Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Surrounded by enemies and assaulted by terror from all sides, Philip must collect clues and solve vexing puzzles while combating the gnawing psychological terrors that assail his mind and threaten to strip him of his sanity.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is a horror, adventure and first-person game developed and published by Frictional Games.
Released on January 23rd 2009 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

It has received 2,752 reviews of which 2,589 were positive and 163 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9 out of 10. 😍

The game is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition into these genres:

Horror Adventure First-Person Psychological Horror Stealth Atmospheric Story Rich Singleplayer Indie Survival Horror Puzzle Lovecraftian Dark Action Survival Great Soundtrack Classic Gore Multiplayer

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition through various videos and screenshots.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

  • OS *: Windows 2000/XP
  • Processor: 1Ghz
  • Memory: 256MB
  • Graphics: Radeon 8500/GeForce 3 (GeForce4MX not supported)
MacOS
  • OS: OS X 10.7.5 - 10.15.0 This product is not compatiable with macOS 10.15 Catalina or later.
  • Processor: 2.0Ghz
  • Memory: 1024MB
  • Graphics: Radeon 9600/GeForce 4 (GeForce4MX not supported, Integrated graphics might not work.)
  • Hard Drive: 2.0GB
Linux
  • OS: Linux Ubuntu 12.04 or newer, 32-bit libraries must be installed
  • Processor: 2.0Ghz
  • Memory: 1024MB
  • Graphics: Radeon 9600/GeForce 4 (GeForce4MX not supported, Integrated graphics might not work.)
  • Hard Drive: 2.0GB

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Jan. 2026
Black Plague is bleak, cruel and depressing. In other words it's awesome! I actually prefer the first game, but I agree with most that this one is tougher and more intense.
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Dec. 2025
Excellent game. As I said, first game was not as good as this one. First game was more of a demo (in my opinion) but this is the real deal. Very good!
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Oct. 2025
‘A Father Of Indie Horror’, As They Used To Say Coming to ‘Black Plague’ after ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’ and ‘Overture’, I clearly saw the technical and artistic growth of Frictional Games as a studio. They had an insane jump in quality from Penumbra’s ‘Overture’ to ‘Black Plague’, because just within one year of development they improved on all levels where ‘Overture’ had been lacking . Technically, ‘Black Plague’ looks like a perfect indie horror game, so it’s no wonder so many people consider it a pioneer of this entire genre. In terms of pacing, it’s much tighter than ‘Overture’ which used to be a bit all over the place honestly. Level design is drastically better too , as ‘Black Plague’ has less straight-corridor maps, more pseudo open areas, better horror elements, and in general this game uses so much more interesting ways to spook the player and make him engage with the plot . ‘Black Plague’ also kicks off the basic principle that soon will become pivotal for the most iconic Frictional studio’s games (SOMA, Amnesia series) : you are not an action hero, you are a miserable helpless human being, which is weak and flawed, you cannot fight your enemies, you can only run and hide . However, as a person who considers ‘The Dark Descent’ the best horror game of our generation, I must point out that in several aspects ‘Penumbra’ disappointed me . The writing turned out to be much weaker than in ‘The Dark Descent’, although I’ve heard that some Penumbra fans consider ‘Black Plague’ to be a superior project to anything Amnesia related. Well… they are wrong, because as the game’s plot introduces us to Clarence (and even Amabel if we’re 100% honest) , we get swarmed in a rather clumsy and straight-up corny writing, which used to be popular in early 00’s I believe, but it aged quite terribly. It soured the overall atmosphere of Lovecraftian setting immensely, and the ending also happened to be strangely abrupt and even cheap. In other words, I expected more from the second part of the game, and was let down by my expectations. But the first half of the game was excellent, with great gameplay, interesting riddles and intriguing lore . So overall, I’d say that Penumbra is a decent indie horror series that still deserves to be played and appreciated for its influence on the entire genre even after years of its release.
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Aug. 2025
If played on steam deck this requires Lutris to be able to finish. My proton save is stuck on a puzzle were you have to put a dead dog on a pedestal this just stun locks you in a burning room and running the Linux version crashes within seconds. The game runs and looks better than the first game, the story is just as good and the enemies more varied. Thankfully the developers seen the error of their dog-hating ways and took out the dogs to kill by 8 yes 8 axe hits but in a act of defiance put in a game breaking bug for us steam players by none other than a flaming dog impaled on a pedestal - thats irony for ya. Recommended but not for dog lovers. Woof!
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July 2025
Absolute cinema. Still holds up after 16 years. Incredible improvement over Penumbra: Overture regarding the combat mechanics, atmosphere, mechanics, soundtrack, storytelling and enemies. If you're an Amnesia lover, you'll love this one. If you wanna be up to speed with the story play Penumbra: Overture before, but bare in mind that it is a little rough around the edges.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.75€ on Steam.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition received 2,589 positive votes out of a total of 2,752 achieving an impressive rating of 9.00.
😍

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition was developed and published by Frictional Games.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is a single-player game.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition does not currently offer any DLC.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition does not support Steam Remote Play.

Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 09 March 2026 07:16
SteamSpy data 10 March 2026 16:51
Steam price 17 March 2026 20:45
Steam reviews 16 March 2026 14:00

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition compatibility
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition PEGI 16
9.75€ Buy Now
Rating
9
2,589
163
Game modes
Features
Online players
5
Developer
Frictional Games
Publisher
Frictional Games
Release 23 Jan 2009
Platforms
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