I adore that quote about the main character design, it's probably what made him my favorite horror creator of his time. His voice and perspective was so unique for the mediums he chose to work in.
Clive Barker is one of the greatest horror writers of all time, I absolutely love his works, Tortured Souls, Scarlet Gospels, Abarat and of course his Hellraiser series. His aesthetics, characters, settings, all of it is downright perfect in my eyes.
He's definitely more of a better writer than Stephen King yet less celebrated. I wonder if it has to do with him being gay and British or if he was just not into adaptions of his work. Most of his stuff is amazing and many TV shows like Buffy the Vampire slayer and video games have borrowed from his worlds.
Polish speaker here. It's so rare to see someone remember this country exists. Man nice to see a shoutout.Wish you luck on your quest to learn the language for it is ridiculously complex. Amazing video as always!
was not expecting the Tim Sweeney smear but it was a welcome surprise. fantastic video and that Clive Barker interview quote about the protagonist is unbelievably funny. thank you for shining a spotlight on old games like this that not only still hold up, but are gold standard for the action adventure genre!
As soon as he mentioned EA I thought “oh here we go again. How did EA fuck someone this time?” They are often so money while ironically pulling funds for marketing, effectively shooting themselves in the foot financially. Ridiculous.
Truly an underrated, criminally obscure classic. I still replay it every couple years around Halloween. Great atmosphere and the art direction & aesthetics, not to mention gameplay, mapping and storyline were awesome. Also I really love the look of the classic UT99 engine; saturated colors, reflective surfaces, early realtime lighting/shadows and all. Photorealistic textures and stylized models mean it still looks great today, and the sound design with 3D positional audio make it sound great too. It all tied together into an awesome game. Speaking of the literary aspect, there's about 150 pages worth of in-game diary entries, letters, and documents to collect and read. More, the original big box release came with a _ton_ of supplementary material, including a 40-page faux leatherbound edition of Jeremiah Covenant's journal too (which can't be read anywhere else as it doesn't appear in the game itself). All of it written by Barker. The amount of backstory that went into this world was immense. It's such a shame we never got a sequel... That all being said, or perhaps gushed, Oneiros was the Xen of Undying lol. Anyway as I always say, c1993 to c2003 was truly the golden age of PC gaming; and IMO it's kind been downhill since then with few exceptions -- perhaps a plateau at most. It just seems back in those days there was a steady stream of absolute _incredible classics_ coming out all the time; with massive leaps and bounds in graphical technology happening what seemed like every month, medium-pushing gameplay, and colossal amounts of innovation and passion from legendary talents. Now we have the cancer of lootboxes, DLC, pay-to-win, betas being released at full price and requiring endless patches... And almost everything mainstream/AAA suffers from extreme lack of originality -- it's nothing but sequels and prequels and remakes; just bland, safe, zero-risk/zero-innovation pap. The AAA scene has gone to utter shit, with a very few exceptions. Mind you the indie community is enjoying its renaissance right now too, but still... Put it this way, a game like Undying would never be made today except as a small-budget indie project. I miss that old era of the golden age of PC gaming.
Just a quick correction to the video: Clive Barker is English, not American. Thanks so much for covering this game. It's one that has always intrigued me, though I haven't had the chance to play it. You make the game sound even more interesting and engaging than I could have imagined. Great work.
When I was about 8 in 2003, I went to a car boot sale (think of a yard sale but in a massive field) in seaham in the UK about ten miles away. I was wandering around with my older sister looking for stuff to buy with the £10 my mother gave me, I bought some boxes hot wheels cars and some Pokémon cards. Then I came across a table filled with PC and ps1 games, there were a bunch of gems there some of which I already had, then I saw Undying with a sticker on it saying 50p. I bought it after reading the back of the box and couldn’t wait to get it home to play on the family PC. The opening part where you enter the mansion and encounter the howler enemies absolutely terrified me, but I pushed through. The scrying mechanic to reveal hidden horrible things, especially in the paintings was the coolest thing I ever saw. I love this damn game, and I’m glad to say I still have that same copy I bought for 50p when I was 8. Great video man, you’ve inspired me to boot it up again 🔥
Seeing the beginning of this game and how the stone could make you see alternative versions of paintings in the house to reveal what happened to the family while I was at a friend's house was one of my first real experiences with horror video games and for that alone I will always love this game's vibe.
Oh my fuckidy fucked... This is THE game I played deep into my childhood, got scared shitless, and tried to remember what this game was my WHOLE LIFE until now, when I'm 25. Thank you so much, dude. You pulled out oldest splinter out of my brain :D
Same here, I remember my uncle playing this game and always wanted to play it, when I wal a child i was scared to play, and as soon as the sun started to go down I would leave the computer room and leave my uncle playing alone and i was looking for a couple of years now the name of this game to play it myself.
I played this game when I was a child. It is a great, imaginative, scary, exciting and enjoyable game. I am now 41 years old and I used to play it 15 years ago and sometimes I open it. I thank Mr. CLIVE BARKER for making this game, but I don't know why the next version of this game was not published and my next opinion about this game is that the environment of the game was very scary with the pink and mortal sky and scary and dark characters and finally I hope that the next version of this game will be made again. My name is HABIB It is from the country of Iran and the city of Tabriz
YES. So glad you made a video about this game. Clive Barker's Undying is truly a gem that stood the test of time. I remember the first time that amazing haunting main menu music started playing, the first time i opened the time portal and the ruins of the old monastery around me turned into a snowy version of its complete former glory centuries ago. That 2 hands weapon system/ different ammo types was crazy for it's time, and slicing somebody's head with the scythe never gets old. For me this is a golden remnant from the Wild West era of video games development and undoubtedly influenced a lot my decision to become a game developer later on. And honestly ... i know that Hellraiser/ Hellbound is the hallmark Clive Barker property, but the vibe & atmosphere of this game for me is way more enticing. Maybe it's because the main character indeed feels grounded in reality yet charming & self composed, and the Irish hills & castles give this game so much charm. It led me to read some of his other books, like Coldheart Canyon, which made me appreciate Barker's creativity & talent even more.
