Penumbra: The Granddaddy of Modern Horror Games
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- Help us fight the good fight against terrible sponsors at / charlatanwonder
Before SOMA or even Amnesia: The Dark Descent there was Penumbra: Frictional Games' tech demo turned into a three-part series plus two going on three fan games. Penumbra was only really meant to show off the HPL Engine and what they could do with 3D assets in what was initially supposed to be a 3D game but Penumbra was so popular that Frictional went and made the series that would come to define modern horror games for years to come.
You can still play this Techo Demo for free by the way archive.org/details/PenumbraF...
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Chapters:
00:00 intro
1:32 Penumbra Tech Demo
2:45 Penumbra: Overture
5:02 The similarities between Penumbra and Amnesia
6:20 Penumbra: Black Plague
9:03 ANTI-SPONSOR
11:57 Penumbra: Requiem
14:01 Story details (SPOILERS)
18:03 Penumbra Fan Games
20:24 Wrap up, Outro
23:17 Cat Video 
Игры
Philip's dad doesn't tell him to come to Greenland. He tells him to burn the documents and information on how to get to the facility. It's Philip's curiosity, trait running in his familiy and in Archaic, that compelled him to look and doomed him
This is basically "Curiosity killed the cat"
@@pat1509 now I am a bit pissed that this joke didn't make it to Charlatan's video
@@masterzoroark6664 It's not a joke.It's the reality of the situation.
@@pat1509 i know, but in context of Charlatan it kinda is. He uses a lot of cat jpegs
I'm kinda mad at the end of Black Plague. I wish you'd have had a choice, I would have spared the tuurngait. They're not a danger to anyone, they just want to be left alone.
The Penumbra franchise is criminally underrated.
For better or worse, I found Penumbra through Pewdiepie
oh yes it's a classic
As an early penumbra player - I've never think that it was underrated ._.
Eh, the series aged badly with the exception of black plague, which was carried by its story. It gave the basics to amnesia but calling it underrated its weird, at least for modern standards
@@ZZZZZZDDDDADA I honetly prefer it over The Dark Descent. Penumbra just does things better in some ways and managed to keep me captivated all the time in both games. Amnesia is great, but I simply enjoyed Penumbra series way too much. Late reply sorry.
I only clicked because of the thumbnail and I don't regret it
It's working.
It is
Me too, and was fully engaged; praise thee algorithm gods!
Plus, this channel has similarities to creationist cat.. both have adorable cats.
@@DarkSideOfTheBrightSide tell me moar
It's soma guy in background but idk who is the guy on the table tho
The combat system lead to one of the most terrefying moments in a game for me, when sneaking into a room a wolf saw me and attacked, it was to close to pull a weapon out so I was forced to kill it by slamming the door on its head over and over.
Nightmare.
That's awesome... from an emergent gameplay perspective I mean
@@Xenomorthian i love amnesia: the bunker for that kind of stuff
I like how penumbra as in the meaning of the word penumbra doesnt coorelate with the game at all
I read somewhere that it was supposed to allude to how the Tuurngait inhabit the further reaches of your mind or your mental “penumbra”. However, that very well could be some bullshit some Slavic wiki dude came up with.
@@The1of1000 It's more likely it was named that to reflect the lighting engine, since it held that name in the original demo. A catchy, cool word to corral interest in the tech. A penumbra can allude to an opening door with light coming from behind it or moving shadows being cast.
The contrast between the OP, and each reply, is brilliantly mind boggling.
Does the title match the game, or not, is the question- I feel after reading each reply, it does & doesn’t, but it does.. not really, though. Lol I’m intrigued to research further, thanks to this thread.
@@DarkSideOfTheBrightSide Tell us watch you find, curious to know the real reason :P
Sono will do!
SPOILERS: There is only one issue though, Philips father didn't want him to come to the Greenland mines, he wanted Philip to destroy all of the evidence leading to the mines to prevent others from finding it. If no one had messed with the evidence, then whenever someone empties out the safe at the bank they'd end up with a trail leading to Greenland, potentially making things far worse. Philip was never meant to actually become curious about Greenland and go there, and his father most likely didn't say anything in his letter because he was under the influence of the Tuurngait.
EDIT: Also, the email Philip sends out at the end was a call for his friend to kill the Tuurngait more than anything, the facility is part of that, but it was a call of arms against what he believed to be an enemy of mankind. The whole reason the Tuurngait sends him on the spiritual journey is to see if he has what it takes to help them and to make the facility unknown to others, but instead he tricks them.
