Slightly disappointed by Penumbra Overture

[Googolplex]

Dude, I love Penumbra vs. Amnesia fights.

I played Amnesia first and was amazed with every single aspect of it. Then I heard about Penumbra and about all the claims of it being better than Amnesia. When I finally got Overture and played, I was disappointed. I mean, I knew it was older than Amnesia, but still... I didn't feel connected to Red at all. I mean, I guess everybody feels something when they hear those cries of agony, but that was it. The story seemed to have holes, etc. Also, I can say that after playing Amnesia I was literally not actually scared as I was in Amnesia a single time in Penumbra. My heart kinda leapt at the rock worm chase, but that was really it. The combat was...bad. Black Plague was much better, better scares, better story, better atmosphere, better everything. I played Requiem for like half an hour and got too bored to continue. I'm trying not to hate on Penumbra here, they were still good. But... I don't know.



So, overall, Amnesia was better. It fixed everything from the Penumbra games, and if you've played Justine, you know about the chase in the Dungeon which is, in my opinion, one of if not the scariest ever moments in a game.

This is really really wrong.


I played Penumbra first and then Amnesia.



Yes, Amnesia was very creepy, but Penumbra also. And in combination with that, Penumbra had a better atmosphere, you feel more alone in the mine/shelter than in the castle. The dogs, spiders and infected are very scary. The combat system in Penumbra isn't thought for fighting back. It never was the goal of the game to kill enemies!



You should use this system only for solving puzzles, use your weapons as tools or something else.



When you decided to fight, it is good that this system isn't very userfriendly in the beginning. It should not easy to kill enemies and it isn't.



The puzzles in Penumbra are way much better than in Amnesia and the physics feel more realistic, because objects have a mass. You feel the weight when throwing them or open a door.

In Penumbra you need objects for physical puzzles and in Amnesia the objects are only for decor.



The puzzles are using more logical physics and you need more thoughts to find a way.

Remember repairing of the generators, find the battery and the engine, find the code for the door into workshop, creating the fuse to blow up the mine, hearing the morse code from radio, get into the spider tunnel into the storage room, mix the chemicals in right order and all that stuff...



Amnesia only had some very easy puzzles and it was more a pure horror game than a thoughtful horror-adventure. Amnesia was more a "run away from monster" game. Both are good games, but Penumbra is the better experience at all. Mainly Overture is the most involving game ever. Black Plague was little more scary, but less puzzles, not so good story, some levels are only in minds and clarence's talking was destroying the gameplay all times.