When this game came out I just consumed every little bit of information about it. I was so stoked to read everything abut it and in the end...I was a scared boy, never being able to play a horror game like this. I'm curious about it ever since and am thankful that you get to cover it here.
I remember this, loved the game back then! This and Realms of the Haunting are probably my favourite classic horror shooters and are among my favourite horror games of all time.
I could not agree more. When I first played Undying, I thought that Realms of the Haunting must have been an inspiration during development. There are just too many similarities between those games.
Somehow you always manage to dig up all my old favorite obscure classics, and then write them far more eloquent love letters than I ever could. Thanks, mate! It's a delight to hear you talk about these games.
One of my favourite games of all time. The first one I ever beat on all difficulties (though not hard with the shield spell). I got it from a friend as a kid and was hooked instantly. The gameplay and atmosphere were one of a kind. The only not so good thing was the last level (prehistoric) and no wonder RagnarRox didn't even show it in this video, it is so uninspired compared to everything else.
Yep, the enemies in the prehistoric levels were so overpowered that even my scythe felt meh against them even when aiming at the head. As an idea and environments it was great addition, but it overstayed it's welcome and the difficulty spike was pretty intense.
This is game that deserves a remake but I sadly doubt will get one. Updated graphics and controls would do some of the fine tuning it needed when released. Clive's work is some of my favorites and his understanding of marginalized people being demonized, literally and figuratively, is always timely, insightful and adds a vicious insight to his work.
Best rain effect in the era, Ability to see spirit realm, Dual-wield weapons+spells. This game has so many innovation which make a lot of surprise for me back in the day.
As a Clive Barker girlie who grew up in the 90s? I didn't get to play Undying. I did grow up with reading Cabal and playing Jericho, which became my favorite nostalgic game (also hated? I loved it and heard it had a cult following but bad reception and would LOVE to see it remade :( ) this was such a cool vid to pop up on my feed. The instrumental NIN at the start was also *chef's kiss*
I really wish clive barker did more games I remember watching the trailer for this in the American McGee's Alice game over & over again way back when. I only got to play it recently, it's been a holy grail game for me & I'm happy it didn't disappoint. I'm happy it's getting more attention
FINALLY somebody's talking about this one! Any time a Clive Barker game comes up it's Jericho and I always loved this one. If any game deserves a modern remake, it'd be this one.
I remember playing this horror FPS game, and its one of the most unique games ever. It's made by Clive Barker himself. Really wish that Night Dive Stidios remaster this classic.
New game I never heard about. This is why I love this channel, cause it always expands the scope of what I think is interesting to me. Always stay positive Ragna
It's my favorite horror game. I always was surprised that it didn't sell well and that it doesn't receives much coverage on youtube. I don't like replaying games, but I did reply Undying couple years ago and it was still enjoyable. When I first played it, in was on of the most immersive games I've ever played, it felt like a portal to another world.
Oneiros was the absolute highlight of this game. The blood red sky, ruined architecture and accompanying mystical soundtrack. You'll want to play it over and over again!
I absolutely agree that 2001 was an overlooked period for games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Medal of honor Allied Assault, American Mcgees Alice, Clive Barkers Undying, Computer port for Halo Combat Evolved, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto 28:54 holy shit! even though ive played through the game dozens of times I didn't know you could do that!
I've been a lifetime fan of the works of H P Lovecraft, and this was the first game I can remember playing that embodied the atmosphere that I experienced from reading his stories. This was an under-rated classic in my opinion.
The first game that made me scream. I still have a copy of this and Alice. Those 2 I would spend countless hours wandering and taking in the scenery and the music!
But... Barker is English, not an american writer. His earlier days as a gay man in liverpool are very apparent in many of his works. The city of liverpool itself is heavily featured in his works, just like Stephen King uses his hometown of Bangor for many of his settings.
The sound track is a masterpiece I listen to this day, by the legendary composer Bill Brown; he being the genius who did the soundtracks starting from Quake 2, to (my other favourite soundtrack of his) C&C Generals, to the 2009 Wolfenstein.
Clive Barker's Undying is the most terrifying PC game I've ever played. I remember stopping to play it one night because it got too scary and I never went back.
I was maybe 15 when I played this. Picked it up at blockbuster collecting dust. Had no clue who Clive Barker was, I thought he was some famous game director like Hideo Kojima. The game was incredible. I think about it to this day. It was scary, yet it kept me interested in the mystery. I hated the catacombs level.
because of you Ragnar I purchased this game today, I am a big fan of Clive Barker and I forgot about this game, that said It sounds like a masterpiece and I will be playing this week and weekend, amazing content as always brother!!!
This was the game that got me largely into Clive Barker's work. I really wish they would release this on Steam. Yes I know it's on GOG but I'm fussy. xD Also, Clive Barker? America's answer to horror? The bloke's from Liverpool.
Hey Ragnar! I deeply appreciate your efforts in learning the Polish language, it is challenging really, sometimes even for the natives ;) And yes, we have a lot of good horror artists, as well as other horror media (the mood in Poland is quite somber ha ha). Btw I am only a little bit concerned for one legendary IP that was given to one specific Polish game developer that probably could mishandle this delicate and beloved title. Anyways, love your work. Na zdrowie! ;)
I absolutely ADORE this game and I literally only found out existed browsing a pirate forum trying to find a crack to get around my scratched up disks for Baldur's Gate (the first one, with the awful paper disk case). So glad to see it getting the love it deserves.
