Down here in the very south and sunny part of Sweden we have had a quite snow free winter, until today... For some reason a "blizzard" is roaming outside today and what could be better to do on a day such as this than to read a couple of reviews?

Jolt.co.uk

"Little touches like the ambient music and subtle film grain only add to the unsettling atmosphere, which is utilised via various plot devices almost as a weapon against your senses."

DarkZero.co.uk

"Give me a shotgun and a zombie horde, and I will quite happily empty shells for a number of unspecified hours, with little variation in game play or surroundings. But a funny thing happened while I was playing Penumbra Black, I forgot all about guns, I forgot all about my instinctive healthy urge to kill, and I started to enjoy being scared and even more shockingly, enjoyed thinking."

AdventureGamers.com

"If you’re in the market for a bite-sized chunk of the freshest horror adventure in years, play this game. It’s unusual, smart, and above all, entertaining, if you can embrace the unconventional approach."

GamePositive.com

"Distant noises immerse players into the game, while whispers and strange noises, along with music that is similarly creepy, works wonders to draw players in immediately."

In addition to the above mentioned reviews there has been a ton of international reviews in all languages imaginable as well as daily newspaper and TV coverage here in Sweden.

Hmm what else, oh yes, when poking around in the work folders we found this sort of sketch, it is supposedly a gnomes work of something soon to be. As always with gnomes they leave quite a mess, so at the moment we are a bit lost on what it was we were working on, it's a puzzle in itself to find the work logs of yesterday. When we get our act together we shall return with more precise information! -Sorry it's Monday evening and I really needed to fill out this part with some text.

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We have updated Penumbra: Black Plague & Penumbra: Overture to correct all the graphical problems that was experienced with the latest cards and drivers from ATI. The updates also include various optimisations, minor fixes and for Black Plague even some alternate solutions to a puzzle or two!

Before applying the updates, make sure you read the descriptions so that you are running the correct release of the game to be updated, some releases and translations needs to be updated by their respectively publisher.

Penumbra: Black Plague
Full version update
Demo version update

Penumbra: Overture
Full version update
Demo version update

The last weeks have had so many reviews, so the following is a selection of reviews and only those in English.

NYTimes.com

"...Penumbra: Black Plague are the sort of games that make me to want to play games 24 hours a day. I just have to ignore my hunger, exhaustion and achiness."

GameSpot.com

"Now, the series comes to a close with Penumbra: Black Plague, a superb sequel that continues with the creeps and common-sense conundrums."

Destructoid.com

"It alternately shocks and entertains without resorting to the boring, repetitive combat we usually associate with survival horror."

Bit-Tech.net

"In fact, the panic effect brings an excellent conflict to the game and makes the game truly terrifying to play. It’s one thing to play a stealth game where you watch the enemy blunder past you as you slip behind cover. It’s another experience altogether to have to look away and just listen to enemy footsteps. You never know how close death is and, like Philip, you’ll be on the edge of your seat."

Additional reviews can be found at GameVortex.com, GamerNode.com, TotalVideoGames.com, GameIndustry.com and Resonance-gaming.com.

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A collection of reviews for your reading pleasure.

1UP.com - English

"Penumbra: Black Plague combines puzzles and horror to create a game that is probably unlike anything you've played. It's a little bit like a brain-training game, only between lessons you fray your nerves (in a good way) as you jump and pause at every little noise."

GameZone.com - English

"What also sells the game are the sound effects that lurk in the background. Turn the volume up to experience the creepiness of the situation."

StrategyInformer.com - English

"At the end of the day however, this is a different experience to almost any other first-person title out there, and for that reason alone we can definitely recommend any PC owner to give it a try."

GameChronicles.com - English

" It’s sad to hear that this will be the last Penumbra title but it is definitely on my list of the creepiest games that I have ever played."

GamingExcellence.com - English

"This brings me to the real star of Penumbra: its great atmosphere and sense of immersion. There’s no heads-up display showing your health or anything other information; all you see your flashlight/glowstick/flare, the only shield you have against the pitch black."

For all Finns there is a review over at edome and for Italians you can find a review over at nextgame.

Current metacritic.com score, 79.

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Latest reviews
Computer Active - English

"A great combination of brain-teasing riddles and p sychological chills, Penumbra Black Plague is definitely worth exploring..."

Retry.se - Swedish

"Allt detta sköts väldigt bra; det lugna tempot, de intressanta pusslen och den kusliga stämningen är verkligen som gjorda för varandra."

VG Nett - Norwegian

"Ved hjelp av en god og spennende historie, et fantastisk lydbilde og ekle, isolerte miljøer, skapes en skikkelig guffen stemning."

For UK folks the latest issue(185) of PC Gamer has a review of Penumbra: Black Plague and for all Czechs LEVEL is including a full two page review in issue 162.

IGN.com has posted a video review, be warned that the video contains quite a lot of spoilers. It's essentially the same review as the previously reported written review.

Frictional News
For a while we have been only two people here at Frictional Games, but since last week we are back to the norm of being three. Marc has been working with us for some time, but now he is a steady member of our company fiddling away on the graphics side. If things go as planned we might soon extend the employee list further!

We don't do everything internally here at Frictional, we also work with a nice collection of individuals and companies from around the world. Most notably Tom the writer, Mikko the composer, Luis the audio coder and Edward the porter for the Linux & Mac versions.

On the topic of Frictional Games, for those interested we have a Work Log in the forum where Thomas is currently posting about his progress on the new engine, dubbed HPL2.

Demo & Release
Having read this far? Oh my, well better make the best of it and repeat that the demo for Penumbra: Black Plague is out! The full game is to be released in stores across EU on the 15th of February and on the 12th for US and Gamer's Gate, remember that all good nightmares begin at midnight.

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Two news post in one day, oh my!

The Penumbra: Black Plague Demo is out, go to the Penumbra: Black Plague site for a nice and long list of high quality mirrors!

While you are waiting for the download to finish you can enjoy another review over at GamersUniverse.com.

"Penumbra: Black Plague is an impressive first person horror survival title. It has a great story with a strong finale, and an impressive physics engine that rivals those of other games with larger budgets. It’s full of intuitive puzzles and a creepy atmosphere and Black Plague, contrary to most games, plays with your senses and absorbs you into its frantic and paranoid world."

Oh, if you enjoyed the demo and have not played Penumbra: Overture, why not take the opportunity to try the demo or maybe even buy the game? There is just enough time to complete Overture while waiting for Black Plague to be released!

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