Clive Barker's Undying

One of my first horror games and one that still holds up fairly well years later; shame that there never was a sequel.

One of the most underrated (and now forgotten) Lovecraftian horror shooters. It was good when I played this when it came out, and it still holds up (even if the graphics and gunplay could use some improvement). Gamelay is solid, and it never feels slow or tedious. The levels hand together, and the enemies are appropriate to the level. A good mix of baddies (with more added with progress in the game), and a good mix of guns and spells (yes, this is a shooter/caster). Spell casting system feels natural, with everything being handles through the left mouse (as in most ARPGs). Just a good, fun, game that'll keep you on the edge of your seat.

There is a whole sea of gamers who'd appreciate Undying only if they knew about it. For its time the game had very interesting graphics and physics that you won't find in other games.

Undying maybe not a cult-classic like DooM, System Shock, Unreal, Duke Nukem 3D, but it have it's own atmosphere and spirit. An rare mix between horror, adventure, shooter and small bits of RPG (Really small) made a fancy 3d story that could keep you near screen for next few hours. Premise of story is simple as it almost iconic for horror genre - our army-friend in need called fo aid. And task is ain't simple as it look first. The whole setting of game is unique - Begining of 20's century, with flow of mysticsism and good collection of horrors. As for gameplay it's quite fancy shooter with adventure-and-rpg elements such as sort of upgrading magics and having inventory managment of sort. Between shooting monsters and banishing supernatural evil protagonist will search for keys, clues, and solve puzzles in way of "find key here, make a route and open previously closed door" or "snap levers in right order to proceed". With help of trusty weapons and supernatural magical skills we travel across this beautiful and yet cursed lands solving puzzles and eradicating enemies with quite impressive arsenal of magical spells and some fancy weapons. It's ain't biggest arsenal in shooters but quite decent. Sounds, graphics, atmosphere and story is strong parts of this classic, Yet there some "cons" that i want to light up -Small locations-levels - you will see "Loading" screen more than you expect from such game. -Some levels beside having nice architecture is quite...empty. I guess it made for suspence of horror but not work good as it expected. -Many puzzles and key-seekings is all about backtracking, and that quite repetive and also no map. Sometimes player need to make a huge "hook" over road to reach once closed doors with key. So i say some pros too -Gameplay - anything you wanted from horror shooter from days of classics is here with thick atmosphere. -Graphis and SFX - they decent even on modern terms -Arsenal and bestiary - not so big but really can suprise!

Important notes before I start the review: Honestly not many, this game runs great from the get-go so you have no need to worry about installing fan patches to make it work properly. There's no 1080p resolution but I wouldn't recommend you install any patches for that, the game is fine the way it is (use 1600x1200 resolution). However, if you want subtitles there are patches for various languages. They can be found on this page: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Clive_Barker%27s_Undying#Localizations (highlight this URL then right-click it for options). Other than that, nothing else. Let's begin. Clive Barker's Undying is a 2001 horror first-person shooter written by renowned horror author Clive Barker, most famous for the "Hellraiser" and "Candyman" series, which have both been adapted into films. This game takes place in the 1920s and follows an Irish paranormal investigator called Patrick Galloway, who is determined to put an end to a horrible family curse that has been tormenting his old friend and fellow war veteran, Jeremiah Covenant. As Patrick, you must fight various deadly foes in the Covenant Estate, caverns, ruins, other dimensions etc. with an arsenal of weapons and spells and also face off against Jeremiah's siblings who have been dreadfully transformed by the curse. There's also an old nemesis of yours who has sinister plans of his own.... Now that I've written a brief summary of this game, I'd like to talk about some of the things that I love about it. However, due to GOG's very restrictive character limit I cannot get into as much detail as I'd like to, so I'll make this quick: Clive Barker's Undying boasts some unique and memorable locations (e.g. Oneiros), diverse enemies as well as fun weapons and spells. Good challenge too, I'd say the main complaint that I have is that the horror aspect fell quite flat for me. Also the final boss is crappy. So to put it shortly: It's great. Play it.