It looks fun; I enjoy classic FPS shooters. I LOVED blood. (One Unit Whole Blood) one of my favorite FPS games of all time. My only hold-backs are... is it a straight-up shooter / action like blood or does it have some strategy elements to it... and is it evil? I don't like playing devilish games that are really scary or anything. Blood is kinda freaky and evil and I would NOT play a game any worse than the level that blood is on for that category. so anyways, its on sale for $2.99... what are your suggestions?

Most of the Undying levels are a bit creepier than Blood, the game employs curtains and spider webs that can obscure your vision and hide enemies, but if you can handle more "boo" type moments, you should be okay, it's still a straight-up shooter, so you wont get the "helpless" feeling you might get from a game like Silent Hill. You could try the demo and see how you react to it. I would say the mansion levels are the creepiest of the game (which are in the demo), so if you can get past those well enough I'd not worry about it.

As far as it being "evil", Blood is probably just as evil as Undying, if not more so. Patric, the character you play, is more of a traditional hero than Caleb, however the boss fights in Undying are probably more grizzly.

I can't judge for Blood (I've never played it). But Undying has full-3d graphics, and a proper storyline, and encounters with characters that you can talk to, and get more of the story. It's very dramatic and cinematic. It's very adventurous. You don't get tossed into action at all times, and there are parts of the game where its all about exploring and atmosphere. You can scry to find secrets, and uncover clues to the mystery of what has gone down in the mansion, and see past events.

cool, thanks. I didn't know there was a demo.

There are a few breaks from the usual shooter fare. I've seen it called more of a first-person survival horror than a straight up shooter, and I agree with that assessment. I think that means it has what you call "strategy elements", but it is still much closer to Blood than it is to, say, Deus Ex.

You use weapons with your left hand and spells in your right, each operated by the corresponding mouse button, so you can use magic and weapons at the same time. Personally, I think the guns feel really weak, but YMMV. In most shooters, health items are used immediately as you pick them up and restore whatever amount they restore all in one shot; In Undying, you carry health packs around with you, you have to activate them from your inventory to heal, and your health gradually ticks up. There's areas where enemies infinitely respawn, and you have to just run past rather than try to clear the place out.

I'm not sure what your definition of "evil" is here. It just seems like you mean "horror-themed"? In which case... did you not see the name "Clive Barker" in the title?

I'd say it's more in vein of Nosferatu. A horror-themed survival horror adventure FPS.
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu:_The_Wrath_of_Malachi]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu:_The_Wrath_of_Malachi[/url]

Also Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth;
[url=http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu:_Dark_Corners_of_the_Earth]http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu:_Dark_Corners_of_the_Earth[/url]

Maybe a touch of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The bosses themselves are big on action with health bars IIRC. Kinda like a Zelda battle but in first person. Or Metroid Prime. The way levels connect to each other and certain puzzles in environment there is a bit of a Half-life vibe to it.

Like I said I haven't played Blood, but isn't that game more like Duke Nukem? Just alot of action but not alot of story? Occasional funny easter egg?

Also not as good, but the game Legendary has a similar feel. Also requires you to switch back and forth between conventional weapons and occasional melee. With werewolves that have similar dodge and lunge mechanics to those in Undying.

Clive Barker's Jericho also worth checking out and it adds in a squad element. Although IMO the level design wasn't so well thought and kinda repetitious.

I'll try to be objective in answering this, but I've been a fan of Blood for a long time, so I'm going to be a bit prejudice. Blood makes a lot of references to horror and action movies (Evil Dead, The Shinning, Big Trouble in Little China, The Crow, etc.) so the game itself can serve as a commentary of the horror movie industry of its day. If you know many of the references, you will get more out of Blood than you would playing it cold. But Blood also has it's own story to tell, which is expressed through "The Story So Far.." (in the manual), cut-scenes in the game itself, and through further background development that was introduced during the development of Blood II.

Not to drag on to much, but just to say, if you liked Undying and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, you will probably like Blood

I checked out some let's play videos of Blood I. It looks a lot like a pure Duke Nukem/Shadow Warrior clone. Same engine too. Lots of action, lots of secrets, and references to movies and horror novels galore (even Shakespeare even). Looks like most of everything you encounter is out to kill you. Like in older Doom games or Rise of the Triad. Caleb has a lot of one liners like both Duke, and Lo Wang, albeit way more dead pan (bad joke there, heh heh). Maybe more in the pure direction direction of 'Painkiller'.

