Yes, this game is scary. But intuitive gameplay is not a strong point here. Immersion is the key word. Immersion is broken by frustration. Your immersion is broken when you are screwed over by the terrible checkpoint system. Immersion is broken when you struggle with a combat system that is quite literally clunkier than QWOP. And your immersion is broken when you have to face the same monster or deathtrap your fourth or fifth time. Penumbra is inferior to Amnesia in every way, and anybody that tells you otherwise is lying and needs to be whacked. Amnesia understood a few subtleties not yet mastered in Penumbra, such as a checkpoint system that preserves your progress after death and doesn't waste your time like Penumbra does. (Speaking of which, staggering checkpoints doesn't increase tension or make a game scarier. It wastes time.) Amnesia makes dangerous sequences intuitive enough that the player can get through them on their first or second try. And Amnesia completely ditched the terrible immersion breaking combat and designed the game from that standpoint. Penumbra isn't bad, but it will test your patience.
I must admit that no one in my family ever beat this without looking at a walkthrough. The joy of exploration is very rarely matched, and this game looks gorgeous, even by today's standards, if only because of the pre-rendering. I wouldn't say that this game holds up by today's standards; traveling is necessarily clunky because you move from set point to set point and you will have to hunt for pixels that your cursor reacts with through the game. It is worth the purchase and worth your time, even if the supposed challenge of the puzzles tends towards futility.
So, I'm the one that was exposed to this franchise through HOMM IV, and I rather like that one. Then this game comes along, and what changes it has made all make me want to cough up blood: -Uglier visuals despite graphics upgrade from HOMM IV -Unnecessary upgrade for creatures -Less spells -Less flavor for factions and magic types -Hero no longer a unit on battlefield I could go on for a while. Incidentally, many of the changes I hate are what fans think this is supposed to be. If you are a fan, I guess you can feel free to ignore my review.
The fast pace of gameplay combined with cell shading makes this game frustrating for my brain to process: I find this game much more difficult than Quake 3 or Xonotic. Worth checking out though.
Worse than the original Deus Ex, but I prefer this to Human Revolution because this game isn't embarrassed by first person gameplay. Other reviews have said that this is good, but worse than Deus Ex 1. However, there were some changes I liked: -Passive augmentations that don't consume energy. (Making silent footsteps worth acquiring.) -X-ray vision that works -Improved weapon modification -Universal augmentation canisters can acquire powers you want early in game
