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Unusual Physics Engine Game Ported To Linux

christian.einfeldt writes "Halloween has come early for Linux-loving gamers in the form of the scary Penumbra game trilogy, which has just recently been ported natively to GNU-Linux by the manufacturer, Frictional Games. The Penumbra games, named Overture, Black Plague and Requiem, are first-person survival horror and physics puzzle games which challenge the player to survive in a mine in Greenland which has been taken over by a monstrous infection/demon/cthulhu-esque thing. The graphics, sounds, and plot are all admirable in a scary sort of way. The protagonist is an ordinary human with no particular powers at all, who fumbles around in the dark mine fighting zombified dogs or fleeing from infected humans. But the game is remarkable for its physics engine — rather than just bump and acquire, the player must use the mouse to physically turn knobs and open doors; and the player can grab and throw pretty much anything in the environment. The physics engine drives objects to fly and fall exactly as one would expect. The porting of a game with such a deft physics engine natively to Linux might be one of the most noteworthy events for GNU-Linux gamers since the World of Goo Linux port."

4 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So... by AlmondMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Probably because it's a pretty retarded post? I've not much use for Linux in my every day life, but I've used it enough on multiple hardware platforms, both stationary and mobile, and neither of them had any problems with rendering graphics. Not even with all the silly hardware accellerated effects turned on. Indeed, Penumbra series are quite good games for the money they cost. Indeed they're much better horror games than most the AAA titles that are spewed out by major companies. They just lack the graphical polish that those companies can afford. The gameplay is however just as good and the mood is better.

  2. Re:Just who in world though this is good idea... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My thought exactly. Think of a horror movie where you are sitting on your seat's edge because the protagonist fumbles with reload of his revolver while that zombie dog is dashing towards him. His hand shakes as he peels out the spent cartridges, he tries to load a new cartridge, he fumbles, the bullet drops into the black void below, the metal clanc as it hits the ground while you hear that unearthy bark and growl of the dog sprinting towards him, and only one more bullet in his hand... Then finally he manages to get it in, he raises the gun, tries to aim and just as the dog leaps to him he fires, blindly...

    Way scarier and more suspense building than spitting out a full ammo box of machine gun ammo towards the dog and pretty much tearing it to bloody shreds that splatter down around our hero.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:No 64-bit version? by dns_server · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have a 64 bit system and I play 32 bit world of goo without any problems once you install the 32 bit libs.
    On my ubuntu machine is 101mb (installed), if that is a lot of space for you then you have a reasonable complaint.

  4. Re:It's Only $5 by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yea... I really wish people would wise up and knock that shit off.

    It's not that the users or webmasters are really at fault - it's the programmers who write the underlying code that think such things are acceptable - the people who should know better!

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...