The Good, the Bad and the Ugly reviews

For those of you who thought Frictional Games’ success ended at the release of Penumbra: Overture, I am glad to inform you that the cosy little Swedish developer were on a roll and continue to remain on a roll to this day as Overture spawned two sequels; Penumbra: Black Plague and Penumbra: Requiem, and Frictional continues to wow the survival horror market with their latest venture Amnesia: The Dark Descent earning well above its development budget, claiming shining praise from critics the world over and breaking barriers in the frontiers of fear. But we’ll get to that in due time, for now I would like to carry on from where I so abruptly left off and take a look at the second episode in the ominous Penumbra series; Penumbra: Black Plague.

The Good:

1. Black Plague makes Overture look like a trip to a petting zoo…

One of the things that will strike you immediately upon jumping into Black Plague is the distinct shift in plot development, character development and horror elements, so much so that Overture looks comparatively tame. Black Plague carries on exactly from where Overture left off with Phillip stumbling upon the underground Shelter facility and being knocked out by an unknown attacker before being dragged away into the shadows. Upon regaining consciousness, the young physicist finds himself stripped of everything except his clothes and his torch. Locked inside a battered and ransacked room with his captors nowhere to be seen and odd, inhuman noises echoing from the hallways outside his prison, Phillip quickly gathers his senses and escapes through the ventilation shafts only to be flung into a worse situation filled with inhumane experimentation, macabre machinery and a terrifying supernatural intelligence taunting him from the darkness and hunting him down like an animal. Continuing with the trend established by Overture, much of Black Plague’s plot is told through reading and interpreting notes and diaries left behind by survivors but where the game differs from its predecessor is that it focus far more on the human side of the story with more human characters supporting (and even hindering) the player and the mystery surrounding Phillip’s father finally being disclosed. An entirely new enemy is also introduced; the Tuurngait. Essentially the Inuit mythology equivalent to demons, the Tuurngait present a far more frightening challenge for the player as they possess human intelligence far beyond that of the beasts encountered in Overture and later on in the game some of them are equipped with weapons and torches, making hiding in the shadows near to impossible. Black Plague also makes far better use of the Tuurngait for horror purposes by making them appear when the player least expects it rather than simply having them patrol the hallways where they can easily be avoided. Another noticeable change is the complete removal of hand-held weapons, making the player defenceless in almost every sense of the word; while barrels and boxes can still be picked up and thrown, they do about as much damage to the enemy as a plucked hair. All of this comes together to create a horror experience and a plot experience far greater than its predecessor. The old favourite; the giant worm, also makes a welcome return to the series.

2. Now that’s something you don’t see every day!

Where Overture was bogged down by its somewhat monotonous environments and lack of variety in locations, Black Plague rectifies this mistake by introducing a whole multitude of unique areas for the player to explore including some ransacked living quarters, a series of foreboding labs, machine rooms filled with poisonous gas, a Victorian era library, a snow-covered chasm, the lair of a vicious mutated scientist and even the depths of Phillip’s own mind! This is a very appreciated insertion of innovation compared to the dusty mine shafts of Overture which, I seemed to notice, very frequently used a colour scheme of only grey, brown and beige in its textures, three of the most boring colours to have ever plagued this earth. It also helps to keep the story flowing as you never get bored by entering the same kind of environment over and over again.

3. It’s like playing Portal except I’m actually scared by my adversaries

Another major improvement made by Black Plague is the increase in the quantity and quality of puzzles, riddles and tasks the player must complete in order to progress. In Overture, the majority of puzzles usually just involved reading notes or moving around boxes. Black Plague, however, encourages the player to observe their environment far more extensively and make better use of the various machines and technology at their disposal, such as turning on the power in a severed electrical cable to kill an enemy or activating an alternating pattern of lights to scare away a monster lurking in the walls of a long and winding hallway. This makes the game more interesting as the puzzles and tasks get progressively more difficult and the level of wits and cunning that the player is encouraged to tap into gets progressively more intricate.