I really want Frictional Games to make a new Penumbra game.
I absolutely adore the setting of the Penumbra games. It has a very 'The Thing' feel to it, in some way.
With today's graphics, I'm sure it would look amazing, too. And I'd give anything to get another soundtrack by Mikko Tarmia.
Maybe after the new Amnesia
@@PtakuYT Fingers crossed.
@@PtakuYT there’s going to be a new amnesia???
@@Powered1Buttercup Amnesia Rebirth it come out this or at the end of last month
YES. I would kill for a new Penumbra game. With today's graphics it'd be incredible.
Even now, the title “Black Plague” gives me shivers. It was one heck of a creepy game.
Penumbra means half or soft shadow.
Pretty ironic considering the game used only hard shadows.
Not really, penumbra its the point where it's really dark but you can see just a little
@@aberoy9957 Well yeah, that's the point.
HALF LIFE AND PENUMBRA CROSSOVER!
@@mosshivenetwork117 God no
@@mosshivenetwork117 Half Pen or Umbra life, take one 😂
I remember learning about Penumbra as a teenager around 2011. I found some demo concept thing from frictional game and installed it for free. I was amazed by the physics and it stuck with me for a long time. They're one of the first game I bought on steam, and every now and again I like to explore them a bit. I never finished them because I'm scared and hate horror games, but idk. I love them
Finish them dude.
I don't even care about the psa. But reloading before you've emptied the mag in EYE is a sin.
Frfr
y
@@landlockedcroat1554 because when you reload any ammo left in your mag will be lost.
"My legs are OK!"
Also Penumbra is pretty cool.
You gain brouzouf
I killed my mentor, but I did not murder him
I played the whole trilogy start to finish on my old laptop, from sundown to sun up, one October night/morning in 2012. It was life changing and got me into writing horror.
Hey, I'm the guy who uploaded the tech demo to Archive.org! Yknow it was weird, it took me quite a while to find the thing cuz it seemed like it wasn't availible anywhere. And the moment I found it, İ uploaded it to the Archive fearing it could be lost. I'm glad if it helped you make this awesome video.
I remember that I found penumbra to be feeling a bit lovecraftian in story, I wonder if they might have been inspired by "the mountains of madness".
They definitely were, the engine the games run on was even called "HPL".
@@austenruzicka970 i see, I wasn't aware of that.
After playing just 30 min of this game back in the day for me it was an instant 9/10, this was at a time where the horror genre was being abandoned so it was just so refreshing to be able to play something so atmospherically creepy, especially after the dissapointment that was silent Hill homecoming
Where the genre hadn't been abandoned, it had stagnated into shooters where the only scares were jump scares (more of a cheap adrenaline trick than a scare), because you can't fill players with real fear when they can just turn around and fill something with lead.
No other game at the time had that bone chilling feeling where you just wanted to hide in a corner and not move in-game for 45 minutes. Those games made hardened horror fiends squirm and take breaks to cool off lol
I think Penumbra is an example of a game to be enjoyed for the journey rather than the ending or some "deep" plot, like the older Silent Hills. I've come to realize Lovecraft and most horror writers weren't after life-changing plots or enlightening stories for the reader's personal development, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I can't tell if the opening intro is trolling or you actually serious but this is 2020 so anything goes at this point
I can't explain now, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Family Values Enforcement Police are at my door.
Wonder the same thing.
For reference, There’s a large homeless population/encampment that usually hops around. The main locations are usually Gilbert street/near Disneyland and near angel’s stadium. I live about 30-40 minutes away from there
Run before someone shits in your dog house and pisses in the water bowl.
This comment needs to be memorialized to prove to future generations how fucked this year has been
I LOVE Penumbra so much. The voice acting is honestly top notch too.
That laser tripwire bomb trap, is a clear reference to MGS2 where an *exact same* explosive trap is present, even its layout is identical.
But this one isn't *A DUD!*
16:05 (spoilers) had to have been the most memorable moment for me out of the entire series just because of how shocked I was when I found out what I had done. I don't even think Bioshock was able to top it.
First Horror Game I ever saw was Penumbra: Overture.
Same.
Just finished the series about a week ago and I found myself quite surprised how scary “Black Plague” was. I think the winning formula that made it scarier than pretty much every other game, is that it forces you to complete complex and obtuse puzzles under extreme duress. I’d say this was even scarier than Amnesia, because in this you spend a great deal of time trying to understand what the puzzles even conceptually are supposed to be in the first place, when you’re simultaneously being chased by the Tuurngait.
