The Penumbra Collection on GOG - gog.la/penumbra THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo Hope you all hunted many Turkeys and other equivalents.
I know you wont ever get a chance to play this, but you should look into the Thea games. Odd slavic folklore combined with 4x strategy and RPG elements. Either way another game to add to the list.
hey man any thoughts on total war WH3? I mean the whole community thing? I mean am I the only one who thinks the wh2 was undoubtedly worse? I mean the multiplayer Is amazing. the models the factions everything feels better to me... What do you think?
Or popping a million balloons using nothing but dead monkeys. Wait, didn't he mention a nuke somewhere, you didn't have one of those? An anti-helium sentient virus hidden under the couch? Love your vids, miss Rimworld😢.
I love the idea of finally uncovering the eldritch truth, and it just being kind of chill and asking you to leave it alone. I know it's not that simple in Black Plague, but the basic idea is hilarious to me.
Yeah, the whole thing is really clever. You just expect some really dark twist, and its just not kinda coming. Or rather, if so, its coming from a direction you might not have expected, but which makes a whole lot of sense in retrospect...
"Oh, eh, hi! I didn't see you there. Can i ask you something? Can you close that door over there from the other side, please? Don't stumble on the corpses on the way too, i didn't have the time to clean up. Much appreciate it. Also forget you ever saw me, ok?"
A hivemind that doesn't try to enslave humanity and just wants to keep it to itself is honestly a new concept... Every time a hivemind is introduced in a setting, it will try to enslave humanity and the hero of the story will stop it...
it's even better considering the hivemind is terrified of humanity - and so terrified of independant minds it destroys Clarence immediately when given form. Sure, at that point we're happy Clarence dies, but the ramification of this entity destroying it is telling The fact it reacts so defensively about Clarence and leaves you alive is because it is both terrified of Philip and trying to manipulate him into working for its own agenda - that is hiding from humanity and hope we eventually wipe ourselves out. It didn't mind inserting itself and placing itself in places of power when the world was a religious, god-fearing kind (the shamans channeling him and acting as leaders), but now that they can't possible symbiose and control all humans, it knows it can't win. While Philip's "Kill them all" message is drastic, it channels the very same fear the hivemind has. Destroy the unknown before it destroys you.
It's a neat idea to show the alien entity that's controlling (some only partially) a bunch of monstrous creatures is just as afraid of us as we've developed and just wants to live and let live.
@@MandaloreGaming that's why I love ants and bees. Especially cozy way that bees deal with wasp menace. Killing you with warm hug - what a better way to go?
Hey, thats not fair! Some times they are "ooo look at how much beter they are than us, they dont have wars and bad things, oooo! Maybe we could be like them 🤔 oooo!"
Give Alastair Reynold’s Revelation Space series a read, the conjoiners in that are a hive mind that just want to be left alone, but they scare baseline humanity too much, and so get almost exterminated in a war. Or Peter Watts’ Blindsight (well, the sequel novel specifically) also has a hive mind that wants to be left alone, and once again baseline humanity just can’t abide that, man.
For me the moment I learned that I could just run from everything and it was the only option things got less scary. Overture was a blast because I had face the monsters but then there where those that you couldn't do it too. The two sequels to it where you just run where just boring.
Disappointed that you didn't mention that Red was trapped as a 14-year-old that wasn't really supposed to be working there, and so when he got caught in a cave in, the foreman didn't want to get in trouble and never mentioned he could be in there.
I will never forget how Penumbra 2 created THE scariest moment in a video game of my life. I was a teenager, not overly scared but loving the game, and I was saving the batteries until the end. When I felt things are coming to a close I started using it. The FIRST time I decide to use the flashlight I turn it on expecting to feel less scared now that there's more light and I turn it on... not seeing how in the corner of the halo I am shining light on the monster... the monster IMMEDIATELY turns around and I SMASHED the Esc button to pause the game and take a 10-minute break 😂
I remember playing Silent Hill 1 as a kid, trying to unblock the key from the Other World school's roof gutter, the fucking ambient music alone made me nope the hell out. I had to play Silent Hill 2 in the presence of my father because I was scared shitless of playing it alone. Damn I miss feeling so scared, so much.
@@balawulf6165 I got the scare of my life when i reached the Prison section in Silent Hill 2, that music and dread walking this area gave me this extreme terrifying feeling, i still dont know how it happened and it was the first time i ever had this experience, no game so far was able to reproduce this.
@@balawulf6165The school section of silent hill still creeps me out 24 years later, but I wouldn't call it feeling scared anymore. The only fairly modern horror game I've found scary is Visage, and I don't even believe in ghosts, so they did a great job with that game.
For me that moment was the Royal Family Tomb in OoT. There's no real music save for the standard dungeon ambience, there are warnings carved into the skeletons of the unburied grave robbers who came before you, and fucking smoking rivers of noxious green waste along narrow paths blocked by Redeads. Eleven year old me was so unbelievably not ready for those long, overlapping moans that they make, you know the ones. It's only like three rooms long but it took me ages to be able to play it by myself, and even then I had to turn down the volume so I wouldn't just piss myself every time one of them screamed at me.
@@balawulf6165 "damn I miss feeling so scared" LMFAO Spoken like a truly sheltered 1st worldie! Better hope you don't get your wish, because *nobody is coming to save you when you do*
For as janky as the enemies can be in Overture, the dogs pulled off one of the scariest maneuvers I've ever encountered. When I was being chased in the area seen at 10:28, I climbed onto a railing along the wall that was too high up for the dogs to reach, and one of them ran up a nearby platform, then JUMPED off the platform onto the railing, and knocked my ass back to the ground. That encounter combined with the sound, atmosphere, and strong HP Lovecraft and The Thing influence made Penumbra one of my favourite game series ever. Even if it may never be officially continued, I was so happy to see a number of Penumbra's ideas reintroduced in Amnesia: The Bunker.
I had a similar experience in The Dark Descent that's made me love Frictional Games since. I think it was the 2nd level, I remember seeing a raised bit of architecture along the wall and thought "there's no way the AI has pathing there"; so when I got into a chase I ran up a fallen pillar to jump onto the wall segment and the monster ran straight up the segment and started slashing me.
The hivemind being relatively peaceful and wanting to be left alone was a great twist but the ending to black plague, that last line of text in the e-mail, made me shudder in fear when I first played it. Truly an incredible game.
It's honestly more nuanced than "humanity bad, monster good!!" more so touching on how destructive mob mentality is while acknowledging that individuals are usually good. I respect this take more than the usual "humans are the REAL monster" schlock
A trilogy with a solid first entry, an interesting second game with a memorable ending and a third game that's entirely in the mind and isn't literal? Goddamnit, Bungie.
