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I'll probably have to spend a week watching cute kitten videos to wash away everything I've seen in my eight hours with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. Extreme gore, violence, nudity, sex, torture. This is the textbook definition of an X rating; make no mistake about it.
It feels like a piece of old-school horror from a bygone era. Part of that comes from the Hellraiser universe itself, a prime example of the classic horror we rarely get nowadays. The other part is the sheer gruesomeness, and the courage the game has to show you everything I saw during my playthrough.
It made me feel like I was in a film directed by 8MM's Dino Velvet or A Serbian Film's Vukmir, and God, just remembering those gives me an uneasy feeling.
Developer Mad Head Games went all in here, with no holding back. This is as mature as it gets and, frankly, I can't remember the last time a video game made me want to stop playing because it was too much. It wasn't one scene in particular. It was the way it all adds up, the gore and gruesomeness hitting you again and again, until I felt like I needed to put the controller down. I love horror games, but nothing can prepare you for what Hellraiser has in store.
And the most important part - Hellraiser: Revival isn't tasteless, and it isn't graphic without substance. The gore works. The sexual content works. Yes, it's over the top, and you'll have a hard time digesting it all, but once you do, you'll appreciate it for giving you something other horror games rarely do. You can be disgusted and repulsed by what you see on screen and still appreciate it, and that's what makes it a piece of art.
Story - Love Will Tear Us Apart
In Hellraiser: Revival, you play as Aidan, just a regular biker dude having fun in bed with his masochistic girlfriend Sunny, who has somehow got her hands on a mysterious puzzle box. The couple use the box during their BDSM sessions, which opens a portal to a dark dimension and invites in the Cenobites, gruesome demonic beings with an insatiable appetite for pain.
Sunny is dragged into this dark dimension, and Aidan, as a proper boyfriend who protects his lover, jumps in after her, only to find himself in a dazzling, dark and ominous labyrinth. He eventually gets hold of the puzzle box, but is then taken by a cult that worships the Cenobites. It's led by a maniac called Marlow and his group of sick cronies. Marlow believes he's a prophet for the Cenobites and wants to become one himself.
From there, Aidan must take back the box from the cult, escape the disgusting mansion that serves as HQ for Marlow, his cronies and the sick rich people who are regular guests there, and find a way to get his dear Sunny back from the depths of hell.
It's a painful journey for our protagonist, and one that doesn't always work or feel believable. Some of the writing doesn't land at all and makes Aidan feel like just a desperate dude who can't let go. Perhaps he is, and perhaps that's what the writers wanted to accomplish, but he's giving off a real wimp energy.
The story does have strong moments, though - The Cenobites are truly terrifying, and I loved how the game never lets you know whether the deals you make with them will really help you, or whether you're just being used and will be screwed over in the end.
Aidan simply has to endure. He has to see it through because he wants to save his beloved Sunny no matter the price, and that makes him ignore all the red flags. That's what gives the story some depth and substance, and it's what made me want to see it through to the end. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed by how it all wrapped up. This isn't the greatest story you'll see, but it's easy to devour, has plenty of lore books scattered around to give you interesting background on the events, characters and the other dimension, which I enjoyed reading.
Hellraiser: Revival - 4K, Ultra screenshots
Gameplay - Inspirations and degradations
In terms of gameplay, this is a mix of action and survival horror. At times you'll have plenty of resources, and survival won't feel like a problem, at least not because of a lack of ammo or health packs.
The game switches you between our and the Cenobites' realm, and the latter is where you'll feel like prey most of the time. Your guns don't exist there, so it's just you trying to survive the traps and the Cenobites chasing you.
In the real world, you have a wide selection of melee weapons, including bats, machetes and planks, plus firearms such as pistols, shotguns, SMGs and even a good old AK-47, believe it or not. You won't be spraying bullets Call of Duty style, but there's plenty of ammo most of the time. On some occasions, you'll have to stick with melee, but that was rare.
The combat is hit and miss. Shooting is fine and serviceable, but melee is where the game doesn't feel great. There's a dodge mechanic, but it's awkward, and I rarely used it, opting to sprint away from enemies rather than face-tank them and dodge.