Great video. This was the first game that really SCARED me. Other games were creepy or had jump scares... this scared me. Loved the walk down memory lane. Thanks.
I didn't need to watch the video to like! Though I'm very excited to watch it right after I finish my breakfast. This horror game was my childhood and my brother's! I would watch him play this and if he weren't around, I would make my cousin play this game. She would do these panic pot shots when monsters came close. I'd never dare play this when I was a kid. It was an introduction to atmospheric games. The very first for me and the lore was really interesting. I just love this game to bits.
YES! I loved this game when it came out. Silent Hill didn't spook me, but this masterpiece did. The atmosphere was so good. I would shiver anytime I heard a howler and couldn't immediately put eyes on it. And the story was riveting.
2000-2001 are my favorite years in gaming too: Cossacks, McGee's Alice, Baldur's Gate 2, Desperados... Too many happy childhood memories, mmm. Oh, this is your second time alluding to Castlevania: LoS, so you're now bound to make a video on it, hehehe. Though I will make a small correction here: Kojima's feedback, though limited, helped shaped LoS quite a lot. LoS's protagonist before Kojima came onboard was just a rugged, Conan the Barbarian-esque ineffectual loner similar to NES-era Belmonts, and Kojima transformed him into a noble knight-shaped boy. Kojima's influence also protected MercurySteam from Konami getting their greedy racoon hands on LoS and ruining it with executive meddling (which, unfortunately, happened to LoS2).
The only reason I ever knew about Undying was because it came in a horror collection I found at Half-Price Books called "The Vault of Darkness" that was $5 USD, which also came with American McGee's Alice, Dracula Resurrection, Dracula: The Last Sanctuary, and Dungeon Keeper 2. Beyond that I don't remember ever seeing anything for it, but it doesn't surprise me that EA was the reason for that. Who knows, maybe Stephen Kick will add the license to Nightdive's collection at some point, it would definitely be cool to see a remaster and (potentially) a sequel, especially with how disappointing Jericho ended up being.
I am a huge Clive Barker fan, and am actually reading his Imajica. So seeing that someone talks about his games in 2023 makes me very happy. I love Undying and Jericho so so much and replay them every couple of years. Jericho deserves a sequel or a remake! As for Undying, I am looking forward to replaying the game with the community patch that adds subtitles to the game and I saw that there is a mod that restores cut content, adds QOL changes etc called "Undying Renewal" on modbd. Never knew that they planned an expansion pack, let alone a sequel for this game that was actually greenlit! Is there any information about either of those two? Did some concept art leak or some old dev did an interview? One interesting tidbit is that in Clive Barker's book called Sacrament there are two characters one called Patrick (forgot his last name) and the other John Galloway. And Patrick Galloway is the MC of Undying. Not sure if that's just a coincidence but I found it cool.
Thank you for this video! This game was one of those gems I stumbled upon by accident, I bought the game for my girlfriend at the time, I had no real interest in it myself but, since her PC could not run it well I decided I’d give it a go and to this day it is one of most treasured gaming experiences.
I really loved this game, made a sound theme for ICQ with the game sounds :D Edit: Also while playing as a youngster I once realized the skeletons were just the monks you attacked during time/dimension travelling which then blew my mind.
Fun thing about the Skullstorm spell, charge it but don't fire it. After some time the skulls will start chattering more and more, then they will start cackling...THEN they will turn around and look at the player before looking in every direction while cackling like mad and going nuts. ...then, they'll fire themselves ^^
Damn, one of my first games I played. This, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Fallout Tactics and Morrowind really made one of the fondest memories of first PC games I played. I'd love to see at least this and Morrowind as remakes.
This game would be great if the tech was able, at the time, to render the whole house as one map for the Devs to play with, instead of individual loadzones so small it makes Black Mess feel like a football field
I played this the first time around 2008 or 2009 and I tried to play it like you would Doom or Duke Nukem etc etc. However the game stuck with me and I felt like I was missing part of it, so a few years ago I grab a copy off of GoG and set about actually playing it and damn man, I'm glad I did. I love this game, and now because of this video I am going to have to go play it again! I'm glad I managed to grab a copy of Unreal Gold before it got delisted, along with Unreal Tournament 99, these two games was among the first pc games I ever bought back in the time of AOL dial up internet and the fact they have been delisted is tragic, I know Unreal Tournament is focused mainly on multiplayer with little to no actual story but its still fun and I'll never forgot the first time I step out of the prison ship at the start of Unreal and looked around.
I watched Helloween4545 let's play this game many, _many_ years ago now, and it always stuck with me. To this day, if I forget to unlock a door before I try to open it, or I have trouble opening _anything_ actually, the first words that come out my mouth are "Schtuck. Jahmmed."
Picked this up from a charity shop when I was like ten - my mums a big reader and likes his stuff. Dunno why she thought visual representation of Clive barkers works was a good idea but hey ho it was a fantastic game (had no idea what was going on most of the time but still)
Ok, at 12:49 I can’t recognize the face that was put on… I think Gabriel from Castlevania Lords of Shadow? But the occasional quick jab at a few specific individuals and how it’s done always entertains. :)
"I need the protagonist to be as sexy as possible to me" made me laugh way to much. Changing the generic comic book hero type that becomes boring after a while, to the final design, while also by getting some fanservice for himself is both hilarious and amazing.
Anyone who likes Undying as a whole and is not afraid to go a bit even further retro should take a look at the 1996 Gremlin Interactive game Realms of the Haunting. Setting wise, it has a very similar mixture of "haunted estate exploration that leads into increasingly fantastic worlds". It's from the era of FMV sequences but is one of the few games where these sequences are of good enough quality -acting as well as fidelity wise- to still hold up today.
