As the last of five siblings who grew up in a decaying old mansion somewhere on the coast of Ireland, Jeremiah Weedhaven has a problem. You see, his brothers and sisters are all coming back to life -- and they're not all terribly happy to see him.
Thus begins Clive Barker's Undying, a first-person horror title set in the 1920s, in which the player takes the role of Count Magnus Wolfram, a man equal parts Doctor Strange, Sherlock Holmes, and Blade, Vampire Hunter. Magnus comes to the aid of the beleaguered Mr. Weedhaven, and sets out to discover why his siblings can't seem to rest in peace. Magnus' adventures take him to a 12th century monastery, through a dead city once populated by wizards, and always back to the creepy Weedhaven mansion, which itself houses many secrets of the supernaturally dysfunctional Weedhaven family.
Fortunately, Magnus has quite the arsenal. His weapons include a revolver, a shotgun, the Tibetan War Cannon (an elaborate dragon's head that belches spheres of pure coldness), and an array of 16 spells, each of which can be upgraded. For instance, the Ectoplasm spell can be enhanced to shoot through walls, and lightning can be cast upon the spear gun to create electrified spears. Other spells illuminate the enemy, or summon monsters of your own creation. Most important to the story is the Scrye spell, which enables Magnus to view hidden clues, see invisible enemies, or envision past events.
Surprisingly, much of the suspense builds from one of the game's most controversial aspects the first-person point of view. "We were absolutely adamant that this had to be first-person," claims Lead Designer Dell Siefert, "because of the limited field of vision, and the tricks you can do with sound."
Of course, it also helps keep combat realistic, something Siefert feels very strongly about. "When you get into combat, I want it to be about your skill in fighting these creatures, not about having your third-person character autoaim for you." The first-person aspect will be further exploited by an online multiplayer mode, in which deathmatch combatants will spawn with a full arsenal of weapons and spells.
To bring Undying to life, the development team is busy enhancing the Unreal engine. (You didn't think they were using the Trespasser engine, did you?) In addition to skeletal animation and 1,500-polygon models, the finished game will boast features like an elaborate wind system and a truly realistic cloth model. Siefert points out, "Much of this is just technology for other games, but for us, these things are tools for the designers to tell the story." It will enable curtains that flutter as an invisible creature approaches, and gusts of wind that can blow out the last flickering candle in a room.
The design team has gone to great lengths to create a distinct atmosphere for the game, crucial for a horror title. With a background in art history, Art Director Jeff Haynie strives to make each texture, each piece of art, look "like it belongs with that character and in that realm. It's not generic 'skulls and blood' horror."
The soundtrack is being scored by film composer Bill Brown (whose recent work includes Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday), and perfectly captures the feel of the game. Preliminary samples included an eerily ambient Gregorian chant targeted for the monastery, to a vast Celtic theme that could have been plucked from Titanic, had the film included a "nightmare" sequence.
Clive Barker's Undying looks as though it will do for the roaring twenties what Half-Life and System Shock 2 did for modern and futuristic times -- combine the white-knuckle action of an FPS with a chilling, cinematic story. If schedules are kept, you should be able to discover the Weedhaven's family secrets this fall, but remember, in the 1920s, there was no BFG.