Do you enjoy stacking things on top of other things? Do poorly-lit locales make you squeal with delight? Can you think of nothing more enjoyable than spending an afternoon opening cabinets and desk drawers? Then have I got a game for you!
Penumbra: Black Plague is an action/adventure game for the PC that is almost as obsessed with dark corners as it is with physics. Picking up where Penumbra: Overture left off, you once again adopt the role of Phillip, who has trekked all the way to Greenland to track down the father he believed to be dead. You begin the game in a filthy cell of an abandoned research facility with nothing but some lint in your pockets and the roar of some horrible creature ringing in your ears. Something unpleasant is wandering around the halls of the facility, and it's a safe bet you don't want to meet it face to face.
Overture was a combat-heavy adventure, but Black Plague places greater emphasis on storytelling and puzzle solving. As you search the research facility, which you learn is called The Shelter, for clues as to your father's whereabouts; you quickly learn that the scientists fled the scene some years ago, after a virus had been released. Culling information from computer terminals and notes the researchers left behind for anyone who might come to rescue them, you retrace their steps and discover that, as usual, someone was nosing around with artifacts that should've been left alone. Stupid scientists.
You feel very isolated in those dark and gloomy hallways, but you're not alone for long. You eventually acquire a mental stowaway, a brutal little voice in your head that delights in reminding you that you're more than likely going to die, and it's more than likely going to hurt. It would be a bit of a spoiler to explain how you come to have this anti-cheerleader as a companion, so we'll just say that you and he are not going to be BFFs and leave it at that. The voice's constant needling and suggestion that you'd be much better off if you just gave up and died already fleshes out what could've otherwise been a very sterile experience. He even provides a chuckle or two.
Penumbra began as a tech demo showcasing the impressive in-game physics that became the centerpiece of the games. Whereas Overture used the physics to make your melee combat a bit more robust and immersive, Black Plague uses them for puzzle solving, and to make your environment feel more realistic. You don't simply click on a cabinet door to open it, for example, you grab the handle and swing the door out, the way you would in real life. Items don't hover in mid-air, utterly unaffected by gravity as you move them around. They pitch, they yaw, and they swing to and fro. This does create a few "hey, neat" moments, but the bloom comes off that particular rose right about the time you're crossing water by standing on one floating box while you drag another one in front of you, or creating your umpteenth makeshift stepladder by stacking boxes.
Despite your ability to pick up chairs and wave chunks of concrete around, the game leaves you with no way to defend yourself other than running and hiding. It feels somewhat unnatural at first, but your vulnerability adds to the game's considerable creepiness. Your encounters with the infected are fairly infrequent, allowing you to concentrate on piecing together the fate of the Shelter's scientists, rather than constantly fleeing the boogeyman.
