Frictional Games AB

Frictional Games is an independent game development company located in Helsingborg, the south of Sweden. It was co-founded by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. They created their own 3D engine: HPL.

The studio is known for its Penumbra horror franchise, a series of games that originated out of a tech demo for their 3D engine. The games combine elements from classic adventure games with a dynamic environment based on a physics engine and a 1st-person action setting largely based on stealth. Two games have been released so far, Overture (2007) and Penumbra: Black Plague (2008) (as well as the expansion Requiem).

In September 2008 the company announced it was working on a new survival horror game set in the 18th century. This was later revealed to be Amnesia: The Dark Descent. After three years of development, it was finally released on September 8, 2010.