Unbirth

This game was stuffed away in a cardboard box and found 30 years later in a garage

This game was never completed and/or given a public release.
As a result of this, keep in mind that the developers might have used or deleted some of the content featured here, had the game actually been released.

Unbirth is a horror game where you play as a man named Alex who seeks to find out what happened to his wife and daughter. The plot is rather vague aside from that.

Development, led by Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip, began in 2001 and was halted in 2004, with the team moving on to creating the tech demo of Penumbra (which happened to reuse a lot of this game's assets). A demo/alpha build was eventually posted in 2008 on Frictional's website, with Grip explaining that "this is not the last version of Unbirth made, [but] it is the latest working version I could find".

Unfortunately, the game's unfinished nature is evident, as it's notably buggy (it is impossible to save, clicking Load Game on the main menu completely freezes the game, and the game freezes so much that it's advised to use console commands to avoid using doors as they also tend to freeze the game unless you use a modified library file) and lacks a proper ending.

To do:
The game's files need to be more thoroughly looked through due to things like the seemingly-unsolvable Keypad puzzle (Code: 10, 2, 5, 1, 9) towards the end.

Unused Inventory Icons#

Present in unbirth_test\graphics. Notably, three of the icons correspond to elements of an unused puzzle (see next section).

Inventory icon for ammo. While the player can collect ammo, it uses the flashlight's icon instead.

Icon for a crowbar. According to the game files, it was planned to be a usable weapon.

Unused Puzzle#

Present in unbirth_test\maps\global_script.NUT is text relating to a puzzle involving a couple of the unused items.

/////////////////////////////////////
    /////////// HOUSE 3 SCRIPTS ////////
    /////////////////////////////////////
    ::CreateGlobalVar("KeyIsBent", 0);
    if(::GetGlobalVar("AtStreet2")==1)
    {
        if(::CombinedItemsAreUsed("Oldkey","Pair of Tongs")!=0 || ::CombinedItemsAreUsed("Pair of Tongs","Oldkey")!=0)
        {
            ::MakeDarkEvent("null",210,-1,1);
            ::AddMessage("Carefully, using the pair of tongs you bend the key straight.");
            ::SetGlobalVar("KeyIsBent", 1);
        }
        
        if(::DarkEventIsOn() !=0 && ::GetGlobalVar("KeyIsBent")==1)
        {
            ::DropItem("Pair of Tongs");
            ::DropItem("Oldkey");
            
            ::GiveItem("Cematary Key", "Oldkey1","It is an old rusty key with the word \"Cematary\" engraved into it.",0);
            ::SetGlobalVar("KeyIsBent", 2);
        }

Unused Music#

To do:
Anything else?

Inside the music folder found within the game's main directory are tracks that never play in the game. Metadata for these tracks are empty.

barn
A lullaby-like track. No Barn level exists in this build, though it could be referring to the Swedish term for "child". From the sounds of the melody, it could be also a track meant in place of pain.mp3, which is used in the Craddle room.

hybrid
Hybrid does appear in the aitest2 level, but this track accompanying it never plays. It's also rather long for a loopable enemy theme.

otherside2
Meant for the "Otherside" set of rooms, or a second Otherside level which is not present in this build. Otherside areas play hell.mp3 instead.

wife
Wife was one of the enemies planned for the game. While she isn't implemented in this build, her theme exists.