The first episode of Overture was released on March 30, 2007. Being a low budget project, the game was released through various digital distribution websites. The game was also released as a boxed edition in United Kingdom, and in US this month. Another distribution method will be probably the Steam system, but it's just a possibility.

Intro

Penumbra: Overture first episode begins almost the same like the tech-demo story, but with some more static background images. You will play as Phillip, a 30 year old physicist, whose mother just died. At the same time he received a letter from his supposed dead father. The letter leads Phillip to a safety deposit box where he will find all kinds of indecipherable notebooks and a map of Greenland. Without losing time, he decides to head to Greenland in a fishing boat. Arriving there, he starts wandering alone while he will be caught in a blizzard. This is the moment where you actually enter in the game. In a last attempt of surviving he founds an abandoned mine entrance.

 

The entrance collapses and he (you) is forced to go on deeply into the mine. The background story is very vague and lacks of clues, but this is actually one of the reasons the game makes you go on trying to bring some light to the story. The storyline is too thin and some aspects are not explained as you wish. For example who is you dad, or what made you start this trip to Greenland. So the story itself creates a false impression that everything takes place in a dream, or in a blurry and distorted vision. The whole environment is sunken in darkness and some of the passages are extremely tight.

The Diary and Red

As you progress deeper into the mine you will find several clues of that facility and their inhabitants. Different documents scattered across the levels will bring more infos about some details of the game, but at the same time more ambiguity. Between these documents you will find also parts from a journal written by a scientist in which he describes his last 300 days of existence, from which 200 days in full darkness. His writings are driven by insanity caused by loneliness and by hunger. His hunger is the cause of some unpredictable actions like eating spiders and get infected by there toxic venom. In a desperate attend of surviving he is cutting his own tongue to release the venom from his body. These journal reminds of H.P. Lovercraft's original writing style. And the whole predominant atmosphere comes from Lovercraft's writings. Can you compare this game with Call of Chthullu? Yes, you can if you are talking about the ambiance of the game. You will not be quite alone in the mine. Some creatures (dogs, spiders and worms), are disturbing the silence of this tomb.

But let's not forget "Red". The desperate voice behind the Com Radio. This insane voice will lead you more than half of the game through the whole mine, sometimes getting you into trouble by choosing wrong ways. His personality is destroyed by loneliness but especially by the library he holds closed in a room: survival books, Shakespear collection, or Kant's Ethics. He fed his loneliness with this books, and his whole speech is a glimpse of what he read down there.

| Page 1 of 3 |  · 2  · 3  | Next Page »

Please log in to access this section.