Ken Levine’s Bioshock. Someday people will make video essays about how good *Freedom Force* was and how Ken Levine never gave us the closure to that trilogy
you've inspired me so much to preserve and search for old games! i'm so glad you covered this one in particular and i will always be excited for what you do next
For all it's jank and lack of polish, I do enjoy Clive Barker's Undying. My biggest issue with the game had long been that a bug that could crop up half way through the game that prevented a critical event trigger from tripping.
Ah, Ragnar covering one of my favorite old games! Such a delight. One of the things that helped to convince me to buy the game was actually hearing that "GIVE ME A HERO I CAN SLEEP WITH!" event. Tired of constant female-only objectification in my hobby world, I laughed and was intrigued. Loving gothic horror and video games, it was just such an easy purchase. Much like Eternal Darkness and Bloodlines, it's a game I never forgot. Why can't there be more gems like this? So often entertainment is derivative, except where it actually should be.
Undying was something special - despite being an adventure game sprawling across huge maps, I had little difficulty navigating through the areas, and a bit more difficulty trying to figure out some of the puzzles (looking at you, Aaron who introduced the ghost-catcher item)... but all of these were at the first section of the game only. At later, either the game became gradually easy, or I became accustomed to its tempo and methods - and I had a great time. (up until the very end, where the maps became a bit eh. And the final boss. I could never beat the vacuum boss.) All of these observed by an elementary school kid whose English was bare bones - yet even then, simply just going along the ride offered a full meal of shooter and story. So you can imagine me revisiting the game as an adult and see that yeah, Clive Barker, THE WRITER....WROTE GOOD LORE. And is equally a spice as the game's visual storytelling. Can't wait to revisit the game again. And the cutscenes and the animation overall is something majestic - I do not know how could 2001 devs produce animations so great, it matches the quality nowadays indie retro animators try to re-create using far more modern tech. That, and I will never get tired of Patrick raising his eyebrows before the final boss. It's just too funny.
I know you've talked a lot about Lovecraft...But pretty please with a cherry on top! If you can find it in your heart to do a video essay on CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth, I for one would be a very happy subscriber. As would everyone who haven't heard of the game before and decide to try it out due to a video of yours. 😁
I love your channel, even though the games you cover are usually not my style. I like your content due to the care, research, production and exquisite writing you deliver. But every now and again comes a video that tops it all up with a game I never knew existed and it's now a necessity for me to experience its playthrough. Undying is one of such cases. Thanks a lot, Ragnar.
Thanks for showcasing a real artist on your channel's thumbnails. There's so much AI generated crap out there, it's nice to see a human artist express themselves. Really appreciated the speedpaint at the end, it was a nice touch. I loved this game back in the day, thanks for this thoughtful retrospective.
Oh, yeah, I remember this game. It was great, scared the shit out of me when I first played it! My dad and I where almost fighting over the PC to play as well XD
This is a game that deserves a proper remake in a new engine ala Resident Evil 2. Great video. I played this game years ago (I think I had a box copy) and it was great except for the finale which was a bit rushed, imo. I'd love to see you do a deep dive on the story and other behind the scenes information as someone who also loves Clive Barker. One note: the game was originally (and still is) rated M. When you said T I had to go look it up because I was like "no way that was a T game." But otherwise great video!
I think the first time I saw this game was in a gamepro magazine at 11yrs old. At least once a year I think about this game and wonder what if. Sadly I didn't have a pc back when it originally came out. This vid really is a treat.
![[Limbus Company - Teaser] Season5 - Oblivion](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8anKuEeZLeI/mqdefault.jpg)
I adore that quote about the main character design, it's probably what made him my favorite horror creator of his time. His voice and perspective was so unique for the mediums he chose to work in.
Clive Barker is one of the greatest horror writers of all time, I absolutely love his works, Tortured Souls, Scarlet Gospels, Abarat and of course his Hellraiser series. His aesthetics, characters, settings, all of it is downright perfect in my eyes.
Love him too ❤
His creativity and mind is second to a few others
He's definitely more of a better writer than Stephen King yet less celebrated. I wonder if it has to do with him being gay and British or if he was just not into adaptions of his work.
Most of his stuff is amazing and many TV shows like Buffy the Vampire slayer and video games have borrowed from his worlds.
Books of blood and Abarat were my shit as a kid
"Tortured Souls, Scarlet Gospels, Abarat and of course his Hellraiser series" are these games or novels?
@@mufassirshoaib1572 books, some of them have art included.
Polish speaker here. It's so rare to see someone remember this country exists. Man nice to see a shoutout.Wish you luck on your quest to learn the language for it is ridiculously complex. Amazing video as always!
🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨
Poland exists???
@@matthewhager270 speaking as a Polish, I really doubt it.
@@IdiotinGlansthe Black Death didn’t think Poland existed, why should I? /s
Friendly reminder that bobr is still kurwa
Hearing Ragnar speak Polish was something I'd never even expect to happen in my life.
Then you weren't paying attention to the type of content he's into!
hahah amazing
was not expecting the Tim Sweeney smear but it was a welcome surprise. fantastic video and that Clive Barker interview quote about the protagonist is unbelievably funny. thank you for shining a spotlight on old games like this that not only still hold up, but are gold standard for the action adventure genre!
I saw the title and I got insanely happy that you're talking about this game ❤. I'm so hyped to watch this, I know it's gonna be gold
Same here. I got excited, and happy that he's doing a take on Undying.
my thoughts as well! Clive Barkers Undying is a VERY hidden gem.
I love how EA is a content warning lol. Great video as always!