One of my favourite moments is near the end of Black Plague, where you are in dark maze with some infected, and Clarence tells you to take a left (or right, I can't remember). Now, Clarence has been messing with you the whole time, so you do the opposite of what he says... and end up face-to-face with a monster. It's such a great "Gotcha!" moment, because even if Clarence can't be trusted, he's really afraid of what the others may do to him and was trying to be actually helpful for once.
I remember Clarence at some point saying something about "the rules", and I understood that as Red was infected and couldn't unalive himself because the Tuurngait wouldn't let him. I was also worried at the time that Clarence was going to kill the mood of the game, but he ended up being my favorite part due to how interesting he was, and how he actually added to the game
The thing I love about the Penumbra series is that it never needed to present illusions of choice because it did such a great job of directing the player with its atmosphere and clues that were sprinkled in. I'll never forget the moment I heard the tongueless man on the other side of the door and panicked so badly I ran into a side room and instinctively jumped down a hatch which just happened to be exactly where I was supposed to go, only to find out through his notes that I had put myself in an even worse situation. That kind of immersion got lost on Frictional's later games.
I think that the Penumbra series went way harder than Amnesia honestly, it deserves a lot more credit than it gets & frankly I find it the better series overall.
Yeah, I don't know if I can say it's an objectively better game (although SOMA is), but I definitely feel like I liked Penumbra 1&2 more than Amnesia TDD (I haven't played Penumbra "3" nor the later Amnesias)
FINALLY someone else thinks this and luckily this seems to be an increasingly popular opinion. I have always said this and always preferred the Penumbra series to Amnesia.
The spiders always made me jump but that one's easy. I didn't find the game to be too scary, more uneasy feeling. but I loved the whole story, setting and all around vibe it gave.
The Penumbra tech demo from 2006 was my first ever horror game. It scares the shit out of me as a young teenager. Overture really out me down the road of story driven horror, and I owe a lot of my taste in media to the foundations it built. I was part of their forum from 2008 onwards and loved it a lot.
HOLY SHIT, THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE THING I DOWNLOADED FROM A FREEWARE SITE NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO. I knew it had SOME relation to Penumbra but I could never find it! I remembered the flying enemies and the ending elevator! Finally I know what it was!!
@@fuzzydude64 yeah that's it, there was a TNT explosive throwable weapon in it. took them 18 years to bring that back in the form of the frag grenade in the bunkar.
The use of an interactive physics engine really puts me in mind of the Jurassic Park game Trespasser. It was an absolute flop of a game but every now and again they come across something in modern gaming that makes me think hmmm, I wonder if the person who made this played trespasser. Could be a good game for a future episode.
@@alexxx4434because physics are random and unpredictable, which at best means it's avoided to prevent player frustration, or at worst is the devs are to lazy to design a game where the player might stack up boxes to bypass their intended path, or can't code AI to deal with it.
There's some great TH-cam documentaries on Trespasser and how its ambitions inspired future game design already out there (and how the released product was a half finished mess due to executive idiocy), but I'm sure Mandy would have an entertaining take.
Oh dear lord that hunting game left an impression. Good to see quality content again. Ironically I love the sound review you have of the games. Being hearing impaired it is difficult to make out the fine details in sound but your descriptions bring them to mind. Really appreciate it, thanks. Not a lot of creators that does that.
Yeah the reviews are all brilliant Though because of that when you get something nonesensical like the hunting game or the ring or even the minor cracks of insanity in things like marathon (is gnop safe!?!) Their are so much more impactful/funny
the ability to fight back in the first penumbra, which i played just after amnesia, fully made me realize why I never really was afraid of amnesia. A walking wall of 'reload your save' isnt scary.
i guess. maybe that's why they changed it with soma and amnesia 2. they brought it back for amnesia 3 but that has combat (yet sometimes i would let the ratman kill me if i wasted too many resources)
After finding out from a Twitch streamer that dying in most parts of Amnesia just teleports you to a nearby room and makes the monster disappear, the horror appeal of that game has quickly faded for me. I do think they - like the Penumbra games - are still decent, and have interesting stories to tell. For my "escape monsters the player can't kill" horror gameplay, I prefer either Monstrum, or Alien: Isolation with the "Unpredictable Alien" mod. They're fairly similar with giving the player the ability to hide from, distract, or otherwise avoid the creature.
One thing I really appreciate about Mandalore's reviews is how much he values music and audio design. A lot of reviews look at it as an afterthought, but it can really make or break a game
i honestly love the penumbra series so much. That tactile physical way of interacting with the world, deliberately clunky and heavy but super immersive, the way it feels more grounded than Amnesia's more fantastical premise, the environmental design and puzzles, it is simply something I've not found elsewhere. The first two in particular lodged in my mind and i get super excited anytime a game uses these core mechanics or derivatives of them.
Holy shit I've just played them last month and I was saddened by how little coverage and reviews these games have got on youtube. And Mandalore comes and rectifies it, this series definitely deserves some more love, nice.
Yessss. The Penumbra games were my introduction the "horror exploration puzzle" genre. So good. Another great late-2000's horror game was Cryostasis. Highly recommend checking it out.
Cryostasis sadly is in a sort of limbo as there was apparently some weird mix up with the publishing rights of the game. Basicly it's very difficult to get your hands on the game, it was removed from steam and actual physical copies are limited.
1:32 "We have a Howard and Philip, just no Lovecraft." Fun fact, the newspaper you use in one of the puzzles has the famous photo of Lovecraft holding his cat on it (which is strange, considering it also claims to be a medical journal.)
I remember Requiem being disappointing as well, and is better skipped since it has basically no impact on the first two games. The thing I remember most about Requiem is the 'donkey kong' puzzle, where you have to jump over barrels while climbing up a scaffolding. It even plays a soundtrack similar to the old Donkey Kong arcade game's music while you do it. It's just so fucking surreal that it's part of a mandatory puzzle in a horror game expansion.
I remember playing the tech demo for Penumbra back in 06 I think it was. I was clamoring for a great interactive horror game and was really impressed with the physicality of the interactions, sounds and atmosphere. Found a physical copy of Overture as a moody teen and played it through a good 4 or 5 times :). It's strange to think how long ago it all was... How Amnesia would rocket the let's play trend, how TH-cam celebrities had risen to fame by playing those games. It all felt so niche back then.
