Hello dear friend. Do you love good old horror films as much as I love them?? Do you have a desire to immerse yourself in that world where you are familiar with every polygon?? I get. And even if the topic is very hackneyed, it won’t hurt to refresh your memory of an excellent game once again. Make yourself comfortable, today I want to talk to you about Clive Barker’s Undying.
Some information about the game:
Back in 2002, the DICE Los Angeles studio, which is now riveting add-ons for various Battlefields, bore the proud name of DreamWorks Interactive and was famous for the development of Medal Of Honor and the lamp The Neverhood.
In the winter of 2001, these guys, with the help of world-famous serial killers from other studios – Electronic Arts, release a first-person action-horror called Clive Barker’s Undying to the delight of American gamers.
The horror film reached players in European countries in the spring of 2001, and appeared in Russia only in 2002 under the name “Clive Barker. Damned"
This game has a very interesting history, because the development was initially initiated by Steven Spielberg, who wanted to participate in the creation of a game in the horror genre. And DreamWorks Interactive showed off a demo of Undying, which he liked by the way. But for reasons known to him, Spielberg did not take part in further development.
The same demo version was demonstrated to the famous British science fiction writer Clive Barker and he was hooked. So much so that he created the plot and mythology for the world of the Damned, took part in many production processes outside the scope of his activities, gave one character his voice, and the game his name.
For the eminent writer, this was the first experience of participating in the creation of video games, but, as it turned out, not the last. Before “The Damned,” two games received the “Clive Barker’s” tag in 1990: “Clive Barker’s Nightbreed: The Action Game” and “Clive Barker’s Nightbreed: The Interactive Movie,” based on the film “Nightbreed,” which in turn was based on Clive Barker’s work “Cabal” (or “Night Tribe”).
Clive Barker’s Undying was highly acclaimed https://betsolinocasino.co.uk/bonus/ and received many awards – "Best Sound" and "Best Visual Design" in 2001 and "Best Game Nobody Played".
The game received the last award because, although it was highly rated, it did not receive much popularity and sales were critically low. Is it the fault of the project’s marketers or other hit games (for example, American McGee’s Alice and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) that lured the audience’s attention to themselves – it doesn’t matter anymore. The point is that there were grandiose plans for a sequel: Clive Barker planned to develop the franchise – according to him, the plot for Undying 2 had already been formed, but due to poor sales there was not enough money even to port the original to PS2.
Let’s get to the point:
Undying will tell us the story of an Irishman named Patrick Galloway, for whom we will plunge into the atmosphere of terrible curses and the fight against ancient evil.
Initially it was a bald, tattooed hulk named Wolfram Magnus, but Barker demanded a hero “he could sleep with.”.
The plot of the game is rooted in the events of the First World War. The detachment led by Jeremiah Covenant, in which our hero served, was ambushed by bloodthirsty savages from the Trsanti tribe. Among the thugs of this tribe was a shaman who was skilled in magic and used an artifact called the Gelziabara stone. What kind of tribe is this, what kind of shaman is this and why did they attack the soldiers – only Barker knows. What is more important is that the warriors emerged victorious from this battle, but Patrick almost died. Jeremiah Covenant saved the hero and left him a shaman’s magic stone as a keepsake.
After the war, Patrick began researching the supernatural and fighting otherworldly phenomena, in which he achieved significant success. Years after the end of the war, more precisely in the fall of 1923, Patrick receives a letter from his former commander Jeremiah asking for help, and immediately arrives at the Covenant estate.
Upon meeting, an old friend tells Patrick about the misfortune that befell his family: all family members are cursed, and he is the last one who remains in relatively good health. And Jeremiah partly blames himself for this. The fact is that his father was fond of occult sciences and other mysticisms and had a very impressive library of relevant content. As a child, Jeremiah stole a dusty tome from his father’s library and decided to read it on the Isle of Stones, which is located not far from the Covenant estate. This island is not simple – it looks very much like Stonehenge, is a monument of Celtic culture and is fraught with evil as ancient as the stones that stand on it. Jeremiah read a powerful spell on this island and in such a simple way cursed his entire family.
The Covenant family was quite large: the father of the family was Joseph, the mother was Evilin, in the last stages of pregnancy, and four offspring in order of seniority: Jeremiah, Bethany, Aaron and Ambrose. The curse has made adjustments to the way of life.
Evelyn dies during childbirth, but the newborn girl survived – she was given a name Elizabeth. She suffered from bouts of causeless aggression and died of consumption at a very young age.
Ambrose Covenant (by the way, it was Barker who voiced him) – the youngest of the sons and the black sheep of the family. An antisocial and aggressive type, in a fit of rage he kills the father of the family, Joseph, and, trying to hide from the police, jumps off a cliff into the sea.
Aaron Covenant – middle son, artist and eccentric genius. He slowly went crazy, which was reflected in his work: over time, his paintings became more and more strange and crazy. And the whole point is that he saw and depicted parallel worlds on his canvases that were inaccessible to the eyes of the common man. Aaron disappeared without a trace.
Second oldest after Jeremiah – Bethany. She followed in her father’s footsteps and became interested in the occult and, as you might guess, this hobby ended badly for her.
But death was only the beginning of the curse: after the souls left the mortal bodies of members of the Covenant family, they were reborn into bloodthirsty monsters.
Patrick agrees to help Jeremiah and, rolling up his sleeves (and the hero always has them rolled up), begins his adventure.
From the very first minutes of the game we are immersed in a thick and viscous atmosphere, and every part of the game works perfectly:
The story is given to the hero in pieces, through the protagonist’s reasoning out loud, reading notes and diaries scattered throughout the game’s locations. The plot of the Damned is very interesting and is able to capture the player’s attention, and there are unexpected twists. In addition, fans of the horror genre can draw parallels with the works of such great writers as Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
The visuals harmoniously complement the narrative. It is clear that the game designers did their best and used all the available power of the Unreal Engine: an ancient mansion with a great many corridors and rooms in which no one has lived for a long time. Desolation and decay reign everywhere. Bulky antique furniture, creaky floors, weak candlelight and creepy paintings on the walls – everything is done to make the player feel alone in these abandoned and dusty rooms. It is worth noting that many of the paintings are reproductions of paintings by famous artists, including Caravaggio, Raphael and Barker himself.
The illustration shows “Nightmare” by Johann Fussli.
But the world of the game is not alone. Following the twists and turns of the plot, the main character will have to explore the entire surrounding territory, including catacombs and dungeons, an ancient monastery and the Island of Stones, travel through time and visit parallel worlds. Each location is unique and thought out. And Barker personally supervised the development of parallel worlds.