Frictional-Games posts

Valve's Steam service has announced its regular weekend sale, cutting the prices on a couple of acclaimed horror themed action-adventure titles. All of the Penumbra games from developer Frictional Games have been cut 75 percent for this weekend only.

You can choose to buy Penumbra Black Plague Gold Edition (with the original game and the expansion Penumbra Requiem) or Penumbra Overture separately for $3.75 and $2.50, respectively. Or you can get both games in the Penumbra collectors pack for just $5. Either way it's a massive bargain. Frictional Games are currently working on their next horror themed game Unknown for release sometime in 2010.

The team over at Frictional Games (creators of the Penumbra series of games) are still hard at work on their next project; the horror themed action-adventure game Unknown. This week the developer posted up a couple of new screenshots (added to our gallery) and a new development update on the game.

As previously reported Unknown is a period piece set in the 18th century. The player will be exploring an old castle that is naturally haunted. Frictional Games states, "To be careful is a must as the sanity of the player could quickly falter if inhabitants of the castle were to take notice of him." They have created their own in-house technology for the graphics and the physics have gotten a facelift. In the game, " . . . it's possible to slowly drag drawers open to examine the inside in search for clues." The early version of Unknown is apparently ready for any publishers to check out for themselves. The game is due for release in the spring of 2010.

After releasing a number of games in its Penumbra series of horror-themed action adventure games, developer Frictional Games has now offered up some early gameplay footage from their next title. The survival horror game, which was formally announced back in September, now has a title, Unknown.

There's still not a lot of info on the game itself but the footage, posted up by the developer on YouTube, does show off some of the new physics and lighting effect Frictional Games are putting into their in-house game engine. In fact the developer plans to release the game's editing tools for mod makers to create their own content when Unknown is released. We will have to wait a little while, however. Unknown is slated for release in the spring quarter of 2010.

The Penumbra Collection puts the entire psychological horror series into one box. It will include Penumbra: Overture, Penumbra: Black Plague and the recent expansion Penumbra: Requiem. Expect to dive into the mystery later this month when the collection releases.

Download HD Penumbra Collection Trailer (59 MB)
Download Penumbra: Black Plague Demo (133 MB)
Download Penumbra: Overture Demo for Windows (117 MB) and Mac (133 MB)

Frictional Games, the development studio behind the Penumbra series, recently released a short and mysterious video hinting toward its next project. Viewers are free to guess what all these concept art photos might amount to, but it's sure to be another kind of horror survival game. Visiting the website might offer up some more clues.

Download the HD Frictional Games Unknown Project Teaser Trailer (13 MB)

With their Penumbra game series retired for a while with the release of Penumbra: Requiem, developer Frictional Games is already in development of their next major game project. The company has launched a teaser site for the still unnamed game which will be a first person survival horror title set in an old castle the late 18th century.

Frictional Games that the title will have "all new technology and ideas to become the most advanced, content filled and creative game from our studio to date." The teaser site has some concept artwork from the game as well as a message that is in code that is almost certainly some clue as to the nature of the title. There's no word yet on a release date for the new game.

A few weeks ago, developer Frictional Games released Penumbra: Requiem, an expansion pack and final chapter in their Penumbra first person action-adventure series. Now comes word that a version of the game will be released that will support the special force feedback features found in the Novint Falcon PC game controller.

Using the HaptX technology, the special version of Penumbra: Requiem will enable users of the Novint Falcon to "feel" aspects of the game that they would be able to before. The two previous Penumbra games also had special HaptX-supported versions. The HaptX version of Penumbra: Requiem, published by Paradox Interactive, is scheduled to be released sometime in December.

The Penumbra first person horror action-adventure game series just got an expansion pack. Penumbra: Requiem is now available for download at Gamersgate and Direct2Drive for just $9.99. The expansion from developer Frictional Games requires the installation of Penumbra: Black Plague.

In a note on the Frictional Games web site site, the developers state that this expansion concentrates on the physics puzzles and gameplay more than previous installments. According to the site, "Requiem does its best to deliver a nightmarish and feverish atmosphere. Penumbra: Requiem is an attempt to deliver a fresh and rewarding experience and not just some rehash of previous material." While the expansion is for the moment for the Windows platform Macintosh and Linux users will get their own versions soon, according to the web site.

Frictional Games' Penumbra: Requiem, an expansion to the previously released Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague, will be released on August 27. The expansion will made available as an exclusive digital download at GamersGate.

Penumbra: Requiem will delve deeper into character Philip's explorations into the Tuurngait infection.

It's rare that we get to see how a game evolves from its beginnings to its final project. Developer Frictional Games is doing just that with its release of an alpha version of Unbirth, a horror themed first person action-adventure game that served as the first step in releasing the first game in their acclaimed Penumbra series.

The game, which was created by Frictional Games founder Thomas Grip a number of years ago, was never finished but because of popular demand by fans, he decided to release a playable (but still unstable) alpha version of Unbirth which should give Penumbra fans an interesting insight into the series. The web site also has some more info on the history of the game's development along with monster sketches, level screenshots and design docs and more. Anyone interested in game development should check this out.

[Via Blue's News]