@@DaParalyzer It was very obscure until Black Plague came out, then it got a bit more notoriety because it was recieved well. I think by the time Black Plague launched it was on Steam then Overture came a bit later. Then Amnesia changed everything of course and people started to find out about Penumbra which was great to see.
Never expected you to make videos about Frictional Games but from a recent fan of the studio I'm just happy that they're gonna be properly reviewed by a good reviewer like you :)
Same, Amnesia was one of the first playthroughs I watched on YT, on various youtubers like Pewdie and Markiplier. I was just too scared to play it myself, being the 10 year old that I am, and their lighthearted commentary helped me conquer my fears a bit. I have a major respect for Frictional for making such an iconic series.
Yeah, used to religiously watch Pewdiepie play amnesia all the time. Tried the game myself and I quit at the first scary noise in the distance 😅 This vid inspired me to try it out again
I've always loved the sound design and music in all the Penumbra games. The atmosphere created by the music and sound design in these games (plus the first two Amnesias and SOMA) are so distinct and specific. My favorite Penumbra game overall has always been Black Plague since I enjoy Clarence's character so much. I'm also glad you mentioned all the fan games created by Counter Current Games! They deserve more recognition for giving us additional opportunities to revisit Penumbra's universe.
After watching half a dozen failed "Let's Plays" on Something Awful, I finally decided to play this myself and I must say I felt proud that I was able to finish this. It was fun, creepy and janky all at the same time.
Ah man, Penumbra was great. I watched Helloween4545 play it back in the day and it immediately got me hooked to play it myself. Wish we'd still get horror games like this. Unfortunately Bunker really didn't do it for me. Edit: Nice to see how many remember the Weenie.
be careful you are going to poke holes in all the commentors who want to pretend penumbra was totally overlooked unlike amnesia and no one ever covered it so they can act cool for knowing about it like its some super secret franchise
You know, sometimes I wonder how Mandy takes this all in stride... Then I remember Asland... and his neighbors... and the hamsters... and Jimmy... and I realize that nothing can phase this man, he is truely God's strongest warrior for his weirdist battles!
I loved the Penumbra games when I was younger. Watched the trailer one time and played it from a demo disc and was hooked and spooked. Genuinely one of the first horror games I played at the time that scared me so much I couldn't sleep at night lol.
I replay the penumbra series every Halloween! They're my favorite puzzle horrors and I honestly like them more than the amnesia games (they're just above soma for me) I'd love to see them return to the ip or something similar, even if it was just Soma 2 or something
Mandalore, I just want you to know that your videos help me get through some tough times. I really appreciate you and I hope that you’re having as much fun making these as I am watching :)
I remember playing Overture years ago, I distinctly remember cheesing the wolves by gathering them together and blowing them up with all the dynamite I could find. I fell in love with the interactivity with the environment, I thought the way you manipulated everything with the mouse was next gen stuff and I'm still disappointed more games didn't do the same.
I really like the ending to black plague. I think multiple endings has the issue that it stops characters from making choices, giving it to the player instead.
"It starts breaking the fourth wall and calling you 'The Player' so I broke its fourth wall and started breaking all the fucking physics." That's it, that's the whole expansion.
The Penumbra games definitely deserve more love, but man, that reference to Infra stings. It doesn't get quite as weird as Penumbra, but I really hope that he comes back to it at some point and doesn't just leave it at a two-second side mention.
Loving the mention of the horror section in Phantom Liberty - it took me by such a surprise and really is a great example of a non-horror game doing horror right, it was almost like being back on Sevastapol Station playing Alien: Isolation!
oh man, I'll never forget how terrified I was playing the opening sequence in Black Plague. Going from the end of Overture where it felt like you had a grasp on things, to feeling completely helpless and vulnerable desperately trying to find a way out of the room you woke up in, that's peak horror.
I'm really glad you're covering this series. When Amnesia came out I was happy for the developers but I was really disappointed that the Penumbra series got almost no attention whatsoever after Amnesia had its hey-day with lets-players. I was a teenager and terrified of horror games, but my first girlfriend loved this series so I wanted to play this and experience it with her. I was pretty quickly hooked and I pushed past my fear of horror games. I find the entire narrative unique, interested, and Red's character and performance was, and still is, deeply haunting, unsettling, and memorable many years later. The first game is definitely janky and feels primitve by today's standards but I think Black Plague helps round out a lot of these week points. Great series, great story. Thanks for covering one of my favorites!
When I was small i did a sort of semi bug in penumbra dark plague where I hit the enemy with a rock or something like 100 times until it died. I missed the "weapons" from the first penumbra
Good point about the corporate humor not being played up! I remember when I played the game I thought the dark corporate humor was effective in slightly lightening the mood but also emphasizing that no help was coming
I played these games around 10 years ago and I barely remember anything about them. But when you were talking about the particular puzzles in the game and had the beeping sound play, it triggered a primal memory of pain that I had completely forgotten.
Finally, true Halloween games Seriously, I hope Mandy continue to do all Frictional Games because some of them (Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA) are really great and deserve more love.
He actually, precisely stated this thing at the start on the video! Saying how he'll play then all till Amnesia: The Bunker, but that they won't be a one after the other series, just a 'I'll play these games in the future' Hope this helped!
Dunno about Dark Descent deserving "more love", that game was all over youtube, it's the poster child of gaming horror content, it's probably the most popular horror game ever made on average, it's a little old now but it for sure had it's time in the spotlight
soma would be a nice game if not for braindead protagonist who doesn't comprehend consequences of most of his actions AND inactions such as not even trying to come up with solution to clone humanity back into existance using not only lots of left over DNA but even some living ones. He is a piece of shit who just wants to run away form his problems.
I loved the broom in the first Penumbra. It might be the weakest weapon in the game, but it has... well, just as long a reach as a broom would have! Just... climb a box, and keep swinging. Like something you might actually try doing in that sort of situation.
My favourite reviewer of genres I like the least. Truly @MandaloreGaming I wouldn't even look into these games, but with you behind the wheel, I'm enchanted on every adventure.
My father died when I was 13. His last words to me were "Penumbra was a pretty alright game dude". I spent years pondering on what he meant by this, so thank you, Mangalore. Thank you.
7:30 Wow. The physics engine and the way you pick up stuff actually looks like it functions better here than it does in amnesia the dark descent. Which is crazy, since the dark descent came out after all the penunbra games were released if I remember it correctly.
This review takes me back. I used to play Penumbra when I was a teenager after I picked it up from a free DVD that came with a gaming magazine I used to buy. Those were the days! I remember being shit scared in the mines with the dogs. On my third or so playthrough I figured out a cheese - you can actually jump on a crate when the dog sees you and when it comes just smack it with the pickaxe without it being able to hit you back. Fantastic games, they are for me the definition of what a horror adventure should be.
