Clive Barker's Undying Demo

Horror games are usually designed in order to provide you with much more than a few cheap jump scares, even if they do not always achieve their goals. Inspiring terror instead of fear is always harder, though, since terror is a blend of atmosphere and story, rather than ugly monsters and loud screams. It can be done, however, as it was proven over the years by titles like Silent Hill 2, or the Penumbra series.

Clive Barker’s Undying is a horror-FPS that really did manage to bottle the essential mix of elements required to make you feel scared, even if it might not seem like it when you first hear the premise of the game. Moreover, the fact that you are armed with plenty of weapons should hurt the overall atmosphere, but in this case, it actually has quite the opposite effect, for some reason.

As such, the story talks about Patrick Galloway, a World War I veteran that’s played by you. He is called by one of his friends, Jeremiah Covenant, in order to help him deal with a curse and a haunted house, all of which were caused by Jeremiah’s siblings back in the day. The entire story takes place in or around his mansion, which is filled with awful creatures and a variety of other gruesome landscapes that can leave an imprint on your subconscious on the long run.

The atmosphere and the general feeling throughout the game is what sets this title apart from the rest of the horror flicks out there, since the sounds, the graphics and the level design all work together toward the same goal: to make you feel scared. Thus, even if you are usually armed with pistols, shotguns and the like, there are immortal creatures hunting for you, desolate landscapes and weird whispers in your ears at all times.

Moreover, your abilities also allow you to use magic in order to defend against the undead creatures. There are also some offensive spells available, but guns are usually more recommended if the situation requires violence. Over the course of the rather long campaign, there will be plenty of occasions for you to make use of the revolver, although you may never have the mental presence to do so in certain situations.

Whether you are a horror fan or not, Clive Barker's Undying must be appreciated as a top-notch example of how video games should be approached, regardless of genre. Moreover, learning how to deal with fear and terror can be useful in many other situations as well, although Undying is probably not the best way to do so.