That sounds like the chase sequences from dark corners of the earth.
Amnesia TDD made the mistake of having enemies disappear if you hide for a bit, it's worse when you have to slowly sneak around the creature while trying to solve a puzzle to get out of there.
@@norwegianboyeethat was really lame in Amnesia once I realised that the scripted monster pop ups, just go away permanently if you aren't discovered for about 30 seconds. There was a new patch in 2017 though, where you can play Amnesia with the monsters remaining within the levels permanently
I very much aprove of that thumbnail :)
I knew you'd like it.
0:14 Ya if you didn't have that little line of text saying "Obviously, none of this is for real." I would have believed you since this year has been that insane.
One of my gaming sins was playing this before the hype and getting so lost and confused I never even saw a monster before uninstalling.
I spent around 2 hours just wandering around with the insanity effects maxed out because I'm dumb.
Yeah me too! Not at least marvel at the amazing physics that felt so revolutionary back then :D
As someone who lives really close to Orange County and Fullerton; I can say for certainty that it’s been like the Fallout games lately
Hey, good on you on recognizing a bad sponsor, for real.
One of the best videos yet! I love how you make so many hilarious jokes in passing so it's just one joke after the other. Keep up the good work!
Ah yes. Oveture had a combat system. Looks just as terrible as I remember!
I've never actually played the tech demo, and I remember you recommending the fan games, I will absolutely give them a shot.
Thanks Charlatan, good luck with your move.
Your comment reads so sarcastic it hurts
I found your channel last week, watched a ton of your videos since then and love then, keep it up!
HPL? As in, like H.P. Lovecraft?
Yep. H.P. Lovecraft Engine
Haven't watched this yet, however, I lately have been extremely interested in you current and past videos. You do some great work man!
Thought I heard of the name, went in to my steam library, turns out I bought the whole Series a while back.
Just discovered your channel a couple days ago! It's awesome what you're doing with gatekeeping less than reputable sponsors. Love the cat videos too!
PushingUpRoses: "Point-and-click Moon Logic Puzzles"
Charlatan Wonder: "ADVENTURE GAME CRACKHEAD LOGIC!!!"
Penumbra was great. When Amnesia became trendy, I've already finished Penumbra, nobody knew it.
This is fun, very interesting to finish Halloween in July, we’ll have to see what happens next, also, good luck on moving
i've just discoveres all these game critique/review/video essay sorta things this past week and this is probably my fave so far. the penumbra trilogy and amnesia tdd are some of the first pc games i played and i'm grateful for that
you coverd probably my 3 fave horror games in a row :D
I love your philosophy to adds! you're seriously awesome. I hope your move went well (sorry I'm so late)
Good luck with your move, my family moved all of our stuff from Maryland to California in our SUV and a box truck so I know how stressful the cannonball can be. Hopefully with covid traffic and the warmer weather it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
im so happy someone is finally acknowledging penumbra ;___; I feel like everyone forgets about it when talking about the mid 00s horror games
The only horror game playthroughs I watched growing up were Penumbra and Amnesia. Its so fun learning more about the two games
Not going to lie, I found your content recently and love it so much I've watched your backlog and caught up. I love your cat and cooking segments. Keep fucking with the normal formula. It's the best.
Don't know if you'll ever read this, but I love the structure of your videos, and you got some good vocal transition skills. Definitely coming back to this channel.
I read this, thanks!
@@CharlatanWonder No problem man, keep up the good work.
Ah man I remember these games very fondly. This was a great review. Thanks bro.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for the sound warning!
Hey does anyone have a PEN? My hand is getting NUMB from using a pencil.....RA
you clever boy...
Bruh
HPENMNUMBRA
@@anakay1184 underrated response
You should have said camera
You should definitely do your video idea on Zombie Panic: Source and Zombie Master! I remember laughing so hard watching Crackbone play ZPS.
Theses videos are well produced, but it feels like you are just describing the basics of the games with little to no analysis or opinion. I think that having more of that would make the videos more personal and interesting.
That reference at 14:02 made me instantly go for the like button, but I had already liked it. Oh well
Harry potter trivia: Yeah it crazy! I had to make an excel sheet after years that the amount of HP games (not including Lego) made me crazy.
Honestly addicted to this channel.
Goddamn just 30 seconds into the video and i subscribed.Constantly looking for horror game essay videos I'm gonna binge the shit out this channel.