I’ve been waiting, Mandalore. Thanks for dropping this and Amnesia, I’ve always wanted to see you review them ever since you first brought them up as a potential.
Penumbra is an all-time classic from my childhood! Great to see you covering it. I remember the buildup of the worm scared me so much, I got stuck on that part of the first game for months.
From what I heard the publisher discouraged them on making it a trilogy because they weren't sure if they would break even. Then the games sold nicely, but the trilogy plan was already squandered. Requiem is just all the assets that were to be used in the third and last chapter (like the temple) turned into some weird offshoot puzzle game. From that moment Frictional went indie and now publish everything by themselves.
Yes. I remember reading in a news site that before Black Plague came out they had planned a trilogy, but they were stopping at the second because of publisher+budget issues.
Penumbra was the first game to truly gas light me. I remember mapping the area out in my head and then got into a chase with a monster and tried to run through my pre-planned escape route; only to run immediately into a dead end. When I reloaded the save I came back to that area and it was the hallway I remembered. I spent YEARS questioning whether I had taken the wrong turn or if the game had some how changed the environment on me. I have never seen a horror game since that actually manipulated doors, hallways, signage, etc to keep you confused and it was done subtly enough that I was never 100% sure it was a mechanic or not.
Thanks for finally talking about penumbra, it often gets the shaft because everyone compares it to amnesia. But it's important to remember your roots!!
I always enjoy when media puts my illness, schizophrenia, as THE hellish thing that happened to someone. Makes me feel awesome. The virus brain voice hits close to home.
I remember playing Penumbra Overture as a kid with my younger brother. he had his leg in a cast and the game jumped scared him so much he got up and ran out the room on his broken leg
i found myself really impatient for every new video from your channel ! I become a BIG fan in just 2/3 years after discover you.... And god i am really fan !!! Keep it up you're amazing
"Howard begs Philips forgiveness" - yes, I'm sure Love will overcome it and make them a family of Crafters... Nice naming TBH, I like such nods to horror classics.
God, I remember seeing old Let's Plays of these games (at least 1 and 2) and it immediately made me enthralled and I fell in love with the story. It was one of the best written stories I had seen in a game at that time, and I still think it's really good. Loved the twist that this eldritch hivemind being just got spooked 'cause people woke it up and were poking it with a stick, so it murdered 99% of them in self-defense. The ending email Phillip sends at the end of Black Plague is also so chilling.
The Penumbra Collection on GOG - gog.la/penumbra
THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo
Hope you all hunted many Turkeys and other equivalents.
quack!
I love Jesus!
I know you wont ever get a chance to play this, but you should look into the Thea games. Odd slavic folklore combined with 4x strategy and RPG elements. Either way another game to add to the list.
hey man any thoughts on total war WH3? I mean the whole community thing? I mean am I the only one who thinks the wh2 was undoubtedly worse? I mean the multiplayer Is amazing. the models the factions everything feels better to me... What do you think?
You have really found your way! This game will make you alot more than 1USD.
Someone realizing they're in a morality test and just faking it to get out is the most human a game protagonist has gotten by themself.
Isn’t that what Alberich did in Ring?
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick well, the difference is Alberich didn't fake anything, he just straight up despises women.
@@wotwott2319truly letting his true gamer self come into light frfr
@@wotwott2319 He despises everyone who isn't him. He merely tolerates them if prove useful to him.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick😅😅
*Moderately disappointed Penumbra does not open with you slaying 10,000 penguins to avenge your father*
That is paid dlc you get on a indian basket weaving forum.
How do you have 3 million subscribers with such a horrible sense of humor
@@johnarcher6150*an Indian
@@MeCantSpell I know wwhat I said mom
Or popping a million balloons using nothing but dead monkeys.
Wait, didn't he mention a nuke somewhere, you didn't have one of those?
An anti-helium sentient virus hidden under the couch?
Love your vids, miss Rimworld😢.
I love the idea of finally uncovering the eldritch truth, and it just being kind of chill and asking you to leave it alone. I know it's not that simple in Black Plague, but the basic idea is hilarious to me.
Yeah, the whole thing is really clever. You just expect some really dark twist, and its just not kinda coming. Or rather, if so, its coming from a direction you might not have expected, but which makes a whole lot of sense in retrospect...
"Oh, eh, hi! I didn't see you there. Can i ask you something? Can you close that door over there from the other side, please? Don't stumble on the corpses on the way too, i didn't have the time to clean up. Much appreciate it. Also forget you ever saw me, ok?"
A hivemind that doesn't try to enslave humanity and just wants to keep it to itself is honestly a new concept...
Every time a hivemind is introduced in a setting, it will try to enslave humanity and the hero of the story will stop it...
it's even better considering the hivemind is terrified of humanity - and so terrified of independant minds it destroys Clarence immediately when given form. Sure, at that point we're happy Clarence dies, but the ramification of this entity destroying it is telling
The fact it reacts so defensively about Clarence and leaves you alive is because it is both terrified of Philip and trying to manipulate him into working for its own agenda - that is hiding from humanity and hope we eventually wipe ourselves out. It didn't mind inserting itself and placing itself in places of power when the world was a religious, god-fearing kind (the shamans channeling him and acting as leaders), but now that they can't possible symbiose and control all humans, it knows it can't win. While Philip's "Kill them all" message is drastic, it channels the very same fear the hivemind has. Destroy the unknown before it destroys you.
It's a neat idea to show the alien entity that's controlling (some only partially) a bunch of monstrous creatures is just as afraid of us as we've developed and just wants to live and let live.
@@MandaloreGaming that's why I love ants and bees. Especially cozy way that bees deal with wasp menace. Killing you with warm hug - what a better way to go?
Hey, thats not fair! Some times they are "ooo look at how much beter they are than us, they dont have wars and bad things, oooo! Maybe we could be like them 🤔 oooo!"
Give Alastair Reynold’s Revelation Space series a read, the conjoiners in that are a hive mind that just want to be left alone, but they scare baseline humanity too much, and so get almost exterminated in a war.
Or Peter Watts’ Blindsight (well, the sequel novel specifically) also has a hive mind that wants to be left alone, and once again baseline humanity just can’t abide that, man.
Penumbra Overture was one of the first games to scare the living daylights out of me before I learned you can hammer your way through everything
Kinda like outlast when you learn you're the fastest creature in that asylum
You were the LAST person I'd expect to see you here lol
Yo, Rata! :D
Weird seeing you exist in any context outside of yugioh
For me the moment I learned that I could just run from everything and it was the only option things got less scary.
