Clive Barker's Undying

List Price: $39.99 Discount Price: $14.69

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PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Dead Review. [Posted on 2004-08-16]
The premise of this game was nice. I expected more from Clive Barker. The direction of this story gets lost. I found the plot becoming weaker as the game progressed. The atmosphere was nice. The characters were too stiff. The game is pretty much straight forward. There's one spell which had a physical affect on me. When the screen turns into a purple haze to see and hear beyond normal senses, I found that my eyes became strained. I suffered eye damage from this game. Becareful.

The absolute creepiest of all... [Posted on 2004-10-10]
One warning up front: this game is not for people who don't like horror movies. Actually, it's even scarier than a good horror film, since you are interacting with the subject matter and the monitor is right in your face. "Undying" is definitely the creepiest, most frightening gaming experience I have had in 25 years of playing computer games. The game is not great, but it does a number of things well.

Gameplay: You are called to Ireland in 1923 to help a friend who believes that he is being haunted by his four cursed siblings (all dead). You start at the family mansion with a revolver and a single spell as you track down clues. From there, you go on to a mausoleum, monastery, pirates cove, two other planes (Oneiros and the Eternal Autumn), and a few other places to confront each sibling. The most frightening scenes take place in the mansion and the monastery, with monsters jumping through windows, coming out of the floor, and falling from ceilings. And there are a lot of nice touches that will get you, such as the scry spell that lets you see some disturbing images that are not apparent to the naked eye. You can't trust any mirrors, windows, or even candles. The enemy AI is among the best I've seen. Monsters attack in packs, dodge, hide behind things, and generally try to shock the hell out of you. The atmosphere for at least the first half of the game is incredibly creepy and foreboding, largely due to some good visual effects and some truly excellent sound work. There were many times that I found myself paranoid about being in a well-lit room with only one door. You can just imagine the feeling of being in the bottom of a dark dungeon, surrounded by all sorts of disturbing sounds and enemies with no exit door in sight!

Unfortunately, all is not well with "Undying." While the control scheme is clear and probably typical for first-person shooters, it can be hard to cycle through weapons and spells during combat. Also, the quality of the storyline takes a nose-dive about halfway through. The game has a five-star beginning and a one-star ending. The first third of the game (the Lizbeth chapter) is superb and well done and is easily the best part of the game. The last chapter (Bethany) should not have been included, since the use of cavemen (yes, cavemen) was really just silly and had no place in a horror-themed game. The last encounter involving an unexpected opponent was unnecessarily hard (on medium difficulty setting) and downright ridiculous. Thankfully, there are not many jumping sequences in the game, but there are a few that are truly frustrating. I would advise anyone playing this game to have a walkthrough guide handy (there are good ones at www.gamefaqs.com and www.gamespot.com). Although you can't really get lost in this game since it guides you by locking you out of certain areas, there are 5-10 places that you can get stuck. Generally, I only needed a walkthrough to find a few well-hidden secret passages and to figure out the tricky combat patterns required to defeat two of the bosses.

Regarding technical matters, the game comes with a nice well-written journal, in addition to the in-game journal. You can't save the game at the exact spot that you want, but instead only at the last loading screen. It took me about 35 hours to complete the game on medium difficulty. I found no bugs in the game after patching it, but it still crashed to desktop a few times during the loading of auto-saves.

Graphics: Good, but by no means great. Character/monster models are convincing and architecture and landscape are done well. Lighting effects build atmosphere, and there are some very nice special effects. The big problem with graphics is how the natural environment is rendered. Some bodies of water and all skies are just awful. There is nothing worse than hearing the howling wind outside just to find that the sky looks like a first-grader's watercolor painting. Except for these issues, graphics are quite adequate.

Sound: This area deserves 5 stars. Whoever did the sounds for this game knows how to scare people. The music itself is good and can be intense when it needs to be, but the sound effects are truly amazing. All of the things that you would expect in a horror game are there, including howling wind, monster growls, shattered windows, dripping water (or blood), and hideous laughter that comes out of nowhere. However, there are a few things that you won't be expecting, such as the playful laughter of children in a room that has a known history of grotesque happenings. The sound people did a fine job on this game.

In sum, I recommend "Undying" to anyone who likes horror-themed entertainment and first-person shooters. While it will frustrate you in a few places and the storyline ends with a whimper, the overall package is good enough to warrant many hours of your time.

its creepiest game i ever played [Posted on 2005-07-17]
well after the novels it had to come on cd and man it came in a good way.the storyline is good and the video and graphics are awesome.its more of a shooter game rather than rpg

A great game to lose yourself in for days [Posted on 2006-07-12]
Patrick Galloway, adventurer, set out to become a debunker of superstition and the supernatural. Instead, he becomes a believer- and a highly sought after expert at combating hostile forces from beyond this plane. It is for this reason that he returns to his native Ireland in 1923. His former commanding officer during the Great War, Jeremiah Covenant, has summoned his old friend to free his family of the ancient curse that threatens to destroy its every member.

Barker truly created a superb atmosphere in this game. It reminds one of a Lovecraft or Hodgson story, but with a generous helping of Barker's trademark creepiness mixed in. The overall plot, the main characters, the monsters, and above all, the level design are all first rate. The covenant mansion is probably the most intricately designed building that I've ever seen in a game, but you also have a huge monastery (which exists in two times), the family mausoleum, catacombs, lighthouse, pirates' lair, Oneiros (a dream dimension), the Land of Eternal Autumn, etc. The environments are incredibly large, detailed, and elaborate- you have entire worlds in this thing.

I somehow missed this game when it first came out in 2001. That is just as well. If, like me, your system will not run the latest games, then this is a chance to run something first rate that an older system can handle (you might also like to check out Heretic II- another overlooked gem.)

My only complaint is the load times. When you play this game you might like to keep a book or magazine handy. I've never seen so much loading in a level- or such long load times. It is almost like they tried to do too much with the technology available at the time.

Top 5 after all these years [Posted on 2007-12-07]
I've played many games and Undying is still in my top 5. I've played through about 6 times since 2002 and could say that I will again. While more modern games may have more advanced graphics (Undying's are very good), they do not rival the story and interesting gameplay Undying offers.
The entire premise is captivating and unfolds neatly. There are a great variety of environments and monsters throughout so it never gets boring. The controls and two handed spells/weapons are very unique and I haven't seen another like it.
Many games focus on graphics or stick close to a genre. Undying put a unique spin on the FPS and is simply one of the most memorable games I've ever played. To put it into perspective, my top 5 games are: Half Life 1, Resident Evil 4, Far Cry, MOH Allied Assault and Undying. These are the 5 games I would take on a desert island. Along with Salma Hayek.

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