Penumbra: Black Plague Review

If you want to get scared out of your mind by something you interact with and don't have enough money to rent a haunted house, you play a good survival horror game. This genre of games has been running for a fairly long time and has been prone to some flops and massive successes. So where would I class Penumbra: Black Plague, a new addition to the genre and the game that successfully made me scream like a girl? A massive success.

The game creators Frictional Games have taken the survival horror game genre, and interpreted it by adding their own additions and differences. They have achieved this well but before I get into the gameplay itself, I will share with you the storyline.

The game is the second in a series of three. Your character Philip continues from the first in searching for his father, but this is no easy task as he has been imprisoned in an abandoned research facility. When you free yourself from your cell you once again set out to find and save your father. The voice of a friend you once knew, now taken by those you wish not to encounter, rings in your ears but you must go on and complete your goal.

There are moments in the game that are insane and completely out of the ordinary. They occasionally make me think this game was created by a bunch of mental patients. One example is when you encounter a man behind a door. He begins speaking to you saying and I quote (to some extent): "Good, good good good. It has been exactly 2 weeks, 1 day, 14 hours, 7 minutes since something good last happened". This insanity and downright weirdness is something that freaks you out even more. I see this as something that could be good or bad depending on the player. As well as random communication moments (which are rather good in the sense of voice acting), random encounters with enemies occur which don't allow you enough time to act and get away.

The enemies which you do encounter are infected humans with a terrible plague (hence the name). Once someone becomes infected, they become homicidal and destroy any living being they find. Coming across these beings is something you do not want to do. Once you are in their eyesight, you are their prey and they won't stop hunting until they find and kill you. Fair enough you say, all is good you say, just kill them you say - but there are no weapons at all in this game. You cannot kill anything with anything; your best hope is to either throw one of the many objects you have lying near you to slow your enemy down, or run and hide. A good wit is strongly advised as there are some moments where trapping an enemy is probable, but it is tricky. This is especially tricky when you are running around like a headless freaked out chicken wondering how to get as far away as possible from this creature in the first place.

One of the things that I love about this game is the way the game has been adapted. Fair enough you have no weapons, but it would be pointless if they kept everything else the same. What Frictional Games have done is implement a hiding feature and it works very well. The idea of this feature is that when you are out of direct eyesight, you can hide in a dark area whilst prone and you won't be seen. As well as this, when you stay still for a certain amount of time, your eyes adjust to the light. The dark becomes clearer just like it would in reality. The best part of this feature is the implemented panic. When you are hiding, and an enemy is coming towards you, you cannot look at them directly. Doing so causes you to panic. Doing so for a long amount of time makes it unbearable for poor Philip and he goes crazy. It's a unique and very original idea which in my opinion works very well indeed.

Music and sound effects within any game like this has to be spot on. My old English teacher once said: "Sound is 50% of creating an atmosphere". Frictional Games have really hit the nail with this one. Accompanying the dim lights, narrow corridors and sparks of failing electricity is the music and sound effects. It plays a massive part of making you feel as terrified as possible. When you play this game without any sound whatsoever, it's just a game. With sound, it's real and in-depth experience. The music changes pace when appearances of enemies are made. When you go towards a door, you can hear a loud groan of something horrific. When you open a door, the screech sends shivers down your spine. I haven't felt so shocked by a single pouncing CGI spider in my life.

The game isn't just a survival horror, it's a puzzler too. Looking back at other reviews I have done, I haven't had good experiences with puzzle style games. Penumbra: Black Plague however is rather different. Although the puzzles require much thinking (which is the whole point) they are not impossible to work out. They are witty, fun and accomplishing when they are figured out.

Graphics in this game are better than good. From looking at one of the infected running towards me as I quiver in my chair, I was able to stay still long enough to come to a conclusion that the character models are very detailed. The game isn't at the top of those in terms of graphics, but is more than enough to shock you at the unsuspecting moments.

The controls in the game have their ups and downs and could be described as the single real bad point in the game. When grabbing objects and fixing them into slots, placing them elsewhere etc., it doesn't work as it should. In Half-Life you have an ability to spin an object you are holding to place it in a certain position. In Penumbra: Black Plague you don't have this ability, but the physics are still there. It becomes very frustrating when trying to place an object upright on the ground so you may jump on it. I found myself slamming things against walls to get them to do so, and still it was fiddly.

The simple WASD controls are used to move your character. E and Q and used to lean right and left respectively, CRTL is crouch, SPACE is jump, TAB is to bring up inventory, left mouse is to use/interact and right mouse is to inspect and throw. That's simply it. No weapons are used to no scrolling or number bashing is required. This means that the game is very easy to get used to, and very easy to sit down and play even though you will be jumping from your seat most of the time.

If you are one to be scared in any way whatsoever and not like it, don't play this game. If you like playing games that make you have to clean up your mess every five minutes, then play this game at 2AM, in pitch black, through surround sound and noise proofing walls to avoid waking your neighbours up from your repetitive screeching. I have said this once and I shall stand by this for a long time I believe, this is the scariest game I have ever played. I'm off to get the floor cleaner.