Overture was a blast because I had face the monsters but then there where those that you couldn't do it too.
The two sequels to it where you just run where just boring.
how do you manage to use your main account for personal use without drowning in ojama lime memes anytime you comment or like anything
Disappointed that you didn't mention that Red was trapped as a 14-year-old that wasn't really supposed to be working there, and so when he got caught in a cave in, the foreman didn't want to get in trouble and never mentioned he could be in there.
I will never forget how Penumbra 2 created THE scariest moment in a video game of my life.
I was a teenager, not overly scared but loving the game, and I was saving the batteries until the end. When I felt things are coming to a close I started using it. The FIRST time I decide to use the flashlight I turn it on expecting to feel less scared now that there's more light and I turn it on... not seeing how in the corner of the halo I am shining light on the monster... the monster IMMEDIATELY turns around and I SMASHED the Esc button to pause the game and take a 10-minute break 😂
I remember playing Silent Hill 1 as a kid, trying to unblock the key from the Other World school's roof gutter, the fucking ambient music alone made me nope the hell out. I had to play Silent Hill 2 in the presence of my father because I was scared shitless of playing it alone. Damn I miss feeling so scared, so much.
@@balawulf6165 I got the scare of my life when i reached the Prison section in Silent Hill 2, that music and dread walking this area gave me this extreme terrifying feeling, i still dont know how it happened and it was the first time i ever had this experience, no game so far was able to reproduce this.
@@balawulf6165The school section of silent hill still creeps me out 24 years later, but I wouldn't call it feeling scared anymore. The only fairly modern horror game I've found scary is Visage, and I don't even believe in ghosts, so they did a great job with that game.
For me that moment was the Royal Family Tomb in OoT. There's no real music save for the standard dungeon ambience, there are warnings carved into the skeletons of the unburied grave robbers who came before you, and fucking smoking rivers of noxious green waste along narrow paths blocked by Redeads. Eleven year old me was so unbelievably not ready for those long, overlapping moans that they make, you know the ones. It's only like three rooms long but it took me ages to be able to play it by myself, and even then I had to turn down the volume so I wouldn't just piss myself every time one of them screamed at me.
@@balawulf6165 "damn I miss feeling so scared" LMFAO Spoken like a truly sheltered 1st worldie! Better hope you don't get your wish, because *nobody is coming to save you when you do*
For as janky as the enemies can be in Overture, the dogs pulled off one of the scariest maneuvers I've ever encountered. When I was being chased in the area seen at 10:28, I climbed onto a railing along the wall that was too high up for the dogs to reach, and one of them ran up a nearby platform, then JUMPED off the platform onto the railing, and knocked my ass back to the ground.
That encounter combined with the sound, atmosphere, and strong HP Lovecraft and The Thing influence made Penumbra one of my favourite game series ever. Even if it may never be officially continued, I was so happy to see a number of Penumbra's ideas reintroduced in Amnesia: The Bunker.
I had a similar experience in The Dark Descent that's made me love Frictional Games since. I think it was the 2nd level, I remember seeing a raised bit of architecture along the wall and thought "there's no way the AI has pathing there"; so when I got into a chase I ran up a fallen pillar to jump onto the wall segment and the monster ran straight up the segment and started slashing me.
gotta love horror games that give you a false sense of security then breaking you in half afterwards
The hivemind being relatively peaceful and wanting to be left alone was a great twist but the ending to black plague, that last line of text in the e-mail, made me shudder in fear when I first played it. Truly an incredible game.
The fact that they had the balls to pull a "Humanity was the real monster" twist *AND* had the skill to pull it off!
"Oh hey! A hive mind that just wants to be left alone? That sound- Wait. What are you writing? Oh. Oh no."
Purge the xenos!
It's honestly more nuanced than "humanity bad, monster good!!" more so touching on how destructive mob mentality is while acknowledging that individuals are usually good. I respect this take more than the usual "humans are the REAL monster" schlock
@@ghhn4505 it's definitely a lot more mature than the usual misanthropic nonsense you see when the topic of humanity is brought up in horror
It's more nuanced than that when you play the game. Philip lays out some good reasons why he's fucking over the Tuurngait.
A trilogy with a solid first entry, an interesting second game with a memorable ending and a third game that's entirely in the mind and isn't literal? Goddamnit, Bungie.
No, No, Not Again!
You'll never escape your cycles of guilt
*your legs are ok*
Halo -3- 4 is entirely in Chief’s head as he dreams through cryosleep, it never happened
@@timhorton8085You gain Brouzouf
Except somehow after playing both sagas, marathon took me clser to insanity than penumbra ever could. Now i dont want to think about it.
One of my favourite moments is near the end of Black Plague, where you are in dark maze with some infected, and Clarence tells you to take a left (or right, I can't remember). Now, Clarence has been messing with you the whole time, so you do the opposite of what he says... and end up face-to-face with a monster. It's such a great "Gotcha!" moment, because even if Clarence can't be trusted, he's really afraid of what the others may do to him and was trying to be actually helpful for once.
I remember Clarence at some point saying something about "the rules", and I understood that as Red was infected and couldn't unalive himself because the Tuurngait wouldn't let him.
I was also worried at the time that Clarence was going to kill the mood of the game, but he ended up being my favorite part due to how interesting he was, and how he actually added to the game
The thing I love about the Penumbra series is that it never needed to present illusions of choice because it did such a great job of directing the player with its atmosphere and clues that were sprinkled in.
I'll never forget the moment I heard the tongueless man on the other side of the door and panicked so badly I ran into a side room and instinctively jumped down a hatch which just happened to be exactly where I was supposed to go, only to find out through his notes that I had put myself in an even worse situation. That kind of immersion got lost on Frictional's later games.
7:42 If anyone's curious, that's apparently _Commander Blood_
I s2g I heard a Quake 2 Light Guard sound in that clip
Commander Blood was great.
I think that the Penumbra series went way harder than Amnesia honestly, it deserves a lot more credit than it gets & frankly I find it the better series overall.
Same! It's like Siren, really freaking good horror game series that's gone under the radar.
Yeah, I don't know if I can say it's an objectively better game (although SOMA is), but I definitely feel like I liked Penumbra 1&2 more than Amnesia TDD (I haven't played Penumbra "3" nor the later Amnesias)
@@MsHojat Oh SOMA is the masterpiece for sure, but they had to walk before they could run.
FINALLY someone else thinks this and luckily this seems to be an increasingly popular opinion. I have always said this and always preferred the Penumbra series to Amnesia.
