Mature Content Advisory

This game is only suitable for individuals 17 years of age or older.
 
Universal Binary

Game Media

By Brad Cook

If you want to test a man, place him in extraordinary circumstances. Better yet, allow him to place himself there. That’s what you discovered when you guided Philip through the creepy circumstances of Penumbra: Overture, in which a mysterious package from his long-lost father led him to Greenland. There, in the middle of a blizzard, a hatch led into a mine, where many puzzles waited.

Penumbra: Black Plague

Inside the mine, Philip encountered Red, who communicated via a radio and helped him find his way out — or maybe not, considering what happened when Philip finally found the strange man. But just when Philip thought his nightmare in the mine was over, a mysterious figure knocked him unconscious.

Interactive Environment

Philip’s adventure concludes in Penumbra: Black Plague, which begins with the main character waking up in a cell. Escaping from it reveals that he’s still deep below the surface of Greenland, but now he’s in a high-tech research station. Armed with only the objects he finds around him, Philip must finally solve the riddle of the package he received from his father, who had been presumed dead three decades previous.

Both of the Penumbra games feature a unique physics engine that allows you to pick up just about any object and move it, throw it, attack with it, smash something with it, and more. Rather than simply clicking, however, you must move the mouse to achieve the desired effect, much like the dynamics of swinging a golf club in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. Move bookcases out of the way to find what’s hidden behind them. Use a cold can of soda to cool a thermostat and stop steam from pouring out of a pipe. Smash the lid off a locker with a rock.

While Overture allowed Philip to use objects as weapons against the creatures roaming the mine, however, Black Plague’s enemies can only be distracted by, for example, throwing something in their vicinity. Philip’s only hope for uncovering the truth lies in his ability to sneak through dangerous areas. Use the shadows to your advantage, and don’t rely on flashlights and glow sticks any more than necessary, unless you want to attract unwanted attention. Crouch as much a possible.

Like Overture, though, you’ll come across plenty of notes and other documents that will give you insight into the world you’re exploring. This time, multiple voices call to Philip, and he’s not sure if he can trust any of them. Something sinister happened in this facility a long time ago, and the residual effects continue to reverberate.

Out of the Dark

We’ll leave you with a few thoughts on the name Penumbra. An umbra is the part of a shadow where all light is blocked by the object causing it, while the penumbra is the area where a partial shadow exists. It’s an apt way to describe both Overture and Black Plague, in which you’re not only moving through shadowy environments but also viewing obstructed parts of reality along the way.

If you can reach the end of the story, however, you’ll finally shine a bright light on the truth. What you and Philip discover will complete his transformation from an ordinary physics professor into an extraordinary adventurer.

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An Enigma Wrapped in a Riddle

Person with a flashlight.

A brief narrative at the start of Black Plague catches you up on what happened during Overture, so you don’t need to play the previous game to enjoy this one, although doing so will help you appreciate the full depth of the storyline. According to Philip’s narrative at the beginning of Overture, his story began in February 2000, when a package from his father, Howard, arrived after his mother’s funeral.

Howard left Philip’s life before he was born, and he was presumed dead, but he returned in the form of a key and directions to a safe deposit box at a bank. There, Philip found an odd book and a collection of notes. Howard had instructed him to burn them, but, as Philip says, “the shameful trappings of curiosity” got the best of him.

Philip was a physics professor at a British university, but a colleague taught linguistics, so Philip turned to him for help. Unfortunately, his fellow professor found the book unintelligible. In the notes, however, Philip found a map to a location in uninhabited northern Greenland, so he decided to make his way there. That’s where you join his story, as he discovers the hatch and descends into a nightmarish abandoned mine.

Overture opens with a plea from Philip: “There are things I need of you. Things you may not understand and may not wish to do, but please do not make the same mistakes I did. If we are lucky, then by the time you receive this, I will be dead. If fate frowns, we all perish.”

Thus you find yourself in the same situation he was in when that package from Howard arrived. By the conclusion of Black Plague, you discover if Philip’s warning proves to be prophetic.

 
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