As soon as he mentioned EA I thought “oh here we go again. How did EA fuck someone this time?”
They are often so money while ironically pulling funds for marketing, effectively shooting themselves in the foot financially. Ridiculous.
Truly an underrated, criminally obscure classic. I still replay it every couple years around Halloween. Great atmosphere and the art direction & aesthetics, not to mention gameplay, mapping and storyline were awesome. Also I really love the look of the classic UT99 engine; saturated colors, reflective surfaces, early realtime lighting/shadows and all. Photorealistic textures and stylized models mean it still looks great today, and the sound design with 3D positional audio make it sound great too. It all tied together into an awesome game. Speaking of the literary aspect, there's about 150 pages worth of in-game diary entries, letters, and documents to collect and read. More, the original big box release came with a _ton_ of supplementary material, including a 40-page faux leatherbound edition of Jeremiah Covenant's journal too (which can't be read anywhere else as it doesn't appear in the game itself). All of it written by Barker. The amount of backstory that went into this world was immense. It's such a shame we never got a sequel... That all being said, or perhaps gushed, Oneiros was the Xen of Undying lol.
Anyway as I always say, c1993 to c2003 was truly the golden age of PC gaming; and IMO it's kind been downhill since then with few exceptions -- perhaps a plateau at most. It just seems back in those days there was a steady stream of absolute _incredible classics_ coming out all the time; with massive leaps and bounds in graphical technology happening what seemed like every month, medium-pushing gameplay, and colossal amounts of innovation and passion from legendary talents. Now we have the cancer of lootboxes, DLC, pay-to-win, betas being released at full price and requiring endless patches... And almost everything mainstream/AAA suffers from extreme lack of originality -- it's nothing but sequels and prequels and remakes; just bland, safe, zero-risk/zero-innovation pap. The AAA scene has gone to utter shit, with a very few exceptions. Mind you the indie community is enjoying its renaissance right now too, but still... Put it this way, a game like Undying would never be made today except as a small-budget indie project. I miss that old era of the golden age of PC gaming.
Just a quick correction to the video: Clive Barker is English, not American.
Thanks so much for covering this game. It's one that has always intrigued me, though I haven't had the chance to play it. You make the game sound even more interesting and engaging than I could have imagined. Great work.
When I was about 8 in 2003, I went to a car boot sale (think of a yard sale but in a massive field) in seaham in the UK about ten miles away. I was wandering around with my older sister looking for stuff to buy with the £10 my mother gave me, I bought some boxes hot wheels cars and some Pokémon cards.
Then I came across a table filled with PC and ps1 games, there were a bunch of gems there some of which I already had, then I saw Undying with a sticker on it saying 50p. I bought it after reading the back of the box and couldn’t wait to get it home to play on the family PC.
The opening part where you enter the mansion and encounter the howler enemies absolutely terrified me, but I pushed through. The scrying mechanic to reveal hidden horrible things, especially in the paintings was the coolest thing I ever saw. I love this damn game, and I’m glad to say I still have that same copy I bought for 50p when I was 8.
Great video man, you’ve inspired me to boot it up again 🔥
Seeing the beginning of this game and how the stone could make you see alternative versions of paintings in the house to reveal what happened to the family while I was at a friend's house was one of my first real experiences with horror video games and for that alone I will always love this game's vibe.
Oh my fuckidy fucked... This is THE game I played deep into my childhood, got scared shitless, and tried to remember what this game was my WHOLE LIFE until now, when I'm 25. Thank you so much, dude. You pulled out oldest splinter out of my brain :D
😂😂😂👍👍oldest splinter
Same here, I remember my uncle playing this game and always wanted to play it, when I wal a child i was scared to play, and as soon as the sun started to go down I would leave the computer room and leave my uncle playing alone and i was looking for a couple of years now the name of this game to play it myself.
It was a good memory@@el_coxis5148 😅
@@el_coxis5148 That is so endearing. Thanks for sharing your stories.
I played this game when I was a child. It is a great, imaginative, scary, exciting and enjoyable game. I am now 41 years old and I used to play it 15 years ago and sometimes I open it. I thank Mr. CLIVE BARKER for making this game, but I don't know why the next version of this game was not published and my next opinion about this game is that the environment of the game was very scary with the pink and mortal sky and scary and dark characters and finally I hope that the next version of this game will be made again. My name is HABIB It is from the country of Iran and the city of Tabriz
YES. So glad you made a video about this game. Clive Barker's Undying is truly a gem that stood the test of time. I remember the first time that amazing haunting main menu music started playing, the first time i opened the time portal and the ruins of the old monastery around me turned into a snowy version of its complete former glory centuries ago. That 2 hands weapon system/ different ammo types was crazy for it's time, and slicing somebody's head with the scythe never gets old. For me this is a golden remnant from the Wild West era of video games development and undoubtedly influenced a lot my decision to become a game developer later on. And honestly ... i know that Hellraiser/ Hellbound is the hallmark Clive Barker property, but the vibe & atmosphere of this game for me is way more enticing. Maybe it's because the main character indeed feels grounded in reality yet charming & self composed, and the Irish hills & castles give this game so much charm. It led me to read some of his other books, like Coldheart Canyon, which made me appreciate Barker's creativity & talent even more.
When this game came out I just consumed every little bit of information about it. I was so stoked to read everything abut it and in the end...I was a scared boy, never being able to play a horror game like this. I'm curious about it ever since and am thankful that you get to cover it here.
I remember this, loved the game back then! This and Realms of the Haunting are probably my favourite classic horror shooters and are among my favourite horror games of all time.
I could not agree more. When I first played Undying, I thought that Realms of the Haunting must have been an inspiration during development. There are just too many similarities between those games.
