Adventure gaming was a giant genre in its day, and though some might say it never left, nowadays it doesn't make the impact it once did in the industry.

Independent developer Frictional Gaming is pushing the boundaries of originality and inventiveness with its adventure horror game Penumbra.

And what's more... it's freeware. Yes, freeware. And I found it to be well worth the time to download it.

My detailed review after the jump...

  
Penumbra is an adventure horror game that takes place in Greenland. As the hero, you have gone in search of your missing father and have travelled all the way to Greenland to find him. While searching for your father, you are caught in a snow storm and stumble onto a mysterious hatch in the snow. You have a feeling this is exactly where you're supposed to go.

Even though the story is quiet simple and cliched, it does work well to get the game going. it starts with a good pace to the game -- good enough to get you intrigued enough to wonder what the hell is going on.

The game starts out in the underground hatch, which has resemblances to the hatches from "Lost" and John Carpenter's "The Thing," which adds a somewhat spooky atmosphere to the game and gives you a feeling that you have been in a place like this before. You're still unsure of what is going on around you, which leaves you with the typical questions like, "What's going on?," "Why is there no one around?," and "What is lurking in that shadow?"

Penumbra game engine is Frictional Games' own in-house-developed 3D engine. The engine allows dynamic shadows, normal mapping and specular effects, which really combine to give a world that is constantly changing. It is a very dark, dreary environment with a horrific touch. The shadows and mist in the game work together beautifully and give the illusion they are moving at certain points while playing. Your mind will start to play tricks on you!

Penumbra takes players and fully immerses them into the world that has been created. You will literally feel like you're actually taking each and every step in this horror world. At several points during the game you will be looking around corners wondering if there is something there, emphasising its ambiguity and creating intense suspense.

Penumbra really takes the very essence of Doom and adds a dab of Lovecraft, all the while adding its own claustrophobic embrace.

While the graphics are indeed something astonishing to look at, the physics engine on the other hand takes inspiration from Half Life 2, yet adds its own little details to really make it a standalone engine. The physics engine was made to fully immerse the player into the world that Frictional Games has created. At certain points you will have to physically pull the draws out yourself with the mouse, and you can choose how fast or slow you would like to do this.

What's also rather cool is that you can barricade doors with crates or boxes to stop things getting in from the outside. At one point I heard a noise and I realized it was a creature trying to break down the door to get into the room I was in. My first basic instinct was to bolt at the door and use my body to stop the thing getting in so I could figure out my next move to counter the attack.

Frictional Games attention to detail is amazing and should be commended. At one point during the game, I was captivated by the fact I could lift a beer bottle to a certain height then drop it and hear a sound, then again pick another bottle up, drop it at a different height and hear a totally different sound. This had me amused for a good five to 10 minutes. The sounds continue on for most of the game. You can shake a shelf and have all its contents rattle and give off a sound, then you can push the shelf over and hear everything coming crashing to the ground.

The background ambiences are ominous, with the dull hum of machinery and the bristling icy Greenland snowstorm crashing into the underground hatch on the outside. The lights flicker or clunk on, if they're broken, adding to the environment that surrounds you. The slightest sound has you flinching at the mouse in every direction to figure out what caused it -- usually it was you, ha ha ha.

The controls seem to blend well together and flow really well, especially with your quick reflex to check something with the mouse and your ability to progress through the game with the standard WASD controls.

Since its an adventure game you will also have the inclusion of the backpack button, which opens your inventory screen. Unfortunately this is where the game starts to have problems. I found it very annoying that I had to pull out an item I used several times to open the vent shaft and repeat the same process over and over. It becomes tedious very fast.

I will give FG credit, for they did try to change that with one of the vents blasting open, but the tediousness of the original vents tends to slow the pace of the game and your character down a bit too much. Luckily though this really doesn't detract from the gameplay too much and has you on your merry way quite fast.

Gameplay consists of the adventure element, where you collect certain objects and complete certain puzzles. For example, you must collect a hose, then fix it to the power generator. Then you find out it needs gasoline, which you must hunt for. There are also some really hard puzzles and blatantly obvious ones that will have you asking, " Why didn't I notice that in the first place?!"

When you start travelling from room to room to complete puzzles or quests, this is the point you will enter the survival/horror element of the game. You travel through dimly lit corridors on your quest to find your next objective surrounded by the omnipresent dark and the monsters that hide there. The creepy or scary feeling (depending on the player) is the main obstacle that you will have to overcome while trying to complete your objective and reach your goal. All through the game the player is completely defenseless, which really helps add to the immersion of the player into the game.

You will be flinching at the slightest shadow, due to the fact you feel so vulnerable to the world around you. Fortunately you will have some tools to help you: Your trusty flashlight and your glow stick. These two tools will probably become your best friends by the end of the game. Both items get considerable use and the player will have to wisely decide to use either the flashlight or the glow stick.

As the flashlight battery drains and you will have to find batteries that have been scattered around, but personally I found it a lot cooler walking around with just the glow stick. Other tools added to the inventory is a stick of dynamite, which is probably the most useless item in the whole game since you can't really use it to do anything. You can't even kill the monster with it!

This brings me finally to the most important part of gameplay -- the monsters. As I said before, you are defenseless, and the game dynamics will take full advantage of this. You will feel very vulnerable traveling through the corridors, and when the monsters do end up showing themselves, you scramble around to overcome their advances.

Penumbra has the player grasping at the surroundings to find tools or ways to help destroy the monster coming at you. Fortunately you have one great asset already: Your mind. You have to think quick as your mind is really your only weapon. The game really has you think on your feet while fighting the monsters, which are basically a puzzle themselves.

Penumbra is so atmospheric and is a fast, fun game to play sadly it is over all too soon. You will definitely be crying out for more because the game immerses you so deeply into the world that Frictional Games has created. The game is quite original and has a nice freshness about it. Penumbra takes two genres and throws them into a mix and comes out with something so extraordinary that it is awesome to play.

I definitely recommend you to download this game, since it is freeware.

Yes, FREEWARE!!!!

So people, please support this title, as it generally deserves credit and acknowledgment. You can find Penumbra at Frictional Games' website.