Clive Barker's Undying

I like to keep my reviews simple: the game has a lot of atmosphere, pushing the Unreal engine, even to the degree of moving the character's eyebrows. The maps are huge, well designed with a color palette that sweats dreadful memories and unsetlling events. The sound is creepy, the music is oniric, and voice acting is pretty good. Gameplay... that's the issue. First, the control scheme is strange for and FPS: you have to keep pressed a key so that a magic or weapons ring appears on-screen, and then move the mouse to the weapon/spell you want, release the key and voilá, you have a weapon/spell selected. It's confusing at first, but when you've played enough, it may even result more quick than having a key for everything. Anyway, the game's flaw is its difficulty: don't try to be tough guy, and choose the easiest. Otherwise, you'll smash your computer to the wall, you'll kick it, you'll corrode it with acid and then sh** on it after loosing a boss fight a couple of times. A map wouldn't hurt either, and weapons could be more balanced, especially when you get certain weapon that renders the others practically useless. If you pass by these 'minor' issues, you'll sh** your pants in this expertly crafted game.

This is one of the best games ever made. It was an absolute gem when it was released back in the day and it still holds up even today. If you enjoy some really well done horror, please get this game, you will not regret it.

I purchased this game based on it's sterling reputation amongst dedicated gamers. It's a game with a great deal of promise and if a competant developer made a sequel I could see it really living up to it's potential. As of now... I don't find that it does. Pros: - Interesting plot (the notes you find in various locations are interesting, generally well-written and help flesh out the game.) - Some interesting weapon concepts (I love the Tibetan War Cannon. A living metal dragon gun? Sign me up.) - Using both spells and weapons simultaneously is a good idea. - They have a decent amount of different areas. Cons: - Interesting plot... dragged down by extreme campiness and terrible voice acting. The first boss frequently laughs like a saturday morning cartoon villain at the end of her generic threats. Hardly the stuff of great horror. - The combat is mediocre and unpolished at the best of times. There's very little punch to anything. Getting hit sends your camera spinning away from where you should be looking. - Spells and weapons feel weak and inconsitent in their performance. Even your basic revolver can be avoided by enemies when the bullet is in midflight (a lot of the enemies dance around the screen and teleport as well so it hitting them is, again, more frustrating then fun). The Tibetan War Cannon has an terribly implemented arcing feature, almost no range, and half the time I couldn't tell if it was an AOE weapon or not because of how spotty the AOE effect actually was (I've killed two howlers at once with it so I think it's AOE weapon? That never happened again despite similar situations). Shotguns don't feel powerful enough for their low ammo and load time. - The map design isn't good. It's mostly long halls, long mazes, and big empty fields. It doesn't create any interesting tactical situations and it only rarely enhances any kind of scare factor. This might be chocked up to technical limitations but it's still not good. Final verdict: Not good.

I've heard about this game back in the day and was sufficiently intrigued to finally give it a go, especially in light of the very positive reviews I've seen. What I discovered was a game that definitely seems to have an interesting story, if only I could bring myself to actually play it. Mechanically, the game has aged very poorly. While I can obviously forgive it for lacking modern FPS sensibilities, I cannot forgive the disparity between this and, say, the original Quake in terms of game-feel. Overall I would say that I found the game less frightening and more aggravating. What made me give up was when I jumped on a desk to pick up an item and died. What killed me? I did not know, nor did I care.

Clive Barker's Undying - a horrorgame from 2001 - hits the urge for a classic game of this genre just enough to take a closer look at it. I would recommend this game solely to an teen/adult audience, casual and pro-player alike. But whats the reason for that? Story: Let me start with the story. Youre playing as Patrick Galloway, soldier of the first World War and now a specialist in black magic, the occult and alike. Your fellow soldier Jeremiah Covenant writes to you to help him out with a curse which haunts him and his manor. The story itself is stereotypical horror with hints here and there whats going on. The story itself is interesting up until the third boss. After that it feels like it went downhill pretty fast. Not only are the twists obvious - the characters themselves start to get stale and predictable. Graphics & Audio: The graphics are (for a title from 2001) pretty good. They show in detail the different enemies and bosses aswell as the enviroment. Even though many places are dull and empty (like the mountains and monastery) the manor (which should have been the mainstage) is a fantastic dark place with horror right around the corner. I even encountered a few jumpscares - a nice surprise - in a otherwise very rushed combat/game. The Audio is good. Haunting sounds, screams, people talking. The mix is good and not overused. Definitely a big plus to keep one intersted in the game. Length & Difficutly: The game itself can be played in three different difficulties. Easy, medium and hard. With around 8 hours of playtime (rushed after 3/4th of the game) the game is of normal length for an fps with a story. I would say it could add up to 12 hours if played on hard. The bosses are not as hard as they should be, especially the endboss is a big let down. But still: 8 hours are worth the money. So, what would I recommend? The game itself is worth the money you spent on it. 4/5 Stars because the beginning till mid/late game are great. The Endgame is lackluster.