown, uninhabited, abandoned mine in northern Greenland. As he enters the mine, the entrance collapses, forcing him deeper inside to seek escape.
Along the way, Philip begins receiving radio messages from a surviving miner, Tom "Red" Redwood, who has lost his grip on his sanity due to isolation and boredom. Philip descends further through the mine in search of Red, who has promised Philip his aid. Within the mine, however, is an ecosystem of abnormally large and hostile animals: dogs, giant spiders, and others larger and more eldritch. Documents indicate that some secret society has been scientifically investigating a mysterious phenomenon deeper in the mine.
Philip finally finds Red, who awaits nside an incinerator. He begs Philip to kill him, and Philip activates the incinerator. Among the ashen remains, Philip finds useful items and instructions on how to proceed to the next part of the mine complex, something called "The Shelter." Proceeding from there, an unknown figure ambushes Philip, knocks him out, and drags him away, ending the story.
Development[]
Release[]
Penumbra: Overture was published in 2007 for Windows PC and later for Linux the same year. It was then released for MacOS in 2008.
Reception[]
Gallery[]
References[]
External links[]
- The Penumbra Collection GOG storepage
- Penumbra: Overture Steam storepage
- Penumbra: Overture Wikipedia article
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