Penarium

 PC
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Everyeye.it
    Sep 22, 2015
    68
    The idea is interesting, but it really lacks variety, and it grows old much too soon.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 3 out of 14
  1. TitaniumDragon
    Feb 6, 2016
    0
    A hardcore 2D platform hell game full of fake difficulty and only two hours long even at that, this game is really not worth your time.

    In    A hardcore 2D platform hell game full of fake difficulty and only two hours long even at that, this game is really not worth your time.

    In the campaign mode, the levels are mostly very similar; the main difference tends to be what obstacles are thrown at you, and on occasion, a few alternate tasks to complete. You are subjected to drowning, platforms being blown up, the obstacles being moved around on you, rhythmically crushing walls, dragons that burst out of the wall in long parabolic arcs that you must avoid, and numerous other things. The levels themselves are very small – a single screen wide – and they loop around the edges, so you can jump from the right side of the screen to the left and vice-versa.

    Your goal is to clear all thirty of these levels. If you die during them, you must start that level over again; most of the levels are very short, but even still, they are broken up into multiple (3-4) sections; the longer levels have as much as 10 sections, and can be kind of frustrating to start over. Even still, even with this artificially lengthened gameplay time, it still takes two hours to beat.

    You do learn to get better at the game, which leads to the somewhat strange situation where you are likely to struggle the most with the levels more towards the middle of the game than the ones at the very end, as the difficulty only changes modestly, and there are only a very limited number of platform setups throughout the entire game.

    After you beat those levels, you’re done and the game is over. You can play the arcade mode, which is more of the same but gives you coins which you can use to buy cards which give you minor bonuses periodically in the arcade mode. It is endless, and you can try to survive and get a high score, but it is pretty repetitive and not very entertaining.

    There is just nothing to recommend here. The graphics are unappealing, the levels are bland, boring, and repetitive, the game is incredibly short and yet still too long for the amount of content it has…

    This game is not only not worth your money, it is not worth your time.    … Full Review »
  2. halseydota
    Jun 7, 2022
    4
    It’s one of these faux “nintendo hard” pixel aesthetic games where you’re a lad dodging deadly traps in a circus, except instead ofIt’s one of these faux “nintendo hard” pixel aesthetic games where you’re a lad dodging deadly traps in a circus, except instead of replicating the actually satisfying parts of the well-liked games in this genre it replicates the annoying parts of old games that everyone forgot they hated – the complete lack of polish, what can only generously be called “difficulty” that’s either tedious, cheap or non-existent depending on the level, floaty, imprecise and just generally tactically unpleasant controls, just enough different types of traps and obstacles to get unbearably old before the game ends but not actually enough to keep it interesting the whole way through, on top of the fact that a metric ton of said obstacles are designed to waste your time rather than challenging you in any meaningful way – Penarium has all of these classics and more!

    Just…just buy Super Meat Boy if you want this effect. You don’t need this kind of monotony and tedium in your life.    … Full Review »
  3. Baltifru
    Apr 19, 2020
    5
    A fast-paced platformer arcade mini-game with minimalist gameplay. Funny for a few minutes but quickly repetitive.
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