Retro Review - Clive Barker's Undying (Pc)
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Retro Review - Clive Barker's Undying (Pc)
Clive Barker's Undying box art
Clive Barker’s Undying is a survival horror game that has a deeply gothic look and feel to it. While I’m not all that familiar with Barker’s work apart from his most iconic book ‘The Hellbound Heart’ and the film adaption ‘Hellraiser’, I am very familiar with the works of H.P Lovecraft. Lovecraft is my favorite horror writer and someone who greatly inspired Barker’s writing. Starting Undying you’ll find yourself in this huge gothic mansion, which of course has a lot of locked doors that require hunting for the key through copious amounts of backtracking. This first impression of the game might make you believe it’s going for the classic puzzle route for survival horror in ode to classics like ‘Resident Evil’. But this first impression would be wrong as there a number of things that set Barker’s Undying apart. First off you dual wield weapons in this game. A trusty firearm like the pistol in your left hand and magic in your right.
Magical abilities get gifted to you throughout the campaign and can be quickly toggled through depending on the situation. At points you can use your magic to uncover the truth behind certain objects throughout the mansion, and you’ll even be able to resurrect dead foes to fight for you. You can check up on the specifics of your magical abilities in your journal which also logs objectives and holds all the cryptic clues you’ve picked up. Journal entries are written in a typical Lovecraftian style, all in first person detailing every horror as it happens in real time from the perspective of the note writer.
Clive Barker's Undying gameplay screenshot
Unlike classic survival horror games, the puzzles and level layouts in Undying are usually pretty straight forward and won’t require a razor sharp mind to decipher. Personally I found this a refreshing change, but then again I always found games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil to burden you with frustratingly abstract puzzles that I had no luck solving without peeking at a strategy guide.
After you brave the mansion starting area, you’re then free to explore the lands using a boat. You’ll also use your magic to cross barriers to other realms. These other realms feature the richest atmosphere in the game. The sound and art design there is absolutely top-notch. Although these realms are often a cliché’ version of a gothic hell they still remain very enticing. Deep rumbles of thunder, red hellish skies and warped broken architecture all floating in some strange inter-dimensional plain make for some truly unique levels that are a lot of fun to wade through. Platforming in first person games of this time tends to be a pretty teeth grinding affair but in Undying, It really isn’t all that bad.
Outside of these other realms your eyes will always be picking out some creeping noise in the background, be it the whistling of the wind, the distant shrieks of a demon, and your own footsteps echoing throughout the twisted gothic buildings. Human enemies can break this creepy atmosphere though, there just isn’t anything all that terrifying about a monk yelling at you. Otherwise the bestiary is pretty great, with all kinds of gothic monsters and demons that look like something from the front cover of a H.P Lovecraft novel.
Clive barker's Undying - platforming
The combat is probably the weakest part of Undying. Combat can get very repetitive very quickly as the game seems keen to throw something at you around every other corner. But you can sometimes break up the monotony getting creative, combining defensive weapons is offensive magic. For instance resurrecting a dead enemy to pit against your remaining foes as you retreat firing a gothic Chinese ice canon at any stragglers left in your path. It’s a shame that you all too rarely get a break from the combat, because the scrolls you pick up in the game make for a fine read and give clues as to the lore of this game World. Picking up this game you’ll need to account for the fact it’s a bit dated graphically. But if you think about it in context of its release date in 2001, it holds up fairly well. The Unreal 1 engine whilst now very creaky looking, provided some of the best lighting and shadowing at the time, which gives off just the right atmosphere when you’re indoors. The real age of Undying starts to show in some of the outdoor sections however. Whilst I wouldn’t say they look terrible for the time, they are in stark contrast to the more lively interiors. Clive Barker’s Undying is a compelling game, not least for the fact that Barker not only had a hand in writing it but also got to make some of the design decisions during production along with voicing one of the characters. My biggest complaint would be how repetitive the game becomes as you get closer to the end but if you’re willing to endure a little tedium than this game is definitely worth going back too.
Dodd, R. (2013). ComicConReviews: Retro Review - Clive Barker's Undying (Pc). [online] Comicconreviews.blogspot.co.uk. Available at: http://comicconreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/retro-review-clive-barkers-undying-pc.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2016].
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