Get ready to sleep with the lights on.

In a time when game development companies are focusing more on barraging the gamer with explosions, firefights, outrageous characters, over the top music and gazillions of pixels, a lot of people have lost the idea of what it really takes to make a good game. Sometimes it takes one game to prove to the industry that it doesn’t take a multi-million dollar budget and 100+ employees to make a mark on the gaming world. Sometimes all it takes is a talented and dedicated team of workers, a solid idea and patience to make something to stand apart from the rest.

Penumbra Overture is important because it changes the way we participate in a game. Nothing is more true about the Adventure Game genre, which has (to say the least) become stale. Endless hours of ‘point and click’ tedium can wear on a gamer and it’s these reasons are why I have steered clear of most Adventure games recently.

The game starts when Philip receives a letter from his father, even though his father left the family nearly 30 years before. The letter shows up within days of Philip’s mother passing away. With nothing left for him at home, Philip sets out for Greenland and the hopes of finding out what happened to his father almost 3 decades ago. Hopping from airplane to fishing boat, he makes his way to one of the most remote locations on the planet. This place could be called Nowhere, and he’s pretty much in the middle.