Anguished cries. Screams of agony. Pleas for mercy through tortured tears. Scenes from the depths of the Cenobite’s Labyrinth? Or one writer trying to survive what might just be the hardest horror game of the year?
Releasing today on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2, Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games’ Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival eschews the current trend of turning beloved genre IP into an ill-fated online asymmetrical multiplayer title, and thankfully instead delivers a first-person single-player survival horror game that is not for the faint of (hellbound) heart.
An all-new story set within the universe of Clive Barker’s sadistic series, Hellraiser: Revival sees players take on the role of angsty biker Aidan Lynch (voiced by El Paso, Elsewhere’s Xalavier Nelson Jr.), whose adventures in bloodplay inadvertently summon a group of extradimensional kinksters that spirit his girlfriend, the erroneously-named Sunny (Leader Looi), away to Hell, leaving him to clean up the mess while also escaping from the – quite literal – shackles of Cenobite-worshipping cult, the Scarlet Church.
If Resident Evil: Biohazard was set in a Berlin sex club, it’d look something like Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival. Only a fool would come to a game based on a series so preoccupied with pain and expect a few rounds of Animal Crossing, but Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival delivers suffering by the boatload, and those looking for a challenge will not be disappointed.
A punishing experience that’s definitely not fit for casual gamers (even playing on Easy Mode is a desperate struggle for survival, and for you maniacs who complete the game on the painfully unforgiving Hellraiser mode, there's surely a seat next to Pinhead himself at the Cenobite table for you), the folks at Saber Interactive really weren’t kidding when they said this is a game that doesn’t hold back.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival puts players through the wringer in every possible way. Like any good survival horror game, inventory space is scarce, resources are hard to come by, enemies are hypersensitive to Aidan’s whereabouts, even when sneaking, and melee weapons are as fragile as a glass dildo (something that is, disappointingly, not a melee weapon). Luckily, Aidan quickly finds himself equipped with the Genesis Configuration, a puzzle box of doom integral to both combat and puzzle solving.
In the cosmic halls of the Labyrinth, weaponizing the Genesis Configuration can also shift the very environment around Aidan to allow progression down new paths, particularly as a means of escape from the relentless chase of the Chatterer, a pursuer enemy so unforgiving I am still waking up in a cold sweat at the memory of his guttural clicking.
The Cenobites themselves retain their godly status by never getting too involved in the fray, so if you’re looking for a Pinhead boss fight, you won’t find it here. The savior of sadism, voiced by the legendary Doug Bradley in a predictably awe-inspiring performance, serves more as a guide through Aidan's journey. Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival instead introduces a whole new legion of creeps and freaks to stand in his way (a multi-pronged death goddess known as the Sister of Mercy is a particular highlight), none of whom would be out of place in any extension of the Hellraiser universe.
Not all new additions to the story are as successful, however. The GOAT Julia Cotton notwithstanding, the human characters of Hellraiser have never been the series’ most memorable draw, sure, but Aidan is not exactly a compelling protagonist, despite clearly trying to ape the charm of Leon S. Kennedy with his quips and one-liners, nor does the utterly nondescript Sunny make going through literal hell and back to rescue her a particularly appealing prospect. Expected – and refreshing – moral ambiguity aside, it’s hard to care about these posers in any real capacity.
Thankfully, the first-person perspective lets players focus less on Aidan and more on the incredible world that’s been built around him. Barker’s involvement in the game as creative consultant and co-writer is evident and very welcome; as you might have gathered from the incredibly NSFW slew of trailers, blood isn’t the only bodily fluid being spilled within the gilded halls of the Scarlet Church.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival thankfully doesn’t forget that sex is as integral to the world of Hellraiser as violence is, and certainly doesn’t hold back on depicting either. An extraordinary amount of detail has gone into recreating the seediest corners of kink culture (although that signature Unreal Engine sheen does make things look a little too spick and span), to the point where one can only imagine what the dev team’s research trips looked like.
While the aesthetics are undoubtedly immaculate, there’s a lot to be desired when it comes to gameplay. As resources are too few and far between to charge into any gauntlet guns a-blazing, the game encourages players to prioritize sneaking instead. However, janky dodge and quick-turn mechanics (not to mention an unfortunate plethora of bugs that crop up with annoying frequency) make nearby enemy evasion impossible, which seems to defeat the purpose of offering a stealth option in the first place. Far too often, playing Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is an exercise in frustration that takes away any semblance of tension or genuine fear.
When you do get the chance to blow some cultist brains out, the slicing and dicing of the Genesis Configuration feels great, with a plethora of grisly ways, from immolation to dismemberment, to use your immediate environment to take down enemies. The same sadly can’t be said for gunplay, which lacks the meaty kickback that has become synonymous with the most satisfying of shooters.
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is instead at its strongest when leaning away from action horror and into the psychological horror of dark, introspective storytelling akin to Silent Hill – with one particularly unnerving sequence bearing more than a passing resemblance to Hideo Kojima’s ill-fated P.T. (aka the scariest video game that, tragically, never was).
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival’s ending stats should come with a count for how many times players ragequit – in my case, quite literally countless. Skill issue? Maybe. But maybe that’s what also makes this the perfect Hellraiser game. A brutal, unforgiving experience that can’t exactly be described as enjoyable, per se, but will keep you coming back for more, more, more.
