Originally conceived as a tech demo and recently given a new-found bump in popularity thanks to the Humble Indie Bundle, Penumbra is arguably not only the scariest game series, but possibly the scariest piece of media ever developed.

Note:  Although there are three entries in this series, unless otherwise noted, most of this review focuses on Overture, the first entry.

The gaming world is no stranger to terrifying experiences; starting back in the day with text-based games like the legendary Zork, on to the birth of the 3D survival horror genre with Alone in the Dark, and then on to more modern games/series’ like Undying, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Dead Space, and many others, our hobby has a wide variety of options to scare the crap out of you.  Of all those that I just listed (and all the ones I missed), nothing touches the atmosphere or sheer terror of Penumbra.

You play a physicist named Philip, who has just received a strange letter from his supposedly dead father.  Following the instructions in the note, he is lead to a safety deposit box, which contains documents he is (according to the note) supposed to burn.  His “human curiosity” gets the better of him, and instead of destroying the documents he examines them.  What he finds leads him to travel to remote northern Greenland, where he quickly finds himself overwhelmed by the elements.  He is forced to take shelter in an old mine…an old mine that has a mysterious past, with ::insert terrifying thing:: lurking in the shadows.  The second game continues the story; I haven’t played the third one yet, so I can’t comment on that one.

Penumbra is all about survival.  Combat is fairly limited, as you are largely ineffective against what you encounter.  Stealth is your primary tool  when it comes to dealing with the creatures; you can also utilize the (well implemented) physics engine to create ways to slow down them down.  Puzzles involve a combination of using the physics engine and using found items in a manner similar to Resident Evil.  The inventory interface is a bit lacking, but it is sufficient enough given the slow, methodic pacing of the game.

Much of what makes Penumbra terrifying is the setting and intense atmosphere.  You’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, in near complete darkness for most of the game, with little more than your battery-draining flashlight and your wits to guide the way.  Beyond that, you are constantly finding the writings of some guy who clearly spent too much time down here, as well as coming across carcasses and evidence of horrible things.  The whole game is presented like an extremely well written book, where you feel compelled to ”turn one more page” to find out what happens.  Of course, each “page” contains Lovecraftian terrors that you just want to ignore…but you can’t.  Penumbra’s storyline gets its hooks into you early, and the drive to find out what happens next seems to always outweigh the horrifying experiences caused by the story moving forward…barely.

Penumbra is not a pretty game.  However, like Undying, Penumbra is proof that graphics aren’t what makes a game scary.  Sure, super-clear textures and advanced lighting effects can add mood to a game, but they’ve got nothing on hearing the skittering of spiders, the distant breathless whispers, or the howling of the wind (or is it the moaning of some otherworldly abomination…?)  Penumbra doesn’t really explore anything that hasn’t been approached in games before, but it does them so perfectly and draws you into the experience so completely that it feels like something you haven’t ever encountered.  Also, unlike games such as Resident Evil or Doom 3, you never get used to the atmosphere.  The last ten seconds are just as terrifying as the first ten.

Penumbra isn’t intense…it’s downright paralyzing.  When you crouch down, you can kind of see in the dark, and you also become much harder to detect.  Stay in one place for too long though, and Philip starts to get scared (evidenced by the sound of his heartbeat pounding as he starts to shiver).  Stand still way too long while waiting for a creature to pass, and it will notice Philip standing there…at which point you commence pissing in your pants.

Make sure you play this one with the lights out, in the middle of the night, with headphones on and turned up as loud as you can stand.  Silent Hill, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame…none of them come even remotely close to the sheer eldritch horror that awaits you in Penumbra.

Remember kiddies: once you see those eyes in the darkness, it’s already too late.