Are there any neutral NPCs to interact with and speak to? That was one thing I like about Undying and Dark Corners (and used to lesser extent in Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi), and Half-life. Or is the story only told in cutscenes? I really dig the slow periods in those games where you can just wander around not have to worry about something killing you, and just explore until you wander into a scripted event.

I wouldn't call it a clone as it has a different genera, Duke Nukem is Sci-Fi, SW is Kung-fu/Anime, Blood is Horror. Blood originated out of 3D Labs, (originally Horror 3D) and was finished off by Monolith, so they are certainly going to have similar play styles, but if you want to peg Blood as a clone, all 2.5D games of that era were still considered "Doom clones", tho the term was waning.

No, they didn't use NPCs in Blood unless you count the victims running around and the mimes, but they did use them in Blood II, and yes the story is mostly in the cut-scenes and reading materials, but Blood still has more in common with Undying than it does Duke Nukem. Similar background locations, Undead (zombies/skeletons), evil monks, hell hounds (howlers), annoying enemies that phase out of reality and try to stab you in the back... that sort of thing.

I don't mean clone in theme, but clone in basically based on the same engine, and sharing many similarities in system and features. All three spoof various works of other genres in hidden easter eggs or certain levels. All three have wisecracking one liner speaking characters, etc. The gameplay is all pretty much virtually the same.

All three had cutscenes at various points (although I think for 3D Realms two games it was mostly at the end of each act).

Basically all three of these games (is Redneck Rampage included?) took the same engine, and just slapped different artwork on the backgrounds textures and enemies. But the functionality, physics, and interactivity was about the same. Story told mainly through manual, and occasional cutscenes?

Blood 2 sounds different, and more in line with the more modern FP-game era. At least in that mid-era when things like Half-Life, System Shock, Deus Ex were being released. But I guess Blood 2 is still simplified down to the basics (certainly none of the System Shock 2 or Deus Ex rpgs elements)?

From what I've seen of Painkiller it seems like it was designed to be a return to the more simple era of FPS from that early Wolfenstein/Doom/Rise of the Triad era. It also has cutscenes at various points as I understand it? But not much really to do with a storyline within the levels themselves.

I would contrast those pure action games (less story), with Dark Forces which was also from around that early era. Ya, also SCIFI themed (more like Duke Nukem), while it didn't have any neutral NPCs. It at least added an interesting dynamic with the character's comments were very storyline specific (he didn't say much unless it was something important to say, and described the situation, not unlike Garret in the Thief games or Patrick Galloway), and he often said things to important enemies (like when he encounters Boba Fett), or discussed things with Jan Ors his co-pilot (calling her in to bring the ship, get information, or update her on what he had found). Such that the plot was more 'integrated' even into the levels themselves (it also one of the first games to have proper story based mission objectives within the levels). It moved away from the earlier standards of keycard hunting. The cutscenes between levels and mission briefings were pretty well written. All giving the illusion of a more living breathing world.

On a side note, another game for people who like Blood, and early FPS era, is Hugo's Nightmare 3D. It didn't have much of a story like previous Hugo adventure games. But it did play off the haunted mansion theme pretty well. Zombies, ghosts, vampires, etc. Ya its from that era that the limits to puzzles was pretty much key hunting and buttons... Don't even think it had any mission objectives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitemare_3D

Honestly, get it. It's hard to describe, but it's got great atmosphere, great action, and an engaging story.

I wish it would get sequel... the ending left room for more... With modern technology a sequel could look really good, and have more features... I just hope they avoid 'consolizing' it.

The sad thing is the last Clive Barker game was super-consolized on top of lacking a ton of atmosphere. It felt kinda like a Quake remake fitting to more popular standards. At least the characterization was nice.

Ya, the consolelization of Jericho really weakened the game...

Well another game I can add to the list of story driven, exploration based horror FPS is Realms of the Haunting. It has much more Undying-like atmosphere than quite a few games I've played. It nice mix of atmosphere, adventure puzzles, and FMV.

The weapon switching and sword combat definitely felt more towards Undying in many ways. With perhaps Ultima Underworld or System Shock as well.

Like Undying the story and cut scenes are fully integrated throughout. Books to read, characters to interact with, etc.