Scar Tries: Penkura
The weather has been odd here in the UK. It’s either blazing sunlight or torrential rain, and I’ve been caught out in the downpours more than once.
Things are going smoothly enough on my end, and you should expect more articles in the coming weeks. I’ve got a dev interview with the lovely mind behind Little Odyssey releasing next week, including a few impression reviews. Summer Game Fest was incredibly busy, featuring a delicious buffet of game reveals and release dates. Streets of Rogue 2 is probably my most anticipated title from the festival, and I can’t wait for August.
Today, I’m featuring Penkura, an Early Access survival game from 2018 that’s enjoyed a rebirth of sorts! Developed by Lionsart, they’ve managed to return full-time to the development of Penkura, and I’m incredibly happy to see that.
Game development is hard, even more so when it’s a small team behind the wheel. Given how turbulent the world has become in the past few years, it’s a small wonder we can make toast. I’ve been on both angles of game development, both as a guy who games and reviews them and working in the industry, so I try to be understanding. It’s why I’m so happy that these guys managed to return to Penkura after a long hiatus. They have an incredibly ambitious game, and it is a delight to play. These are very early impressions so far, but I know for certain this is a game I want to keep playing.
At its heart, Penkura is an open-world survival crafting RPG, but it is so much more than that. Part exploration FPS, part topdown base builder, I’m impressed how much Lionsart has crammed into this game. It carries a bunch of time travel science magic, featuring deep, underground complexes and powerful artefacts. The sci-fi/occult setting is pretty damn unique for the genre, and it’s one of the most in-depth survival worlds I’ve played in a long time. Just check out the narrative on the Store page:
“Deep beneath Antarctic ice, a Polish research team uncovers an ancient temple, a portal to a captivating new world.
As Earth faces overpopulation and devastation, Project “Gemini” initiates the migration of humanity to this promising planet. For 41 years, pioneers traverse the singularity, until contact is mysteriously severed.
Now, as a mercenary, you embark on a perilous journey through the unstable gateway,
tasked with survival and uncovering the secrets of the unknown world beyond.”
How cool is that?
With its Unreal Engine, Penkura not only has great visuals, but it runs darn well for an Early Access game. Even on my obsolete, slightly unfit laptop, I experienced no crashes or stutters, and the environments are beautiful to look at. With the aid of a sentient AI, your job is to uncover the truth behind the ghost city. This is a hardcore survival game, so you’ll need to manage important things such as sleep, food, water, and oxygen. Death punishes you by losing your items, although you can retrieve them afterwards. With the new world’s environments and fauna wanting your blood, this is a dangerous world. No pressure, then?
I acknowledge this is not a full review. Heck, it’s barely an impressions review. With my schedule so hectic right now, I wanted to get some initial thoughts on Penkura out of the way and play enough to decide if it warrants further exploration. My answer to that is yes. Oh god yes. Penkura is a fairly unique game with a lot on offer. Now that Lionsart is back full-time on development, the next few months will be interesting.
