An "Epilogue"?
Penumbra: Requiem is the final installment of the Penumbra game series and finally shows what happens to the series protagonist, but I doubt anyone saw the conclusion and thought it made the story better.
This game is essentially a set of challenge maps. It all seems to take place in the protagonists mind, so each level is able to take place in completely different locations without any rhyme or reason to what comes next. The puzzles themselves range between interesting to execute and tedious to complete, but I'm not sure any of them caused me to stretch my understanding of the game mechanics or have a real "Ah-Ha!" moment, which is what most great puzzle games strive for.
No, this final instalment seems to fully ignore the series horror elements, as there are no monsters, and story elements. I suppose this game does continue the story, but it essentially just shows the main character drowning in madness ending in his ultimate demise and adds nothing to the story of the games that came before.
Honestly, I don't know who this particular game is for. The whole 2 hour experience mostly comprises looking for where you should jump to next, then either doing that or picking up an object you need to slowly move it into place so that THEN you can jump to the next position. I'm struggling to think of any "puzzle" that wasn't simply finding an item and sticking it where it goes, or pulling a lever to open a gate. This game also got rid of throwing objects for no reason (I mean, probably to keep you from breaking puzzles, but you can still fling things, just not with a press of a button).
Honestly, I played this whole series because I was interested in seeing where it would go and I enjoyed working with the physics, but looking back on it, it was more tedious than enjoyable. And the story that seemed to have interesting elements really landed like a wet blanket. The story IS interesting, right up until it's resolved by not really resolving and answers your questions with the exact answers you'd expect. I really wish I liked these games more, but each one led to a disappointing time.
