Penumbra: Necrologue

Penumbra: Necrologue
Developer(s)	CounterCurrent Games
Engine	HPL Engine 2
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Linux
Release	31 October 2014
Genre(s)	Survival Horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Penumbra: Necrologue is a third-party total conversion modification released for Amnesia: The Dark Descent in 2014 by CounterCurrent Games. It was in development for 2 years. It continues the storyline after the events of Penumbra: Requiem, and like its predecessors, heavily focuses on exploration and survival.

On 31 October 2015, the add-on Penumbra: Twilight of the Archaic was released, described by the makers as a prequel/spin-off to Necrologue.

Gameplay

The gameplay is identical to that of the Penumbra series. The game features puzzles and several monsters who cannot be defeated. The player has to use his wits and has to hide or run away to survive. Almost every ingame object can be interacted with, such as doors, drawers, boxes, bricks, etc.

Synopsis

Join Philip in the last part of his journey as he tries to find the answers to everything he witnessed in the Archaic Shelter while trying to stay alive from the many horrors that await him deep below the ice. Will he finally be able to escape the nightmare, and see daylight again?

Setting

Necrologue takes place in 2001 right after the events of Penumbra: Requiem, in an underground facility called: The Shelter. The Shelter is located in a remote location in Greenland.

Music

Untitled

The soundtrack of Penumbra Necrologue was composed by Julien Hauspie, ScoreStorm, Drex Wiln, Tiero, and Valentin Parhomenko. The songs are inspired on the previous work of Frictional Games composer Mikko Tarmia as to keep the atmosphere as close to the original as possible.

The "Penumbra: Necrologue Original Soundtrack" was released as a free download on 4 November 2014 on the Mod DB page. It does not include all of the tracks of Necrologue, but 23 hand-picked remastered and remixed tracks.

1. Main Theme	13. Hunter Danger
2. Go Ahead, Monkey	14. Hunter Chase
3. Eclips	15. End Of Jayla
4. Collector	16. Hunter Danger (alt.)
5. Red Again	17. Hunter Chase (alt.)
6. Cryochambers	18. Complex
7. Laboratory	19. If Fate Frowns...
8. Accommodations	20. The Mines
9. Archives	21. The Tuurngait Tomb
10. Lights On	22. Tower Is Collapsing
11. At Heart	23. Credits
12. Unfinished Complex

Reception

Penumbra: Necrologue was very well received mostly positive reviews. The main issue people had with the game was that it still had some game-breaking bugs upon release. These bugs have been fixed however, in the latest 1.2 patch.

Several gaming websites praised the game for its soundtrack and atmosphere, saying it fits right in with the official Penumbra trilogy.

The mod also won the Mod DB: Mod of The Year "Editors' Choice" 2014: "Best Singleplayer" award.

The Steam Greenlight campaign for Necrologue started on 8 January 2015 and was successfully greenlit on 23 January 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Penumbra: Necrologue on Steam
• Penumbra: Necrologue's Mod DB project page
• Penumbra: Necrologue's forum thread, on the website of Frictional Games
• Penumbra: Necrologue on Steam Greenlight
• PC Gamer: Amnesia mod Penumbra: Necrologue creeps onto Steam Greenlight
• Bloody-Disgusting: The ‘Penumbra’ Trilogy Lives On in This ‘Amnesia’ Mod
• PCGamesN article about Steam release
• Gamestrust: Penumbra Necrologue starts Greenlight campaign (german)
• Eurogamer: Penumbra Necrologue published on Steam Greenlight (italian)
• RockPaperShotgun article about Twilight of the Archaic