Realms of the haunting is Undying classic🙂
The way I fucking shrieked when Clive said "bring me someone I wanna sleep with" fucking icon god hes so good.
Somehow you always manage to dig up all my old favorite obscure classics, and then write them far more eloquent love letters than I ever could. Thanks, mate! It's a delight to hear you talk about these games.
One of my favourite games of all time. The first one I ever beat on all difficulties (though not hard with the shield spell). I got it from a friend as a kid and was hooked instantly. The gameplay and atmosphere were one of a kind. The only not so good thing was the last level (prehistoric) and no wonder RagnarRox didn't even show it in this video, it is so uninspired compared to everything else.
Yep, the enemies in the prehistoric levels were so overpowered that even my scythe felt meh against them even when aiming at the head. As an idea and environments it was great addition, but it overstayed it's welcome and the difficulty spike was pretty intense.
Your polish is good, You sound a little like a Czech person speaking polish, but it's fully understandable. Keep it up!
This is game that deserves a remake but I sadly doubt will get one. Updated graphics and controls would do some of the fine tuning it needed when released. Clive's work is some of my favorites and his understanding of marginalized people being demonized, literally and figuratively, is always timely, insightful and adds a vicious insight to his work.
Best rain effect in the era, Ability to see spirit realm, Dual-wield weapons+spells.
This game has so many innovation which make a lot of surprise for me back in the day.
As a Clive Barker girlie who grew up in the 90s? I didn't get to play Undying. I did grow up with reading Cabal and playing Jericho, which became my favorite nostalgic game (also hated? I loved it and heard it had a cult following but bad reception and would LOVE to see it remade :( ) this was such a cool vid to pop up on my feed. The instrumental NIN at the start was also *chef's kiss*
Had to look up games released in 2001. That was indeed a crazy good year for gaming.
I really wish clive barker did more games
I remember watching the trailer for this in the American McGee's Alice game over & over again way back when. I only got to play it recently, it's been a holy grail game for me & I'm happy it didn't disappoint.
I'm happy it's getting more attention
FINALLY somebody's talking about this one! Any time a Clive Barker game comes up it's Jericho and I always loved this one. If any game deserves a modern remake, it'd be this one.
6:05 - oh, my sweet summer child, you have no idea what hell you're stepping into...
I remember playing this horror FPS game, and its one of the most unique games ever. It's made by Clive Barker himself. Really wish that Night Dive Stidios remaster this classic.
New game I never heard about. This is why I love this channel, cause it always expands the scope of what I think is interesting to me. Always stay positive Ragna
This game still makes my skin crawl at times. The cutscene where Jeremiah explains why he summoned Patrick, the monastery levels etc. Brilliant game.
24:03 I consider myself quite a hardcore fan ,but I actually didn't know about the stones power! Thanks !
It's my favorite horror game. I always was surprised that it didn't sell well and that it doesn't receives much coverage on youtube. I don't like replaying games, but I did reply Undying couple years ago and it was still enjoyable. When I first played it, in was on of the most immersive games I've ever played, it felt like a portal to another world.
Oneiros was the absolute highlight of this game. The blood red sky, ruined architecture and accompanying mystical soundtrack. You'll want to play it over and over again!
I absolutely agree that 2001 was an overlooked period for games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Medal of honor Allied Assault, American Mcgees Alice, Clive Barkers Undying, Computer port for Halo Combat Evolved, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto
28:54 holy shit! even though ive played through the game dozens of times I didn't know you could do that!
Loved the ending with Anton drawing! He is a wonderful artist!
I've been a lifetime fan of the works of H P Lovecraft, and this was the first game I can remember playing that embodied the atmosphere that I experienced from reading his stories. This was an under-rated classic in my opinion.
I hope Nightdive can somehow pick this up
Just played this because of this video. Loved the fast paced narrative. every conversation knows exactly when to end.
The first game that made me scream. I still have a copy of this and Alice. Those 2 I would spend countless hours wandering and taking in the scenery and the music!
Clive Barker definitely deserves more praise. Such an underrated horror icon.
19:17 AH! So that's where the sample comes from in Cygnosic track "The Darkness"
But... Barker is English, not an american writer. His earlier days as a gay man in liverpool are very apparent in many of his works. The city of liverpool itself is heavily featured in his works, just like Stephen King uses his hometown of Bangor for many of his settings.
This game was awesome. It's rare to see other people talk about it. Highly underrated game.
Yesss, one of the criminally underrated, most amazing games ever!
It's crazy why the greatest ones never get reboots, remakes.
The sound track is a masterpiece I listen to this day, by the legendary composer Bill Brown; he being the genius who did the soundtracks starting from Quake 2, to (my other favourite soundtrack of his) C&C Generals, to the 2009 Wolfenstein.
Clive Barker's Undying is the most terrifying PC game I've ever played. I remember stopping to play it one night because it got too scary and I never went back.
I was maybe 15 when I played this. Picked it up at blockbuster collecting dust. Had no clue who Clive Barker was, I thought he was some famous game director like Hideo Kojima.
The game was incredible. I think about it to this day. It was scary, yet it kept me interested in the mystery. I hated the catacombs level.
This game is so nostalgic to me! Thank you so much for covering it!
because of you Ragnar I purchased this game today, I am a big fan of Clive Barker and I forgot about this game, that said It sounds like a masterpiece and I will be playing this week and weekend, amazing content as always brother!!!
This was the game that got me largely into Clive Barker's work. I really wish they would release this on Steam. Yes I know it's on GOG but I'm fussy. xD
Also, Clive Barker? America's answer to horror? The bloke's from Liverpool.
