The Game Census
Penumbra Overture cover art

Penumbra Overture

Frictional Games · 2009-03-06

SteamGOG

ActionAdventureIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: May 08, 2007 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), May 25, 2007 (Linux), Jan 10, 2008 (Mac)

Penumbra: Overture is a first person survival horror game, emphasizing on survival and problem solving instead of mindless violence and gore.

Penumbra Overture is an Action, Adventure, Indie game released in 2009, priced at $2.49, with an estimated 200,000 .. 500,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (90% of 4169 reviews).

3
playing now
90%
positive of 4.2k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
74/100
critic score (4 outlets, IGDB)
76/100
IGDB user rating (93 ratings)
5
Nexus mods (198 downloads)
11h
to beat · rushed 3h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$2.49
steam price (US)

3 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 13:00 UTC (census sample)

Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic survival horror games developed by Frictional Games. The game follows a physicist named Philip who travels to Greenland after his mother's death and is forced to explore an abandoned mine. Penumbra: Overture received average reception from critics.

Trailer

Penumbra Overture trailer thumbnail

Penumbra Overture Teaser

≈353,995 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 3 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 263 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~33/week).
  • · Review velocity up 23% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 8% of 27,606 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-29

Estimated sales: 167k–334k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 4,169 total reviews — how this is computed.

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
808020182026Week of 2018-01-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 63 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1302026-09-14 22:00 — 4 players2026-09-16 06:00 — 3 players2026-09-17 14:00 — 3 players2026-09-18 21:00 — 6 players2026-09-20 05:00 — 9 players2026-09-21 12:00 — 6 players2026-09-22 20:00 — 9 players2026-09-24 03:00 — 5 players2026-09-25 11:00 — 2 players2026-09-26 18:00 — 13 players2026-09-28 02:00 — 6 players2026-09-29 09:00 — 1 players2026-09-30 17:00 — 5 players2026-10-02 00:00 — 10 players2026-10-03 08:00 — 3 players2026-10-04 16:00 — 13 players2026-10-06 00:00 — 3 players2026-10-07 07:00 — 4 players2026-10-08 15:00 — 13 players2026-10-09 22:00 — 12 players2026-10-11 06:00 — 8 players2026-10-12 13:00 — 5 players2026-10-13 21:00 — 6 players2026-10-14 13:00 — 3 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
454Jul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 45 · peak 124Dec 2012 — avg 9 · peak 31May 2013 — avg 7 · peak 19Oct 2013 — avg 8 · peak 97Mar 2014 — avg 5 · peak 19Aug 2014 — avg 5 · peak 18Jan 2015 — avg 13 · peak 60Jun 2015 — avg 7 · peak 19Nov 2015 — avg 12 · peak 47Apr 2016 — avg 5 · peak 16Sep 2016 — avg 5 · peak 17Feb 2017 — avg 6 · peak 18Jul 2017 — avg 10 · peak 33Dec 2017 — avg 10 · peak 39May 2018 — avg 8 · peak 33Oct 2018 — avg 7 · peak 34Mar 2019 — avg 5 · peak 15Aug 2019 — avg 5 · peak 16Jan 2020 — avg 8 · peak 27Jun 2020 — avg 8 · peak 26Nov 2020 — avg 13 · peak 63Apr 2021 — avg 9 · peak 31Sep 2021 — avg 7 · peak 33Feb 2022 — avg 8 · peak 24Jul 2022 — avg 6 · peak 18Dec 2022 — avg 8 · peak 22May 2023 — avg 4 · peak 13Oct 2023 — avg 6 · peak 26Mar 2024 — avg 4 · peak 12Aug 2024 — avg 5 · peak 19Jan 2025 — avg 7 · peak 28Jun 2025 — avg 5 · peak 15Nov 2025 — avg 6 · peak 23Apr 2026 — avg 4 · peak 15Aug 2026 — avg 5 · peak 19
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$9.99$0.992015-01-012021-02-152015-01-01 — best price $1.792015-06-11 — best price $5.992015-09-15 — best price $1.992015-10-29 — best price $2.992015-11-25 — best price $2.492015-12-22 — best price $2.492016-02-05 — best price $2.892016-06-23 — best price $1.992018-06-21 — best price $1.492018-10-30 — best price $1.992018-11-21 — best price $1.992018-12-20 — best price $0.992019-02-04 — best price $1.492019-04-20 — best price $2.492019-06-26 — best price $0.992019-10-28 — best price $1.492019-11-26 — best price $1.492019-12-19 — best price $0.992020-01-23 — best price $0.992020-03-06 — best price $0.992020-06-25 — best price $0.992020-10-29 — best price $0.992020-11-25 — best price $1.992020-12-22 — best price $1.992021-02-11 — best price $1.492021-02-15 — best price $9.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

329512026-05-31 — 63 pageviews2026-06-04 — 87 pageviews2026-06-08 — 103 pageviews2026-06-12 — 64 pageviews2026-06-16 — 72 pageviews2026-06-20 — 127 pageviews2026-06-24 — 89 pageviews2026-06-28 — 115 pageviews2026-07-02 — 99 pageviews2026-07-06 — 106 pageviews2026-07-10 — 79 pageviews2026-07-14 — 81 pageviews2026-07-18 — 75 pageviews2026-07-22 — 95 pageviews2026-07-26 — 81 pageviews2026-07-30 — 77 pageviews2026-08-03 — 51 pageviews2026-08-07 — 76 pageviews2026-08-11 — 79 pageviews2026-08-15 — 93 pageviews2026-08-19 — 78 pageviews2026-08-23 — 88 pageviews2026-08-27 — 181 pageviews2026-08-31 — 110 pageviews2026-09-04 — 100 pageviews2026-09-08 — 102 pageviews2026-09-12 — 82 pageviews2026-09-16 — 84 pageviews2026-09-20 — 90 pageviews2026-09-24 — 99 pageviews2026-09-28 — 114 pageviews2026-10-02 — 112 pageviews2026-10-06 — 117 pageviews2026-10-09 — 86 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerCaptions availableFamily Sharing

1 supported languages: English

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

DarkIndieActionHorrorPuzzleStealthSurvivalAdventureStory RichAtmospheric

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Amnesia: A Machine for PigsSOMADon't Knock TwiceChildren of MortaDead AgePikunikuSemblanceDream Alone

Similarity via IGDB.

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