PlayableShow Details
Unknown
Native and Proton both run fine, but to get the game working with Reshade requires some work
This game will run without issue on both the native port and under Proton - you do not need to do anything, the rest of this information is for if you want to use this Reshade script with this game: https://github.com/kevinlekiller/reshade-steam-proton, then you'll need to downgrade to Proton GE 8-7, boot the game once, exit and install Reshade 4.9.1 as it's the last version that works with Penumbra (there's a comment on how to in the documentation in that Github page), otherwise the game is completely broken. After installing you can switch back to new Proton versions without issue, but for me it broke without doing it in that order, for some reason. The start with the ship is fine, but outside in the snow is completely broken - the entire screen turns yellow, for some reason.
Cool game and cool experience, ran perfectly fine aside from the graphic lake glitch.
On the lake part there was a heavy graphical glitch, I don't know if it was because of proton or it was just the game being weird.
weird how well this works considering it is Proton SIlver
maybe i just got luck, the weird saving tubes that give lore may not display the lore sometimes but im pretty sure thats just the game being weird, they only display once for some reason
gamemoderun %command%
played the game through beggining to the end with only 1 crash, rather surprising considering the next 2 titles are pretty much completely borked under proton.
it doesn't matter anymore which version you want play, Native works great and Proton also runs like charm, did not have any problem playing the full game on Proton. if anything bad happens, Native should do the work for you.
Working great now with GE-Proton8-7, 1920x1080, even when using Shader Quality on "High"
${STEAM_RUNTIME}/scripts/switch-runtime.sh --runtime="" flatpak run net.lutris.Lutris lutris:rungame/penumbra # %command%
I simply indicated in Lutis the location of the executable file of the Linux version of the game installed via Steam and selected Linux in the Runner field
I've encountered minor artifacts that are similar to when running through Proton, but they've only been encountered a couple of times. Once I saw the artifacts in the acid pit, which is located in the cave with spiders, the second time on the ice at Utuqaq Lake. These are minor episodes, lasting about a couple of minutes in total. The rest of the time the game worked great.
• The native Linux version, when launched normally via Steam, crashes right after the first section when you exit the boat and open the hatch.
• When forced to use Proton, the game does not crash, but shows a black screen when loading a level. This is fixed by disabling Post Effects in the graphics settings, but the lighting remains broken, there are no shadows, the flashlight does not work, which is critical for a horror game. The lighting can be fixed by lowering the Shader Quality to medium, but then strange and importunate artifacts appear in the form of stripes on the textures, like rays that come from a single point.
• The only working option was to run the native Linux version of the game through Lutris. This saved the game from crashes after the hatch, and allowed you to enjoy the graphics in maximum quality. I was able to completely complete the game in this way, in 99.99% of cases everything was excellent, artifacts were found only in two minor places that I wrote about above.
• Also, in order to launch the game from the original shortcut, and for Steam to count the time spent in the game, I added the above command in the launch options, which replaces launching the game through Steam with launching through Lutris, in which the value "penumbra" after / corresponds to the identifer field in game shortcut configurations in the Lutris library.
• As far as I was able to find out, the native Linux version crashed when launched through Steam, since Steam OS defaults to Mesa Library is built with compiler optimizations applied. And it seems that Lutris uses some other custom Mesa Library, so the game does not crash when launched through it. Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to change the Mesa Library in the launch options of the game, maybe it can be done somehow more gracefully, without using a Lutris pad.
40hz/40fps
On Proton 7.0-6 the screen is black unless you turn off Post Processing Effects but turning off PPE results in the lighting becoming nonfunctional.
On Native the game crashes at entering the first hatch in the snow storm.
The lighting being nonfunctional makes the game essentially unplayable. You could turn up the gamma but since Penumbra is a horror game that totally ruins the mood and isn't exactly an option.
Aside from that the game runs great! :D
prime-run %command%
Native version crashes after launch and intro instantly. Just launch on Proton 7.0-5, turn off 'Post Effects' in graphics settings(it fixes black screen) and game starts well.
Works fine
Crashes when approaching the Power Room, upon earth shuddering.
Works great on native, with some windowing problems. Proton also runs the game, but you only see icons in-game and everything is black.
The only way to escape from the game was to close it. Not with proton, but that wasn't playable.
Some stutter here and there, which really shouldn't happen on a 2007 game running on a RTX 3090.
The Native version works just fine, please do not use proton to run this game.
There was a very strange bug where everything was zoomed in so I could not even get past the menu screen, when I switched to the Native version, everything it's fine.
Lighting doesn't work at all, making the game effectively unplayable.
Lighting doesn't work at all. Everything is bright or dark, and the flashlight doesn't emit light.
I tried to play the game with the Native version, but it was crashing right after the first seciton, when you get off the boat and open the hatch leading to the underground part below the snowstorm. After loading the level the game would always crash. When playing with Proton, while this crash didn't happen, lighting is broken so the game can't be played.
Game functions and works fine, but shadows don't render at all
The game functions fine out of the box on this craptop but, with the shader level set to low, medium, or high the game's models and textures to flicker and glitch out, also the dynamic shadows aren't working at all, no matter what you do to the game's settings
Running the game in fullscreen, in any other resolution other than your native res makes the game zoom in and not show the full game.