4. Clarence; the spawn of Satan, Hitler and Nick Clegg

Black Plague sees the introduction of a new character: “Clarence”. While not necessarily a character in his own right as he is never seen in his true physical form, the malevolent presence known as Clarence who invades Phillip’s mind a third of the way through the game makes a huge impact on both the storyline and the horror. At first, Clarence is relatively

harmless and sometimes humorous as he makes various cynical yet sinister remarks about the situation, almost like the dark opposite of Red from Overture. However, Clarence later on becomes arguably the most evil and sadistic character to ever pervert the world as he begins to mess with Phillip’s mind, causing the player to see things that aren’t there, think things that aren’t true and do things that are unspeakable. In the game’s final acts, he pushes Phillip completely over the edge, causing a major tragedy which has forever placed him in my thoughts as one of the most horrifying ghost…zombie…entity…things ever created.

The Bad: (Thankfully there’s very little to complain about this time)

1. I expected a sequel and all I got was an expansion pack…

Black Plague, while continuing the story, ultimately keeps the same basic gameplay and formula of Overture with the game engine virtually unchanged. The only actual ‘significant’ alterations are the absence of melee weapons and the extra batteries for your torch being stored as items rather than being used up straight away when found. This raises the question as to why a whole new game was developed and released rather than the two episodes simply being bundled into one whole game. It would certainly help the narrative flow a bit better and save you the trouble of having to hop between the two games but I guess good ideas only ever develop over time; sadly, you can’t expect every possible story of a fictional universe to be compiled into one package.

2. An alternate dimension created by my own mind which is filled with blood, rust, chains and disturbing imagery? Sounds awfully familiar…

While I will commend Frictional Games for designing the ‘mental obstacle course’ sections of Black Plague pretty damn well, I can’t help but notice the similarities of these imaginary worlds to the Otherworld from the Silent Hill games. I mean, just compare them on a checklist!

Pitch black rooms with weird walls and floors? Check

Monsters based on what you’ve encountered in the past? Check

A bunch of weird puzzles that don’t quite make sense at first? Check

Objects and scenery which remind you of the traumas in your life? Check

Random arms and other body parts poking out of the walls? Check

The uncontrolled and completely unexplainable disregard of the laws of physics? Check

I could go on for hours but I don’t want to bore my readers more than I already have; I’m not that cruel. So yeah, you get the idea; parts of Black Plague seem almost like a complete rip off of Silent Hill. You could say that this a good thing; after all, Silent Hill is one of the best horror series ever made, is it not? I will agree with that but I’m a man who likes to see new ideas develop from the achievements of the past rather than simply repeats of them. Once people fail to create something new that improves on what we already have, that’s when I start to get very worried.

The Ugly:

1. What the hell happened to Phillip’s voice?!

Like in Overture, the protagonist Phillip does a brief bit of narration at the beginning of Black Plague to sum up the story so far and bring us into the new plot. Having played the last game, I wouldn’t have paid much attention if it weren’t for one very odd thing; the voice actor for Phillip had changed between games, and not in a very good way as he no longer sounds British like he used to (and he should do) but now he sounds like an American trying to put on a bogus and painfully forced posh British accent which is so cringe worthy that I think my ears started to bleed.

2. I don’t know about you lot, but Clarence is a riot!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I did say before that Clarence was an incredibly evil character but before his sinister mannerisms truly begin to emerge, his stereotypical New York accent and his dry and dark sense of humour as he mocks Phillip and makes a running commentary kind of lighten the mood a little too much on some occasions. Sometimes I would even find myself chuckling slightly at some of his remarks and suddenly becoming less frightened by the situation. Maybe it was meant to be some sort of new and experimental form of horror or maybe Frictional Games just wanted to have a little bit of fun with the story but either way, Clarence felt quite out of place in this dangerous and shadowy world I had been thrown in to.

Final Verdict:

Love them or hate them, Frictional Games are here to stay and they’re better than ever with every new game they make! Black Plague does a great job of patching up all the holes and attending to all the slip ups left behind by Overture and it delivers more on the story, scares and satisfaction than its predecessor ever could. If you don’t have it already, it’s time to rectify that mistake.