Feature Follow-up: We’re gonna need more pants.

Jul 12, 2009 by Joshua    No Comments    Posted under: game feature, games

Last week, I shared some words with you about Frictional Games’ “Penumbra: Overture”. Well, shortly after beating the first game of this series and seeing the cliffhanger that left more questions than it answered, I had to pick up “Penumbra: Black Plague”, the sequel, and play it right away.

At first, the gameplay in “Black Plague” seemed insane – unlike the first game, this one is completely lacking handheld weaponry. What’s more, thrown objects do little more than stun enemies for a second or two. The developers took a new direction with the combat in “Black Plague”, leaving the player feeling much more helpless by needing to rely on stealth and flight.

And I have to say that the change, along with all the other elements of “Black Plague”, make for a wonderful experience that may even trump that of “Overture”. I’ll do my best to relate to you these key elements that make the game enjoyable without ruining the mystery that makes the player feel obligated to see it through to the end. I’ll also share a few words about the expansion, “Requiem”, which sheds little light on the story but does provide for a bit more physics-based entertainment.

Game: Penumbra: Black Plague (and Penumbra: Requiem)

Developer: Frictional Games

Genre: Survival Horror/Puzzle

May appeal to fans of: Half-Life series, Call of Cthulhu

Key points: physics engine, quirky dialogue, terrifying elements, no weapons

The story picks up where “Overture” left off, with Philip finding himself in a [REDACTED] after being [REDACTED] by a [REDACTED]. This sudden change in environment is proof that he is only just starting to learn the details of his father’s disappearance and the mysterious letter he received. Could Philip’s father still be alive, somewhere underground? What is the nature of this strange virus that causes animals to mutate into large, ferocious creatures and drives people mad beyond the point of return?

The situation is further complicated when you learn over time that Philip has contracted the virus, and it is slowly taking him over. As the game mentions on a few occasions, symptoms of the virus include hallucinations, déjà vu, hearing voices and eventual loss of sanity. Over time, you experience all of these afflictions, and the developers have done a splendid job of incorporating them into gameplay. Even before the nature of the virus is revealed to you, the symptoms are felt, as in a scene early on where Philip is crawling through a vent, and after passing by a room with a corpse on a hospital bed, he finds himself passing by that same room moments later. The symptoms also kick in at crucial times, as when you must rush through a maze of hallways while eluding a couple of enemies chasing you with axes, but the door that you seek keeps disappearing and reappearing at different locations.

The onset of insanity is personified by “Clarence”, the sardonic voice in your head that taunts you and makes a mess of your memories. The witty and sarcastic voice, which sounds a bit like the late George Carlin (may he rest in peace), shows complete scorn for the human race – referring to Philip and others as “monkeys” – while at the same time banking on your survival for his own purposes. Even so, he does his best to interfere with Philip’s search for a cure, tweaking his mind to create hallucinations of monsters and occasionally crippling motor skills to hinder your progress.

As first evidenced with the character of “Red” in “Overture” and further supported by “Clarence” and others, one hallmark of the “Penumbra” series is the witty dialogue. Given that Philip is trekking through an isolated facility deep underground beneath the deadly, snowbound wilderness of Greenland, it makes sense that anyone he meets with who is intelligent and alive enough to speak would have a unique way of looking at the world. Each character has a distinct personality, and those personalities shine through in the way that they talk and behave. Red, for instance, is a man who has been trapped underground for decades, feeding on what little wildlife he can find, sequestered in a small room with mountains of books. As such, his dialogue is verbose, but it is also prone to flights of fancy that one might expect from someone who can’t remember the last time he spoke to a real person.

Even in “Requiem”, which is not so much a continuation of the story as it is an extended dream sequence the developers created to further play around with the physics engine and the puzzle-solving process, the dialogue really adds to the entertainment value. Throughout the different levels – as the game is essentially divided up into levels, with the goal being to collect enough “keys” to progress to the next one – a seemingly pre-recorded voice speaks over the PA system and through small radios, giving instruction on proper procedure like a factory safety announcement. As the game progresses, however, the disembodied voice takes on a more bizarre mode of speech reminiscent of GLaDOS from “Portal”.

For instance, in one level where the player must turn the power back on (a common objective in the game), doing so kick-starts a small radio sitting in an office room. The message on the radio keeps getting stuck at one point, looping the same sentence fragment over and over. If the player interacts with the radio, however, the voice says, “Thank you, Philip,” and continues with the message. Little details like this cut through the eeriness of the games and bring a relieving bit of laughter to the gameplay.

Here’s a trailer of sorts for “Black Plague”. Know that it is more centered around puzzle-solving than “Overture”, and it also contains much more plot, though it still leaves a few questions open at the end.

Next time, I’ll probably have some music to talk about. I need to take a break from scary things for a while.

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