I feel like Amnesia is only more popular because of TH-camrs overreacting while playing it with facecam.
Penumbra was the first game that actually made me scream at the computer with fear.
That first dolphin bat thing encounter scared the sht out of me.
The spiders always made me jump but that one's easy. I didn't find the game to be too scary, more uneasy feeling. but I loved the whole story, setting and all around vibe it gave.
The Penumbra tech demo from 2006 was my first ever horror game. It scares the shit out of me as a young teenager. Overture really out me down the road of story driven horror, and I owe a lot of my taste in media to the foundations it built. I was part of their forum from 2008 onwards and loved it a lot.
HOLY SHIT, THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE THING I DOWNLOADED FROM A FREEWARE SITE NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO. I knew it had SOME relation to Penumbra but I could never find it! I remembered the flying enemies and the ending elevator! Finally I know what it was!!
Same, I tried it around when I was 9 or ten. Downloaded it from a site full of game demos back in the day called game revolution.
@@fuzzydude64 yeah that's it, there was a TNT explosive throwable weapon in it. took them 18 years to bring that back in the form of the frag grenade in the bunkar.
The use of an interactive physics engine really puts me in mind of the Jurassic Park game Trespasser. It was an absolute flop of a game but every now and again they come across something in modern gaming that makes me think hmmm, I wonder if the person who made this played trespasser. Could be a good game for a future episode.
Ann? Ann who? Probably out drinking now...
I wonder, why did game industry moved away from physical interactivity in games. It was cool and immersive.
@@alexxx4434because physics are random and unpredictable, which at best means it's avoided to prevent player frustration, or at worst is the devs are to lazy to design a game where the player might stack up boxes to bypass their intended path, or can't code AI to deal with it.
@@alexxx4434 Because designing a game where the player can do basically anything is super hard and the crunch to get stuff out on time is real.
There's some great TH-cam documentaries on Trespasser and how its ambitions inspired future game design already out there (and how the released product was a half finished mess due to executive idiocy), but I'm sure Mandy would have an entertaining take.
Oh dear lord that hunting game left an impression.
Good to see quality content again.
Ironically I love the sound review you have of the games. Being hearing impaired it is difficult to make out the fine details in sound but your descriptions bring them to mind.
Really appreciate it, thanks. Not a lot of creators that does that.
Yeah the reviews are all brilliant
Though because of that when you get something nonesensical like the hunting game or the ring or even the minor cracks of insanity in things like marathon (is gnop safe!?!)
Their are so much more impactful/funny
the ability to fight back in the first penumbra, which i played just after amnesia, fully made me realize why I never really was afraid of amnesia. A walking wall of 'reload your save' isnt scary.
i guess. maybe that's why they changed it with soma and amnesia 2. they brought it back for amnesia 3 but that has combat (yet sometimes i would let the ratman kill me if i wasted too many resources)
After finding out from a Twitch streamer that dying in most parts of Amnesia just teleports you to a nearby room and makes the monster disappear, the horror appeal of that game has quickly faded for me. I do think they - like the Penumbra games - are still decent, and have interesting stories to tell.
For my "escape monsters the player can't kill" horror gameplay, I prefer either Monstrum, or Alien: Isolation with the "Unpredictable Alien" mod. They're fairly similar with giving the player the ability to hide from, distract, or otherwise avoid the creature.
Oh man this brings me back to when Penumbra and Amnesia letsplays were all the rage, love it
One thing I really appreciate about Mandalore's reviews is how much he values music and audio design. A lot of reviews look at it as an afterthought, but it can really make or break a game
After all these years it’s finally happening omg
i honestly love the penumbra series so much. That tactile physical way of interacting with the world, deliberately clunky and heavy but super immersive, the way it feels more grounded than Amnesia's more fantastical premise, the environmental design and puzzles, it is simply something I've not found elsewhere.
The first two in particular lodged in my mind and i get super excited anytime a game uses these core mechanics or derivatives of them.
Holy shit I've just played them last month and I was saddened by how little coverage and reviews these games have got on youtube. And Mandalore comes and rectifies it, this series definitely deserves some more love, nice.
Pewdiepie did play through it like a decade ago which gave it a lot of traction at the time. I imagine this review will give it another kick.
@@doibantikov2486Yeah, a decade ago.
Lol what??? This game is super well known on TH-cam, every indie horror youtuber did a playthrough
@@kieranhurst8543maybe 12 years ago mate but not recently
“Oh No! Brendan has the Ranch again!”
was not a line I thought I’d hear today hahah
Yessss. The Penumbra games were my introduction the "horror exploration puzzle" genre. So good.
Another great late-2000's horror game was Cryostasis. Highly recommend checking it out.
Cryostasis sadly is in a sort of limbo as there was apparently some weird mix up with the publishing rights of the game. Basicly it's very difficult to get your hands on the game, it was removed from steam and actual physical copies are limited.
While Cryostasis is stuck in publishing limbo, Civvie does thankfully have a video on it.
Penumbra, a.k.a "Amnesia before it was cool". The game that single-handedly revived the survival horror genre. A true blast from the past!
That feeling of joy when Mandalore reviews a game that you already played... 🌞🌞🌞
1:32 "We have a Howard and Philip, just no Lovecraft."
Fun fact, the newspaper you use in one of the puzzles has the famous photo of Lovecraft holding his cat on it (which is strange, considering it also claims to be a medical journal.)
Sadly, from what I've heard, that picture of him holding a cat is not the cat with the funny name
I remember Requiem being disappointing as well, and is better skipped since it has basically no impact on the first two games.
The thing I remember most about Requiem is the 'donkey kong' puzzle, where you have to jump over barrels while climbing up a scaffolding. It even plays a soundtrack similar to the old Donkey Kong arcade game's music while you do it. It's just so fucking surreal that it's part of a mandatory puzzle in a horror game expansion.
Seeing Mandalore use a skit from Nathan for you might be the crossover I have been looking for my entire life.
That skit was the scariest thing that little kid ever saw
I remember playing the tech demo for Penumbra back in 06 I think it was. I was clamoring for a great interactive horror game and was really impressed with the physicality of the interactions, sounds and atmosphere. Found a physical copy of Overture as a moody teen and played it through a good 4 or 5 times :). It's strange to think how long ago it all was... How Amnesia would rocket the let's play trend, how TH-cam celebrities had risen to fame by playing those games. It all felt so niche back then.