Anton Oxenuk's speedpaint at the end goes hard. Loved it!! Great vid, as always ♥
Hey Ragnar! I deeply appreciate your efforts in learning the Polish language, it is challenging really, sometimes even for the natives ;) And yes, we have a lot of good horror artists, as well as other horror media (the mood in Poland is quite somber ha ha). Btw I am only a little bit concerned for one legendary IP that was given to one specific Polish game developer that probably could mishandle this delicate and beloved title. Anyways, love your work. Na zdrowie! ;)
It's been really fun to learn, honestly. I've been wanting to dip my toes in for so long!
I absolutely ADORE this game and I literally only found out existed browsing a pirate forum trying to find a crack to get around my scratched up disks for Baldur's Gate (the first one, with the awful paper disk case). So glad to see it getting the love it deserves.
Man I remember this one terrifying me as a child. I got it out of a bargain bin bundled with American McGee's Alice and both were awesome.
Thank you for doing this video. Legit one of my favorite FPS games, if not video games in general. So underrated.
Great video. This was the first game that really SCARED me. Other games were creepy or had jump scares... this scared me. Loved the walk down memory lane. Thanks.
one of my all time favorite games which I probably completed 10 times, replayed it a few years ago and still loved it!!
I didn't need to watch the video to like! Though I'm very excited to watch it right after I finish my breakfast. This horror game was my childhood and my brother's! I would watch him play this and if he weren't around, I would make my cousin play this game. She would do these panic pot shots when monsters came close. I'd never dare play this when I was a kid. It was an introduction to atmospheric games. The very first for me and the lore was really interesting. I just love this game to bits.
YES! I loved this game when it came out. Silent Hill didn't spook me, but this masterpiece did. The atmosphere was so good. I would shiver anytime I heard a howler and couldn't immediately put eyes on it. And the story was riveting.
the SOUNDTRACK is still on my playlist, i am still obsessed with it, this track is on par with silent hill 2 osts!
2000-2001 are my favorite years in gaming too: Cossacks, McGee's Alice, Baldur's Gate 2, Desperados... Too many happy childhood memories, mmm.
Oh, this is your second time alluding to Castlevania: LoS, so you're now bound to make a video on it, hehehe. Though I will make a small correction here: Kojima's feedback, though limited, helped shaped LoS quite a lot. LoS's protagonist before Kojima came onboard was just a rugged, Conan the Barbarian-esque ineffectual loner similar to NES-era Belmonts, and Kojima transformed him into a noble knight-shaped boy. Kojima's influence also protected MercurySteam from Konami getting their greedy racoon hands on LoS and ruining it with executive meddling (which, unfortunately, happened to LoS2).
The only reason I ever knew about Undying was because it came in a horror collection I found at Half-Price Books called "The Vault of Darkness" that was $5 USD, which also came with American McGee's Alice, Dracula Resurrection, Dracula: The Last Sanctuary, and Dungeon Keeper 2. Beyond that I don't remember ever seeing anything for it, but it doesn't surprise me that EA was the reason for that.
Who knows, maybe Stephen Kick will add the license to Nightdive's collection at some point, it would definitely be cool to see a remaster and (potentially) a sequel, especially with how disappointing Jericho ended up being.
I was very happy to see you posting about Undying. I picked it up again last week. It's always been one of my favorites.
You forgot to mention that it has one of the most memorable soundtracks of video game history. Especially that main theme song.
I am a huge Clive Barker fan, and am actually reading his Imajica. So seeing that someone talks about his games in 2023 makes me very happy. I love Undying and Jericho so so much and replay them every couple of years. Jericho deserves a sequel or a remake!
As for Undying, I am looking forward to replaying the game with the community patch that adds subtitles to the game and I saw that there is a mod that restores cut content, adds QOL changes etc called "Undying Renewal" on modbd.
Never knew that they planned an expansion pack, let alone a sequel for this game that was actually greenlit! Is there any information about either of those two? Did some concept art leak or some old dev did an interview?
One interesting tidbit is that in Clive Barker's book called Sacrament there are two characters one called Patrick (forgot his last name) and the other John Galloway. And Patrick Galloway is the MC of Undying. Not sure if that's just a coincidence but I found it cool.
Thank you for this video! This game was one of those gems I stumbled upon by accident, I bought the game for my girlfriend at the time, I had no real interest in it myself but, since her PC could not run it well I decided I’d give it a go and to this day it is one of most treasured gaming experiences.
I really loved this game, made a sound theme for ICQ with the game sounds :D
Edit: Also while playing as a youngster I once realized the skeletons were just the monks you attacked during time/dimension travelling which then blew my mind.
I will never stop loving this game. And am forever haunted by billowing curtains.
Fun thing about the Skullstorm spell, charge it but don't fire it.
After some time the skulls will start chattering more and more, then they will start cackling...THEN they will turn around and look at the player before looking in every direction while cackling like mad and going nuts.
...then, they'll fire themselves ^^
Damn, one of my first games I played. This, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Fallout Tactics and Morrowind really made one of the fondest memories of first PC games I played. I'd love to see at least this and Morrowind as remakes.
I hope if they ever remaster this game, the sound gets reworked. Guns and blasts have that bottoming out sound. Idk what it’s called, but distorted.
This game would be great if the tech was able, at the time, to render the whole house as one map for the Devs to play with, instead of individual loadzones so small it makes Black Mess feel like a football field
Electronic Arts being in your content warning at the start. Love it.
I played this the first time around 2008 or 2009 and I tried to play it like you would Doom or Duke Nukem etc etc. However the game stuck with me and I felt like I was missing part of it, so a few years ago I grab a copy off of GoG and set about actually playing it and damn man, I'm glad I did. I love this game, and now because of this video I am going to have to go play it again!
