Frictional Games Forum

My question is: what the hell is the complex the main character is in?

It doesn't seem to have much of a purpose, having no medical rooms, barracks, test chambers - its just filled with oddities that seem to serve no purpose. A lot of the items are rusted, suggesting that the complex is at least 20 years old, but the blood is fresh and the creatures alive, inferring that they had some food source (humans).

Structurally speaking its a manmade concrete bunker made in military fashion. The security locks on the doors would have to be from the earliest being the 1950s since they are electronic - but why are they even neccesary? Areas are locked with passcodes that seem to lead to unimportant areas. Almost all of the bunker's rooms are locked off from one another - but for what? There appears to have been nothing to protect or contain. The bunker seems to have no function whatsoever.

Some of the technology in the game, such as the generator seems to hint at a early cold war era construction - they are not exactly modern day devices but they are electronic, so between 1940-1980 really.

Another question: why is the character even trying to find out what happened to his father? I think its pretty obvious once he runs into the first monster and realizes NOBODY IS HOME. Time to take the 4 sticks of dynamite you collected and blow that rusted hatch open, thats what I would have done.

The area where there are the car lifts, where does the outside go? Why cant the character open that or at least investigate it? I think that would be extremely important to him, since hes basically stuck in there. Why would personel of the bunker need vehicles?

This is something i always say....

GAMEPLAY > REALISM!

Realism is boring. Who wants it when you can just go outside "Whoaw...thats real...."

I dont know. The complex to me seemed just way too simplistic. And how the garage it mentioned an elevator, and based on the last scean (it looked as if you were in an elevator) it seemed that this bunker was only the surface level of something great. Possibly the first level is/was a utility level for a scientific complex that lies on lower levels. My guess is the main character's father was a scientist or of some segnificance to the project that he had to leave his old life. Either way, the game obviously feels like its setting iteself up for more.

And for the gameplay thing: I always felt that yes gameplay is important, but (taking half-life 2 for an example) HL2 would have never have done as well as it did if it didnt implify realism in there, to make you feel apart of the game. Otherwise it might have well just been another expansion pack to the half-life original game.

Hmm, you sure about that HL2 realism? http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-07-17

MyWorldOfChaos Wrote:This is something i always say....

GAMEPLAY > REALISM!

Realism is boring. Who wants it when you can just go outside "Whoaw...thats real...."

while i dont want to have a 'realistic' game I do want to have a believable game, and Penumbra is pretty confusing in that regard - almost stupid.

You never know... it might also be some hellish maze in the mind of the main character. so it is not meant to be rational

nobody said what was happening was real it could be your own character imagination

but

in a certain way hte thing about the codes in the doors is certain, why put a goal for the player if then there is nothing behind the coded door?

Maybe almost every door in the facility is coded, because the staff of the place wanted to be extra sure, that noTHING gets out...

They didn't do a very good job then.

well, yeah, but atleast they tried xD