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Blood
Developer: Monolith Productions
Publisher: GT Interactive
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In the same way as adventures were the staples of the computer gaming industry in the late 1980s, first-person shooters were the staples of the late 1990s. Yet, oddly enough, it took until mid-1997 before a development house brought horror themes to the genre. But at least when it finally happened, it happened in a big way. Monolith's Blood was over-the-top in every possible fashion, the kind of bloody extravaganza that Roger Corman would have committed to film two decades ago if he'd ever had any sort of budget to work with.
 For a hero, Caleb is awfully creepy looking. |
You take on the role of Caleb, a one-time Wild West gunslinger who abandons his murderous ways for the love of a good woman named Ophelia. Unfortunately for his friends and neighbors, he abandons the old life for even worse predilections that involve the worship of a demon called Tchernobog. The object of Caleb's affections turn out to be less than trustworthy, though, and during a ritual, it kills all of its worshippers and steals away the lovely Ophelia. Caleb rots in his grave for a century or so, mulling things over, before returning to the land of the living to wreak some vengeance on Tchernobog and friends.
 "It burns! It burns!" |
This revenge isn't pretty. Caleb blasts his way through 42 blood-soaked levels, using a variety of interesting weapons such as a pitchfork, a tommygun, a voodoo cane, a flare gun, and even a Zippo lighter with an aerosol can. By the end of the game, you witness hundreds of gruesome deaths via decapitation, explosion, immolation, and so on, all accompanied by such cheeky touches as flaming victims screaming "It burns! It burns!" and feet-twitching corpses. Opponents to be eliminated include horror-movie denizens such as zombies and cowled cultists, as well as more esoteric fare, like disembodied hands, which start choking you before you can mutter "Stop that, Thing." Levels are just as diverse. The design incorporates lots of horror traditions, such as the ever-present haunted house and even a spooky circus, and all of the maps are linked together in a logical fashion. Unlike many first-person shooters, Blood is a natural progression of places and events from start to finish.
Although Blood has been largely ignored in recent years as just another Build engine clone of Duke Nukem 3D (and there were seemingly hundreds of those in 1996 and 1997), it occupies an important position in the evolution of horror gaming. Before its release, the supernatural had been confined to adventure games (with perhaps one exception--SSI's mostly forgotten late 1993 vampire role-player Veil of Darkness). After its release, developers and publishers became aware that ghoulies and ghosties could be successfully adapted to all genres.
 Blood II looked better, but it lacked something. |
Blood's success led to the release of the Plasma Pack expansion in the fall of 1997 and a completely revamped sequel called Blood II: The Chosen at the end of 1998. The follow-up abandoned the archaic Build engine for the true 3D capabilities of Monolith's own LithTech engine but failed to secure much of a following. As of this writing, there is no word about the development of further games in the series.
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