Reviews - ChrisBryant

The quickest way to summarize it I think, is that the engine is seemingly designed to slow down workflow in favor of looking complex and cool. I really feel like this was designed that so it looked really good in promotion, but in practice it's just not great. The wording in descriptions and the site is very particular, making the engine sound far more pleasant and robust than it is (though I suppose you can't expect developers to do anything but that). I mean, really, "Our renderer redefines realtime with image quality more like a cg render than real-time games of the past." Come on.

First and foremost, the documentation is puny. It's hardly worth mentioning. You will be learning how to do everything through trial and error.

The few included functions and "features" are very basic.

UI:
The UI seems to be designed to look robust and complex and useful, as it's mostly simple operations spread out and often duplicated in menus. The console at the bottom isn't useful much of the time and there doesn't seem to be any obvious way of hiding it, and so a large portion of your workspace is taken up. All of the tabs at the right side of the window take up way, way more space than they require, using up even more space. Even after familiar with where everything is, finding everything still feels like a game of Where's Waldo. Don't even get me started on texturing brushes.

Asset Integration:
This is actually one of the few things that Leadwerks had me smiling about. Importing assets is incredibly easy and quick. The conversion from source file to engine compatible and usable file is so quick and automatic. I really, really like the integrated material editor. Props for this.

I've got a decent amount more to say, here: Goo.gl

This game.

This.
*******.
Game.

I don't know where to begin, I don't know where to end. Hilarious, clever, meta as ****. Thought provoking? It's a very different concept, and one that's equally hard to explain. One of the best games I've played in a while. An amazing recreation and extension of the original mod.

It's marketed as a horror game, and expansion to Black Plague, however this is not a Penumbra game. It's an eerie puzzle game. The only real fear presented in this game is the paranoia you get simply from knowing it's supposed to be a horror. Other than that, you've just got a puzzle game with some very minor Penumbra story sprinkled in. And the bits of story actually ruin it, in my opinion.

The puzzle aspect however is pretty spectacular. Many puzzles leave you with a great feeling of accomplishment, and some even make you feel like a genius. They're well executed, pretty, and the atmosphere is wonderfully executed.

The story is negligible, and best if you just ignore it. Trust me. Pretend this game never happened in Penumbra canon.

A major disappointment. While the game isn't necessarily bad, it's not good. The story is... "interesting," at best, the VA is *decent* for a mod, and some key elements such as the inventory system or awkward. The horror atmosphere itself isn't bad, however the jump scares are used far too often to remain interesting. Pretty soon you get too used to it, and it just becomes a dark semi-thriller. The level design isn't always particularly interesting, but it is far above what many GoldSrc mods offer.

Truth be told, despite being my most anticipated GoldSrc mod of the last few years, it's nothing special, and is a big disappointment. The mod's developers are clearly talented, but the most impressive thing in this mod is their conversion from GoldSrc to just a weaker version of Source.

The game is a great blend of adventure, action and horror. The game focuses significantly more on the story than Overture, which was very nice, especially since it managed to do this while still being a bit more scary than Overture. The game messes with your head in a variety of ways, which emphasizes the puzzle aspects. Overall, this is a great game, definitely worth the money.