Wow you’re a veteran. People like myself look up to you. How popular was penumbra before amnesia? Was it on the main steam page
@@DaParalyzer It was very obscure until Black Plague came out, then it got a bit more notoriety because it was recieved well. I think by the time Black Plague launched it was on Steam then Overture came a bit later. Then Amnesia changed everything of course and people started to find out about Penumbra which was great to see.
Never expected you to make videos about Frictional Games but from a recent fan of the studio I'm just happy that they're gonna be properly reviewed by a good reviewer like you :)
Ah, I feel games like Amnesia were the first many of us watched in TH-cam.
That's true for me.
Same, Amnesia was one of the first playthroughs I watched on YT, on various youtubers like Pewdie and Markiplier. I was just too scared to play it myself, being the 10 year old that I am, and their lighthearted commentary helped me conquer my fears a bit. I have a major respect for Frictional for making such an iconic series.
Yeah, used to religiously watch Pewdiepie play amnesia all the time. Tried the game myself and I quit at the first scary noise in the distance 😅 This vid inspired me to try it out again
It's interesting to see your experiences with English streamers. Since my native tongue is Spanish, I used to watch Chilean streamers for some reason.
I've always loved the sound design and music in all the Penumbra games. The atmosphere created by the music and sound design in these games (plus the first two Amnesias and SOMA) are so distinct and specific. My favorite Penumbra game overall has always been Black Plague since I enjoy Clarence's character so much. I'm also glad you mentioned all the fan games created by Counter Current Games! They deserve more recognition for giving us additional opportunities to revisit Penumbra's universe.
This video makes me so happy, god i have watned it for so long
After watching half a dozen failed "Let's Plays" on Something Awful, I finally decided to play this myself and I must say I felt proud that I was able to finish this. It was fun, creepy and janky all at the same time.
Ah man, Penumbra was great. I watched Helloween4545 play it back in the day and it immediately got me hooked to play it myself. Wish we'd still get horror games like this.
Unfortunately Bunker really didn't do it for me.
Edit: Nice to see how many remember the Weenie.
Yesss, Helloween4545 introduced me to a ton of great games
Oh hell yeah, Helloween! He played some awesome games! Plus, I still remember Mr. Shotgun!
Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…
Yo, same here!
Classic era youtube with the lets players influenced by the Something Awful crowd.
Penumbra used to be played by many TH-camrs in early 2010s like Amnesia, time flies
Agreed… Damn, we are getting old. Aren’t we, my friend?
I remember so many started Let's Plays, but not many completed ones. That convinced me to get the games and finally see the ending.
"whats up bros its pewwwwdiepie"
@@KneGros-nc1ss Man, that brought me back! :)
be careful you are going to poke holes in all the commentors who want to pretend penumbra was totally overlooked unlike amnesia and no one ever covered it so they can act cool for knowing about it like its some super secret franchise
You know, sometimes I wonder how Mandy takes this all in stride... Then I remember Asland... and his neighbors... and the hamsters... and Jimmy... and I realize that nothing can phase this man, he is truely God's strongest warrior for his weirdist battles!
It's a real achievement to take a story like Jimmy and make it into just about the funniest thing you've ever heard.
@@douglassun8456 Indeed! I reniterate the last line: God's strongist warrior for his weirdist battles!
Mandy has been cursed to live in interesting times.
@@CrazyxEnigma And nere an egg to be seen!
What exactly are you reefering to?
this is the one that stuck with me ever since i first saw a let's play on the old SA forums - what an awesome treat to see this upload!
Holy shit Penumbra Necrologue is THIS big now?
BAck when I played it it was like a 30min demo. Damn, I want this now!
I loved the Penumbra games when I was younger. Watched the trailer one time and played it from a demo disc and was hooked and spooked. Genuinely one of the first horror games I played at the time that scared me so much I couldn't sleep at night lol.
I replay the penumbra series every Halloween! They're my favorite puzzle horrors and I honestly like them more than the amnesia games (they're just above soma for me) I'd love to see them return to the ip or something similar, even if it was just Soma 2 or something
The games you play, and how you analyze them is so beautiful, and dark and hilarious and brilliant. You are a genius and deserve much more respect.
Mandalore, I just want you to know that your videos help me get through some tough times. I really appreciate you and I hope that you’re having as much fun making these as I am watching :)
Shout-out to Betrayer at 12:25! It deserves more love.
Really atmospheric little game.
I remember playing Overture years ago, I distinctly remember cheesing the wolves by gathering them together and blowing them up with all the dynamite I could find. I fell in love with the interactivity with the environment, I thought the way you manipulated everything with the mouse was next gen stuff and I'm still disappointed more games didn't do the same.
I remember playing this for the first time while actually living in the arctic. Made for a surreal horror experience.
Great video.
I really like the ending to black plague. I think multiple endings has the issue that it stops characters from making choices, giving it to the player instead.
I remember playing the original Penumbra games when I was a young teen. This video brings back some beautiful memories. Thanks for the video!
"It starts breaking the fourth wall and calling you 'The Player' so I broke its fourth wall and started breaking all the fucking physics."
That's it, that's the whole expansion.
Awesome he mentioned INFRA. It’s one of my favourite games. Hope Mandy does a video on it sometime
Halloween has been extended yet again. Thank you for the bountiful miracles, Lord Mandy.
Aw this will be bloody good! Im so happy whenever you cover horror stuff and the atmospheres of these games rocks.
The Penumbra games definitely deserve more love, but man, that reference to Infra stings. It doesn't get quite as weird as Penumbra, but I really hope that he comes back to it at some point and doesn't just leave it at a two-second side mention.
Loving the mention of the horror section in Phantom Liberty - it took me by such a surprise and really is a great example of a non-horror game doing horror right, it was almost like being back on Sevastapol Station playing Alien: Isolation!
oh man, I'll never forget how terrified I was playing the opening sequence in Black Plague. Going from the end of Overture where it felt like you had a grasp on things, to feeling completely helpless and vulnerable desperately trying to find a way out of the room you woke up in, that's peak horror.
I'm really glad you're covering this series. When Amnesia came out I was happy for the developers but I was really disappointed that the Penumbra series got almost no attention whatsoever after Amnesia had its hey-day with lets-players.
I was a teenager and terrified of horror games, but my first girlfriend loved this series so I wanted to play this and experience it with her. I was pretty quickly hooked and I pushed past my fear of horror games. I find the entire narrative unique, interested, and Red's character and performance was, and still is, deeply haunting, unsettling, and memorable many years later. The first game is definitely janky and feels primitve by today's standards but I think Black Plague helps round out a lot of these week points.
Great series, great story. Thanks for covering one of my favorites!
