Clive Barker first gained notoriety as an excellent horror novelist, but bearing the mark of greatness, he was unable to limit his inane creative capabilities by using just one way of expression. He gradually poured his genius into script writing and then directing, with Hellraiser being an all time high. 2001 heralded the involvement in a brand new field, closer to our gaming hearts, with the development of Clive Barker's Undying. It's a wicked first person shooter for PC, that bewitched players with exhilarating action filled frenzy, strong cinematic moments and a great backbone story, all in the innovative way we were accustomed to.

A long deadly silence befell further gaming endeavors, while focusing his attention to writing, but The Hollywood Reporter has some explosive news. The horror author recently started working on a new story, for a game developed by Codemasters. Clive Barker's Jericho will be an M-rated title and it's scheduled for release in late 2007, on both next generation consoles and PC.

Jericho is a layered maze where the forgotten still roam. "I don't want to give too much away just yet, but the concept is that somewhere in northern Africa there is a walled city which is not just a walled city but walls within walls within walls. It's like Russian dolls, spaces within each other, and trapped inside each space is a slice of time where the warriors of good have gone against ultimate evil and have lost."
The warriors you meet will come from different ages throughout history. Whereas the first levels are populated by modern soldiers, the latter stages will eventually reveal WW I infantry men, crusaders and even more ancient fighters, imbued with magical powers. As the game turns to more primitive combat, "it becomes a more primal experience as well, because the means of combat become cruder and the people become in a way simpler". It's like having flashbacks from Undying while buzzing with anticipation, since the return to the origins is one of Clive Barker's foremost themes.

He confirmed being involved every step of the way, exchanging drawings and story ideas with the developers, so it's expected to find a clear transition of the script into gameplay. By all accounts, this is setting out to be the beginning of yet another haunting action horror title. Maybe this time we'll see a game where one starts by flashing out submachine guns, and ends up using a knife to fight the end boss. That would be nice for a change.