Speaking to the developers of FEAR, we’re asking them to dig up memories from almost two decades ago. But to trace the game’s origins properly, we must go back further still, to the firstperson shooter boom of the mid-’90s. “I played the hell out of the Duke Nukem 3D shareware,” FEAR designer Craig Hubbard tells us wistfully. “So I downloaded the Build editor and taught myself level design.” The 2.5D engine, created by Ken Silverman, powered the 3D Realms shooter, but it was another game created with Build, still in development, that caught Hubbard’s eye. “I was especially interested in Blood – that sounded right up my alley.”
The brainchild of Monolith’s Nick Newhard, began life as simply ‘Horror 3D’, eventually transforming into a macabre version of complete with a wisecracking lead character and bizarre enemies. Hubbard was proudly shown the game at Monolith’s Seattle offices, after offering to give the developer’s website a free redesign. “It turned out they needed a level designer. One thing led to another, and I got hired to help finish he says. As an avowed horror fan, it was a dream come true. “I first played the night that went gold. It was the original version, with the laughably terrible cutscenes and voiceovers – but I fell in