When I was small i did a sort of semi bug in penumbra dark plague where I hit the enemy with a rock or something like 100 times until it died. I missed the "weapons" from the first penumbra
Good point about the corporate humor not being played up! I remember when I played the game I thought the dark corporate humor was effective in slightly lightening the mood but also emphasizing that no help was coming
Holy shit I saw Pewdiepie play this about 7 years ago, thanks for reaching into a deep childhood memory
I played these games around 10 years ago and I barely remember anything about them.
But when you were talking about the particular puzzles in the game and had the beeping sound play, it triggered a primal memory of pain that I had completely forgotten.
Finally, true Halloween games
Seriously, I hope Mandy continue to do all Frictional Games because some of them (Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA) are really great and deserve more love.
He actually, precisely stated this thing at the start on the video! Saying how he'll play then all till Amnesia: The Bunker, but that they won't be a one after the other series, just a 'I'll play these games in the future'
Hope this helped!
Dunno about Dark Descent deserving "more love", that game was all over youtube, it's the poster child of gaming horror content, it's probably the most popular horror game ever made on average, it's a little old now but it for sure had it's time in the spotlight
soma would be a nice game if not for braindead protagonist who doesn't comprehend consequences of most of his actions AND inactions such as not even trying to come up with solution to clone humanity back into existance using not only lots of left over DNA but even some living ones. He is a piece of shit who just wants to run away form his problems.
My favorite part of these videos is finding the Marv scream and I was pleased to recognize it at 17:38 despite the clever pitch shift that was done
I loved the broom in the first Penumbra. It might be the weakest weapon in the game, but it has... well, just as long a reach as a broom would have!
Just... climb a box, and keep swinging. Like something you might actually try doing in that sort of situation.
My favourite reviewer of genres I like the least. Truly @MandaloreGaming I wouldn't even look into these games, but with you behind the wheel, I'm enchanted on every adventure.
My father died when I was 13. His last words to me were "Penumbra was a pretty alright game dude". I spent years pondering on what he meant by this, so thank you, Mangalore. Thank you.
7:30 Wow.
The physics engine and the way you pick up stuff actually looks like it functions better here than it does in amnesia the dark descent.
Which is crazy, since the dark descent came out after all the penunbra games were released if I remember it correctly.
Yeah! Underrated game series, the blueprint for Amnesia!
@@gamingblowsofficialWhile it was a success at its time, it was completely dwarfed by Amnesia’s popularity so calling it underrated is fair.
I always upvote before I even watch the video, because I know its just going to be quality.
These games were my intro to horror as a kid, I spent way too much time messing around in the original techdemo.
This review takes me back. I used to play Penumbra when I was a teenager after I picked it up from a free DVD that came with a gaming magazine I used to buy. Those were the days!
I remember being shit scared in the mines with the dogs. On my third or so playthrough I figured out a cheese - you can actually jump on a crate when the dog sees you and when it comes just smack it with the pickaxe without it being able to hit you back.
Fantastic games, they are for me the definition of what a horror adventure should be.
Amnesia Machine of Pig has the most KINO THEATRE ending in all of gaming. I'd say it's almost worth playing just for the ending. Almost.
28:00 hell yeah, my boi. You can never, NEVER, trust a hivemind.
Ah damn it 😂 out for a drive and I miss a Mandy video 😂
Sure to be another banger ❤
I’ve been waiting, Mandalore. Thanks for dropping this and Amnesia, I’ve always wanted to see you review them ever since you first brought them up as a potential.
I remember watching Markiplier play this a while ago, its so weirdly nostalgic seeing you cover it.
Penumbra is an all-time classic from my childhood! Great to see you covering it. I remember the buildup of the worm scared me so much, I got stuck on that part of the first game for months.
Woop new Mandy let's goooo
From what I heard the publisher discouraged them on making it a trilogy because they weren't sure if they would break even. Then the games sold nicely, but the trilogy plan was already squandered. Requiem is just all the assets that were to be used in the third and last chapter (like the temple) turned into some weird offshoot puzzle game. From that moment Frictional went indie and now publish everything by themselves.
Yes. I remember reading in a news site that before Black Plague came out they had planned a trilogy, but they were stopping at the second because of publisher+budget issues.
Penumbra was the first game to truly gas light me. I remember mapping the area out in my head and then got into a chase with a monster and tried to run through my pre-planned escape route; only to run immediately into a dead end. When I reloaded the save I came back to that area and it was the hallway I remembered. I spent YEARS questioning whether I had taken the wrong turn or if the game had some how changed the environment on me.
I have never seen a horror game since that actually manipulated doors, hallways, signage, etc to keep you confused and it was done subtly enough that I was never 100% sure it was a mechanic or not.
Thanks for finally talking about penumbra, it often gets the shaft because everyone compares it to amnesia. But it's important to remember your roots!!
I always enjoy when media puts my illness, schizophrenia, as THE hellish thing that happened to someone. Makes me feel awesome.
The virus brain voice hits close to home.
I mean...blame Cabella's Big Game Hunts 2013.
I've been waiting SO long for this review 😭 thank you Mandy
DO NOT COME LOOKING FOR ME also, here’s the address.
I remember playing Penumbra Overture as a kid with my younger brother. he had his leg in a cast and the game jumped scared him so much he got up and ran out the room on his broken leg
Does anyone know the game that he flashed at 31:32? Its tickled my brain in the wrong way and im quite curious about it now.
It's a little minigame inside a computer in Black Plague called "Schmup.exe" that's locked with a password.
Every time you release a video i am excited to watch it! Thanks again brother!
i found myself really impatient for every new video from your channel !
I become a BIG fan in just 2/3 years after discover you....
And god i am really fan !!!
Keep it up you're amazing
Thank you Mandalore for always uploading when I get back from work in the morning
This game series was one of my first horror experiences. It still holds a very special place in my heart
"Howard begs Philips forgiveness" - yes, I'm sure Love will overcome it and make them a family of Crafters...
Nice naming TBH, I like such nods to horror classics.
12:16
"Oh you've got a new character? Welcome to the roster."
Love this part.
God, I remember seeing old Let's Plays of these games (at least 1 and 2) and it immediately made me enthralled and I fell in love with the story. It was one of the best written stories I had seen in a game at that time, and I still think it's really good. Loved the twist that this eldritch hivemind being just got spooked 'cause people woke it up and were poking it with a stick, so it murdered 99% of them in self-defense. The ending email Phillip sends at the end of Black Plague is also so chilling.
12:24 I'd recognize that Betrayer gameplay anywhere. That game was so surreal.
This was something I remember sending an email for, glad to finally see it.
All we need now is War of the monsters