Despite its short gameplay and very odd combat system, Penumbra: Overture is awesome for thrill seekers.
Length - If you know the puzzels it can be done with in about 6 hours if you don't know the game and are brand new I'd say a good 12 hours or so. So its a give or take. In the end it's short.
Combat- Not sure what else you would call it. Really adds a difficulty to the game which makes it even more tense and fun to try to use stealth.
Puzzels- This is a 50/50 good/bad. Some puzzles are obvious and decently easy and others are very challenging and are fun to solve.
Graphics- 2007 and the graphics are very well done, the use of light and shadow are awesome.
Story- The story itself is very scary from beginning to end and I will admit it is good enough to make you want to go through the second episode.
Horror!- This game is very scary, again the use of light and shadow is super well done and does add to the suspense. Sound is also key in this game so make sure you have a good setup.
Ok first off, get this game, unless you are so easily terrified that you cannot play the game then don't but for everyone else BUY IT you'll enjoy it. Anyway.
Getting a letter from your father years after his death you set out to Greenland to find out more about your father. Traveling to the icy land, you gear up onboard a ship and then head out into the thundra that is Greenland. A blizzard kicks in and forgetting your heavy coat (this is the only thing that bothers me since your suppose to be an intelligent gentleman and everyone else in the whole world would feel the icy bite of the super coldness of Greeland and go get a heavier coat on. Anyway) you make your way toward any type of shelter you can find. You find a hatch leading down into...somewhere, breaking your way in you climb down the ladder into the pitch blackness of a mine shaft. The ladder snaps and you crash down into the deep mine, with no hopes of returning the way you came. You see a dark room, no lights, and only a glow stick, a few flares and a flashlight with limited power for your light source. And that is where it all begins.
This game is one of the best scary, thrilling, and challenging puzzle horror games. From the start to the end you will have a constant tension the whole way through. The puzzles can be simple but for the most part they are challenging and take a lot more exploring and thinking to figure most of them out. Sound and lighting play a key role in this game so well that it is a perfect example of if used properly you can make a very tense, scary game. Combat is a thing to get used to but this game is built around the fact that you are a psychiatrist and not a guy trained to fight monsters, plus this game is built on stealth and fear. Not being to defend yourself well really makes it scary and challenging to encounter the 'things' that are in the depths of the mine.
What i'd recommend is making sure you can barely see anything by changing the options in the game, turning and tuneing the sound to help add to the thrill and chill of the enviorment (surround sound is the best) and play in complete darkness with no other sound going on (if possible).
Overall- I'd give this game 8.5
Why?- Good game, suspenseful, thrilling and scary, a bit too short (you'll wish there was more, add the second episode and the length is not a problem.) Combat a bit difficult but this game isn't really about fighting monsters. I recommend this game to anyone. It is cheap and worth your money, you will be thrilled!