I'm glad I managed to grab a copy of Unreal Gold before it got delisted, along with Unreal Tournament 99, these two games was among the first pc games I ever bought back in the time of AOL dial up internet and the fact they have been delisted is tragic, I know Unreal Tournament is focused mainly on multiplayer with little to no actual story but its still fun and I'll never forgot the first time I step out of the prison ship at the start of Unreal and looked around.
I watched Helloween4545 let's play this game many, _many_ years ago now, and it always stuck with me. To this day, if I forget to unlock a door before I try to open it, or I have trouble opening _anything_ actually, the first words that come out my mouth are "Schtuck. Jahmmed."
Picked this up from a charity shop when I was like ten - my mums a big reader and likes his stuff. Dunno why she thought visual representation of Clive barkers works was a good idea but hey ho it was a fantastic game (had no idea what was going on most of the time but still)
Ok, at 12:49 I can’t recognize the face that was put on… I think Gabriel from Castlevania Lords of Shadow? But the occasional quick jab at a few specific individuals and how it’s done always entertains. :)
"I need the protagonist to be as sexy as possible to me" made me laugh way to much. Changing the generic comic book hero type that becomes boring after a while, to the final design, while also by getting some fanservice for himself is both hilarious and amazing.
Anyone who likes Undying as a whole and is not afraid to go a bit even further retro should take a look at the 1996 Gremlin Interactive game Realms of the Haunting. Setting wise, it has a very similar mixture of "haunted estate exploration that leads into increasingly fantastic worlds". It's from the era of FMV sequences but is one of the few games where these sequences are of good enough quality -acting as well as fidelity wise- to still hold up today.
Ken Levine’s Bioshock. Someday people will make video essays about how good *Freedom Force* was and how Ken Levine never gave us the closure to that trilogy
you've inspired me so much to preserve and search for old games! i'm so glad you covered this one in particular and i will always be excited for what you do next
For all it's jank and lack of polish, I do enjoy Clive Barker's Undying. My biggest issue with the game had long been that a bug that could crop up half way through the game that prevented a critical event trigger from tripping.
I remember watching a trailer for this that was included with American McGee’s Alice. Always wanted to play it.
Ah, Ragnar covering one of my favorite old games! Such a delight. One of the things that helped to convince me to buy the game was actually hearing that "GIVE ME A HERO I CAN SLEEP WITH!" event. Tired of constant female-only objectification in my hobby world, I laughed and was intrigued. Loving gothic horror and video games, it was just such an easy purchase.
Much like Eternal Darkness and Bloodlines, it's a game I never forgot. Why can't there be more gems like this? So often entertainment is derivative, except where it actually should be.
Undying was something special - despite being an adventure game sprawling across huge maps, I had little difficulty navigating through the areas, and a bit more difficulty trying to figure out some of the puzzles (looking at you, Aaron who introduced the ghost-catcher item)... but all of these were at the first section of the game only.
At later, either the game became gradually easy, or I became accustomed to its tempo and methods - and I had a great time. (up until the very end, where the maps became a bit eh. And the final boss. I could never beat the vacuum boss.)
All of these observed by an elementary school kid whose English was bare bones - yet even then, simply just going along the ride offered a full meal of shooter and story.
So you can imagine me revisiting the game as an adult and see that yeah, Clive Barker, THE WRITER....WROTE GOOD LORE. And is equally a spice as the game's visual storytelling. Can't wait to revisit the game again.
And the cutscenes and the animation overall is something majestic - I do not know how could 2001 devs produce animations so great, it matches the quality nowadays indie retro animators try to re-create using far more modern tech.
That, and I will never get tired of Patrick raising his eyebrows before the final boss. It's just too funny.
Wasn't expecting to hear the instrumental of The Good Soldier in there 🖤
Loved this game growing up. Sad we bever got anything like this in the following generations.
I know you've talked a lot about Lovecraft...But pretty please with a cherry on top! If you can find it in your heart to do a video essay on CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth, I for one would be a very happy subscriber.
As would everyone who haven't heard of the game before and decide to try it out due to a video of yours. 😁
I love your channel, even though the games you cover are usually not my style. I like your content due to the care, research, production and exquisite writing you deliver. But every now and again comes a video that tops it all up with a game I never knew existed and it's now a necessity for me to experience its playthrough. Undying is one of such cases. Thanks a lot, Ragnar.
I loved this game, I played it dozens of times.
This game is one of my all time favorites
Thanks for showcasing a real artist on your channel's thumbnails. There's so much AI generated crap out there, it's nice to see a human artist express themselves. Really appreciated the speedpaint at the end, it was a nice touch. I loved this game back in the day, thanks for this thoughtful retrospective.
This game needs a remaster so badly or a sequel.
I have such fond memories of it and lisbeth aaron and the howlers are still terrifying.
Oh, yeah, I remember this game. It was great, scared the shit out of me when I first played it! My dad and I where almost fighting over the PC to play as well XD
This is a game that deserves a proper remake in a new engine ala Resident Evil 2. Great video. I played this game years ago (I think I had a box copy) and it was great except for the finale which was a bit rushed, imo. I'd love to see you do a deep dive on the story and other behind the scenes information as someone who also loves Clive Barker. One note: the game was originally (and still is) rated M. When you said T I had to go look it up because I was like "no way that was a T game." But otherwise great video!
25:41 Sound is sumptuous but this death animation is très fantastique.
I'd never heard of this game, but it's so cool. Thanks for showing it off!
I was not aware it was on GOG, and dirt cheap too. Glad I picked it up!
A video with NIN as background music is a win for me.
I think the first time I saw this game was in a gamepro magazine at 11yrs old. At least once a year I think about this game and wonder what if. Sadly I didn't have a pc back when it originally came out. This vid really is a treat.
man.. i remember watching my dad play this game as a kid and being scared out of my mind.