Penumbra's Plot

[Googolplex]

Firstly, let's get one thing straight: Amnesia was in general way better than penumbra in many aspects (graphics, gameplay, horror/fear,etc).

Amnesia's graphics aren't so much better than Penumbra's. I think that Amnesia has some nice features like SSAO & a lot of engine tweaks, but most of the textures (especially the brick walls) looks like cloned surfaces. In general there are more details on the walls in Penumbra Black Plague. The quality/resolution is very different in both games, some textures are sharp and others not.

The gameplay is equal in both games. Amnesia may feels more "precise" but I always enjoyed the tricky physics in Penumbra and missed it in Amnesia. For example the room in Black Plague where on the right side you can see a corpse lying on the ground through a window and where you have to come over the laser beams. You have to climb on the shelf and then use boards to walk above. Penumbra is full of such puzzles, while Amnesia is very simple (only pick up an item and place it into a fitted slot). In this case I would say that Penumbra is even better to experiment with objects in the environment - what means automatically better gameplay, even when it's less precise.
An other reason why Penumbra is a lot better in gameplay is the option to examine objects and read the player's thoughts. And that the journal is written by the player instead to be hints by the computer like it is in Amnesia (Find a way out, You have to drill a hole first, etc.). That was the biggest fail of the game and braked the immersion so much for me.

The horror/fear is very different in Amnesia and Penumbra. I like both ways in their own. Penumbra was more disturbing, danger and earnestly, while Amnesia have the melancholic atmosphere (scary and beautiful at same time). I love the Back Hall, the Entrance Hall, the Hub and the Cistern, the Machine Rooms in Amnesia and the general machines in AMFP. I also love the mining shafts and the shelter complex in Penumbra. Both games are brillant. I like the dogs, the infected, the grunts and the brutes!

But the plot/story in Amnesia never really "touched" me or interested me. On the other hand the plot in Penumbra was a masterpiece.

Both plots are masterpieces. The story in Penumbra was more interesting, but no game has a better (intellectual) story than A Machine For Pigs. It's maybe less interesting, but it wants to make us thinking about what's going wrong in our world of capitalism.

Which game's plot do you prefer?

If I had one choice, I would say Penumbra.