I'm feeling pretty good, since I beat Penumbra: Overture the other day. Pretty good game, overall. The combat is more visceral overall than most adventure games without turning into a straight action game, and the puzzles make sense, mostly (although at one point you may be asking yourself why your dude is so compelled to make his way across a hazardous frozen lake). It's a tad annoying that the hammer, pickaxe, and broom all act exclusively as weapons, while the saw and crowbar act exclusively as key-items (meaning you can't go all Gordon Freeman on the many rabid dogs you'll encounter).
I've just starting Penumbra: Black Plague, however, and...well, while it's too early to form a whole opinion on the game, it does seem a tad below-par based on the quality of Episode 1. The puzzles are far more arbitrary (read: Resident Evil-like) than before, and while Penumbra 1 was a nice blend of H.P. Lovecraft atmosphere and The Thing setting, for part deux Frictional seemed to be uncounsiously aping stylistic elements of Portal and Resident Evil for no real reason. However, I was genuinely scared [dukar]less by a pasty naked zombie dude, so there's that.
