No debate on the topic of horror games could possibly be complete without so much as mentioning Clive Barker's Undying, the 2001 shooter that still ranks at the top of the most heart-pounding games I personally had the horror of playing. And by the end of 2007, another one of Clive Barker's haunting nightmares will creep its way into a supernatural horror video game, which promises to be "the most spectacular, creative, and unflinching realization of a Clive Barker nightmare that will drag players in kicking and screaming". I'm shaking already.

The game is called Clive Barker's Jericho, and is unexpectedly being created by Codemasters for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a tentative release date set for Autumn 2007.

"Clive Barker's Jericho deals with the mysterious reappearance of a lost city in a remote desert. When a form of evil that goes right back to the dawn of days resurfaces from there, a Special Forces squad, trained in both conventional warfare and the arcane arts, is sent in. Their mission: Hunt down and destroy the evil that lurks at the heart of the city before it destroys humanity."

In that distant thing called real-life, Jericho is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world, making it the perfect setting for all sorts of crazy, mystical, hellish... stuff. Really, I don't even want to think what that madman's twisted mind has in store for us!

"Players will constantly be given new challenges, new environments, and yes, new horrors and abominations to face every step of the way", continues Barker. "However, unlike a conventional game in which the characters are attempting to escape at the end of their ride through Hell, our protagonists have a much more difficult task. The closer they come to the end of their trek into darkness, the nearer they get to the source of that darkness: Evil Incarnate, we'll call it for now..."

And to top it all off, here are the first Jericho screenshots that Codies sent us. Better stock up on those sleeping pills, I'm affraid you'll need them!

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)