The one factor that brings joy to the horror genre is that all it takes to crate a frightening work of art is a creative imagination. Case in point; Neil Manke and the creative team at Black Widow Games who in 18 months created the mod, They Hunger-trilogy.
They Hunger is broken into three chapters with the player taking on the role of a writer who after surviving a car crash in the country, is forced to fight for his life after having an encounter with zombies. After fighting hoards of demons; the player arrives to the town of Rockwell only to be captured by the corrupt Sheriff Rockwood and imprisoned.
Pt. II begins with the writer breaking out of jail with the help of a State Trooper only to be forced to fight the creatures in Rockwell. The writer seeks refugee at the Rockwell Asylum. Once inside, the player meets Alfred who informs you about Dr. Franklin and his experiments. The player then enters Dr. Franklin's under ground laboratory where he witnesses several of the doctor's horrid experiments only to be forced to fight an army of monsters. The episode ends with the player burning the asylum.
Pt. III starts with the writer awakening in a hospital overrun by the creatures. After escaping the hospital, you travel across the county trying to escape only to be captured by Sheriff Rockwood and brought to Dr. Franklin’s compound. Soon the military attacks the compound and the player is finally forced to confront Dr. Franklin and Sheriff Rockwood.
They Hunger was released in three chapters separately in 1999, 2000, and 2001 with the entire trilogy being distributed in a bundle by PC Gamer Magazine. Upon its release, the mod was well praised by fans and critics.
Next to Counter Strike; They Hunger has to be one of the most creative and successful mod developed. But one has to really appreciate They Hunger since it was an original single player game. Most of the well known mod for Half-Life focused only on multiplayer while this game was all about an original single player.
The fact that an entire development team took the time to create an original work that feels like a professionally designed game and than have it distributed as a free download needs to be respected.
Unfortunately; They Hunger has not been reimaged using Source nor is it compatible with Steam or Half-Life: Source. Hence; the only way any gamer will ever have a chance to play They Hunger will require them to have been soo old school that they kept their copy of the original Half Life. It would also help if one had a friend that is very old school or nerdy.
At best gamers will have to wait for They Hunger: Lost Souls to be completed. But hopefully gamers will not have to wait long for.
