Penumbra's atmosphere and sound design

[Daendyr19]

For me, the most important thing in a game is atmosphere and story. And I got both of that, in Penumbra Black Plague.

Unlike most gamers, I don't run through the game, not observing anything. When I play an atmospheric game like Penumbra, Portal, Half Life etc. I try to explore everything around me. In Penumbra: BP, when I first started the game, I was immersed into it almost immediately because of the excellent music design, and even though the graphics weren't that great, Penumbra was a very detailed and believable world. You can really see that the developers put effort in their game(s), which is why I love Frictional so much.

When I read the first note ("Between light and shadow, exists an entire world. That world is necessarily our own. Get out. Now. O."), I was thinking about what it meant for a while. Who is "O"? How does he know I'm trapped? That kind of detail is what I loved about this game (Half Life too! HL is also very detailed and very atmospheric). I read all the notes, I tried to explore every corner of the game, so that I can fully understand this world.

The fact that you feel lonely and lost during the whole game shows how great the atmosphere is in Penumbra BP. You feel like you actually are in an underground facility. You don't see a person through the entire game, and it helps the overall mood and atmosphere of the game.

You combine all this with the sound design which helps this very dark and creepy atmosphere. The soundtrack really convinces you that you are underground in this frozen landscape.

Did anybody else feel like this when they first played Penumbra: Overture of BP? Tell me what you guys think.