Paradox Interactive are proud to announce that February 2009 is a date for fans of innovative and terrifying horror games everywhere to be excited about, as the Penumbra Collection is set to be released on PC.Comprising of the full games Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague along with the recent expansion Requiem, all developed by the acclaimed two man development team at Frictional Games, Penumbra Collection is the complete story of Philip Buchanan and his journey through terror and madness!
But let us go back to where the Penumbra tale began...
Penumbra Overture was originally released in March 2007, with critics hailing not only its fantastic storyline and sense of atmosphere, but also its innovative control scheme. Players interacted with the game world in a physically realistic manner - grabbing and moving objects, opening doors, climbing ladders, examining items - unprecedented in a horror title and therefore adding greatly to the immersion and the tension.IGN commented that Penumbra: Overture had “...great, moments, disturbing imagery...” on the way to scoring it 7/10, with Gamespot adding that it was “...a great spookfest” in their 7.8/10 review. An 8/10 review score from Worth Playing was summed up by them describing the game as an “...original title that sets out with a specific goal and accomplishes it well.”
Penumbra Overture introduced players to Philip Buchanan who, following his mother’s death, receives a letter from his supposedly dead father, a man who left before he was even born, his reasons for doing so a mystery leaving Philip with many unanswered questions. The letter and those questions lead Philip to the arctic wastes of Greenland, to a location mentioned in his father’s ambiguous note and the beginning of our adventure as he begins to uncover disturbing facts about his past that not only affect himself, but all of mankind.
Commenting on the process of making Penumbra: Overture, Thomas Grip, Lead Programmer and Co-Founder at Frictional Games said, “Overture was the first Penumbra game and where it all began. In the game we aimed at giving the player a sense of isolation, claustrophobic horror and making it a desperate fight for survival. Overture binds together a lot of innovative ideas in an intense gaming environment.”