I remember when Penumbra had a tech demo before it released and I was hyped for the game
Oof, was thinking of Antumbra. This was still pretty darn cool though, nice vid man 👍
Man I guess I watched this already two years back since I see that I liked it but im fiending for Penumbra again, so yah its great to be back
I love your content man. Keep it up
Penumbra Necrologue is actually a fantastic mod, and I honestly consider it canon. It felt almost like it was made by Frictional themselves!
That intro is and will always be gold
Scene heritage site 🤣
Awsome video, i appreciate you!
Shoutout penumbra series!
Shoutout OC crust punks!!! 🤙
Let’s sip and smoke blunts foo! 🔥🔥
I kinda forgot of Penumbra, since i watched gameplay of it when i was little, but now the feels rushed in! It was the first horror game that made me love horror games as a genre! Oh i am so happy to hear that name again, it took me back to when i was 13 :)
Same
Loved the content
Subbed
that intro is golden!!
I remember playing this as a teen with my friend where we would take turns.
Black plague was so much fun :)
Please keep making thumbnails like this 😂
I will continue to make terri-bad meme thumbnails and there is no one who can stop me.
Lmao downtown Fullerton is a war zone....You went off on that intro my guy! :)
I love it here. Thank u
Great video man
Can't wait for your next upload
My favorite thing about Requiem is that if you get on top of a box, grab it with your mouse and start to jump, you can fly. It's so good
Time to binge more horror game videos at 12:30 am when I have school tomorrow
Requiem is my favourite penumbra title unironically
Made it 5 mintues until the 1st bioshock reference! Nicely done!
I don't know who you are, I don't remember subscribing to you, but I like your beard
oh lord babyjesus the thumbnail was genius. now i just have to watch
A 25 MINUTE VIDEO?
well, the bait is laid, i surrender my soul.
Penumbra has my favorite spooky puzzle, the morse code one.
This is a fine example of why I always look for 'no commentary'
I stillll go back and play these games every now and then. I hate the dogs in the first one, but not being able to kill anything in the second was a stark change of atmosphere. I still think about the spider eatin' dudes journal.
Great series
OMG i remember playing penumbra a long long time ago
Hmm. I'm pretty sure I have E.Y.E. as one of those games you buy and then forget about.
Damn man, can you tell me why? It looks mad interesting to me and is it action horror or just action? Cause it looks like some action was going on with some rpg elements
@@FrozenStarFish I think it's an fps-rpg. That's about as much as I know. I bought it back in 2013 and only played it for 45 minutes.
Diseasel oh shit okay bro bro I gots you, imma prolly look up reviews for it just to hear more about it to see if I’m actually interested but idk because there’s so many horror games I really wanna play so badly and already have games I’m tryna complete just like penumbra
@@FrozenStarFish yea its an fps rpg. Theres a light horror atmosphere but not really. Its a fairly complex and poorly explained game but I cannot stress how much fun it is once you get into it. Very worth it tbh tbh.
@@FrozenStarFish Check Out Mandalore's Video on it, he describes the indescibable
I never thought I'd see these games getting acknowledged
I hope you get a load of subs, the anti-sponsor rant thing was glorious. Lol.
Everything in this game is a masterpiece especially the soundtrack
I was not ready for the Outlast dlc. Eddie Gluskin's "courtship" was the scariest fucking thing I've seen period.
Didn’t know there was a game that has the same namesake. I’ll check it out
i love this game :o the horrible melee was terrifying
Tbh Penumbra Tech Deno looks fine :) I love that it kickstarted a nice company
Imagine how fuckin cold it is there and your character doesn't stop walking once to warm up
Some of my first games was Amnesia and this. The memories bro.
You covered these games lightning-fast
I remember being exposed to this tech demo from watching G4 channel like 15 years ago. Good times for sure.
Thumbnail is nutshell for horror game..
Honestly, if l'll was seated.. l'll be already in shock. Lol
Death to Crust Punks! Weekend Nachos rule!
I remember playing the trilogy when I was younger. God damn they were creepy. I'll never forget Red. RIP Red.
Thank you YT Recommend for introducing me to another worthwhile youtuber 🥺🙏
Penumbra: Black Plague is still my favorite horror game. Though admittedly I have not really played much of, say, Outlast or even Amnesia, but something about Black Plague's gameplay merges perfectly with unsettlingly terrifying atmosphere.
_"But Chaaaarrrrllll..."_
I got the disk of Penumbra Overture for PC from a thrift store for $8 in 2012. The game was scary as hell.