Oof, what a way to end the series. Penumbra: Requiem, in all respects, plays and feels like a dodgy amateur ROM hack. There is no consistency in tone or theme, and most levels feel like they are made of assets pulled from the first two Penumbra games and just randomly slammed together. The hallucinatory nature of the setting immediately kills any stakes or atmosphere this could have had, the story is nonsensical, and the non-sequitur fourth wall breaks come completely out of nowhere. After all, nothing has to fit or make sense when everything is just happening inside a madman's head, right? It is remarkable how less engaging this is than the other Penumbra games, especially Black Plague which drew me in pretty effectively.
Also, out of nowhere, this game marks a complete change in genre from the others. Penumbra Requiem is a puzzle game with moderate platforming elements: neither of these genres work at all in this game engine. The other games had inventory puzzles, sure, but Requiem is entirely about physics puzzles; it still has the inventory system, but you literally never use it unless you have to heal. The gameplay here is an absolute shitshow; I lost count of the number of times I softlocked because the game's physics had a special moment and some important box or whatever would simply ping out of existence. And the platforming is just diabolical; Phillip doesn't seem to have a consistent jump length, it's impossible to tell your own height or exact ground location, and I even found I could make him hover for a few seconds by mashing the jump button and confusing the game. All in all, this game feels like an attempt to make Portal in Penumbra for some reason (it even has its own GLaDOS in the form of the PA system from Black Plague), and it does not work in the slightest.
Even if not for the jank and terrible controls though this would still be a poor game; there are a couple of ok puzzles in there somewhere, but the vast majority are either uninspired, obvious to solve but awkward to execute, or straight up moon logic. The puzzles in the other games can be a bit obnoxious at times, sure, but those games had other things going on; this kind of puzzle feels so much more frustrating and bemusing when it is all there is to focus on.
Honestly, even if you played the other Penumbras, you can just skip this. I wouldn't even recommend playing to see how the Penumbra story concludes, because everything here is just vague metaphor and nonsense, and the cliffhanger ending from Black Plague would be a much, much better sign-off for the series. I think it's just better to pretend Penumbra was a 2-part series all along.
Also, out of nowhere, this game marks a complete change in genre from the others. Penumbra Requiem is a puzzle game with moderate platforming elements: neither of these genres work at all in this game engine. The other games had inventory puzzles, sure, but Requiem is entirely about physics puzzles; it still has the inventory system, but you literally never use it unless you have to heal. The gameplay here is an absolute shitshow; I lost count of the number of times I softlocked because the game's physics had a special moment and some important box or whatever would simply ping out of existence. And the platforming is just diabolical; Phillip doesn't seem to have a consistent jump length, it's impossible to tell your own height or exact ground location, and I even found I could make him hover for a few seconds by mashing the jump button and confusing the game. All in all, this game feels like an attempt to make Portal in Penumbra for some reason (it even has its own GLaDOS in the form of the PA system from Black Plague), and it does not work in the slightest.
Even if not for the jank and terrible controls though this would still be a poor game; there are a couple of ok puzzles in there somewhere, but the vast majority are either uninspired, obvious to solve but awkward to execute, or straight up moon logic. The puzzles in the other games can be a bit obnoxious at times, sure, but those games had other things going on; this kind of puzzle feels so much more frustrating and bemusing when it is all there is to focus on.
Honestly, even if you played the other Penumbras, you can just skip this. I wouldn't even recommend playing to see how the Penumbra story concludes, because everything here is just vague metaphor and nonsense, and the cliffhanger ending from Black Plague would be a much, much better sign-off for the series. I think it's just better to pretend Penumbra was a 2-part series all along.