There's a fair amount of bloom on the weapons too, especially automatic ones like the SMG and the AK, which made it frustrating to hit surprisingly agile enemies who dodge, duck and move around.
Enemy variety isn't great either. You'll mostly fight Marlow's human thugs armed with melee weapons and guns, just like you. Alongside them are zombie-like creatures called the Unworthy. If I understood the story correctly, these are people who failed to ascend and become Cenobites. They're stuck in this form and are endlessly drawn to the puzzle box, trying to solve it and end their suffering.
One of my biggest problems with combat is the melee weapons degradation system. I'll always argue against this, especially for weapons like machetes. They don't fall apart that easily in real life, so why should they break after a couple of hits in a video game?
Making melee weapons permanent, obtainable and upgradable throughout the game, as the game actually does with guns, would make it feel much better and give players a sense of reward and progression. Instead, the game hands you a bunch of weapons at every corner and makes them fall apart after a few hits. It's a terrible mechanic that adds nothing to Hellraiser and just makes the game feel worse. Oh, and once you've broken every weapon, you fall back on your knife, which is indestructible. It won't fall apart no matter how many times you use it. Contradicting yourself much, Hellraiser: Revival?
Summoning the fireball
The configuration box is another important gameplay element, acting as a powerful special ability in combat. You can use it to pick up sharp objects like circular razor blades and knives and throw them at enemies, or light it up with fire and hurl fireballs that set enemies alight. Later in the game, you unlock powerful abilities that let you take down large groups of enemies by chaining them up and tearing their limbs from their bodies. Gross but so satisfying.
It's the most fun part of the game's combat, and I was left wanting more from the box. The game only gives you a handful of abilities, which is a shame, and at times you'll lose the box for story reasons, which is when you really feel the absence of such a powerful asset.
It's nicely balanced too - the box won't let you spam attacks as much as you'd like. The elements you can use against enemies are finite in each room, so once you've extinguished every fire source on the braziers, that's it. You also have to recharge the box by inflicting pain on enemies. The more you hurt them, the more power you generate in the box, which you need to unleash those attacks.
Hellraiser: Revival doesn't hide its Resident Evil inspiration - from the progression to its inventory system. You'll collect statues and odd objects to fit into puzzles that open the gate to the next area, return to a smaller hub-like area, then repeat the process and so on. The game even has its own Resident Evil-like merchant, where you can buy ammo, weapons, weapon upgrades, crafting recipes, med kits and more.
It's not bad design, of course; it's just that we've already seen it in Resident Evil and the many titles inspired by Capcom's iconic franchise. I wish there was something more unique here, to match the setting and bold approach to graphic content, but unfortunately, apart from the configuration box abilities, there's not much that Hellraiser can call its own.
Mini boss fights are another letdown. I couldn't believe the game made me fight almost every mini boss more than once. I fought one in particular three or four times. The last encounter was so random and out of place that I couldn't believe it, but by that point I was so used to it that I just wanted to get it over with. It didn't scare me or feel like a great beat that elevates the game. It was just uninspiring.
You fight the mini-bosses almost exclusively in small rooms, the game's way of making you feel uncomfortable and making the fights harder. They're anything but, and I really didn't enjoy them at all. Things are a bit better during proper boss fights; there's a selection of stealth and action sequences, and the penultimate and the final boss fights in particular were somewhat decent. It certainly helps that the art design of the bosses is great and it gives you a feeling that you're really fighting this monstrosity that wants to rip off your limbs and smash your head in.
The game's design also suffers from plenty of horror clichés. I know they're hard to avoid, since just about everything in horror has been done before, and even the game is self-aware about it. Every now and then Aidan gets a line like "a cabin in the woods, what could go wrong?" or "how many times do I have to fight you?" I'm paraphrasing, but you get the picture.
I'll wrap up my frustrations with very specific complaints about environmental art and level design, which make Hellraiser: Revival feel too video gamey to be immersive or believable. It's a minor nitpick and one that refers to only a couple of locations, but come on. If you're going to lock me behind a gate, at least make it look impenetrable, like I need the actual item to open it, not like something I could easily get over.
Take the screenshot below. Are you really telling me our protagonist couldn't climb onto the rock to the right of the van and hop over the fence? Instead, I had to go the long way round, trekking through basements and getting scared by enemies, just to find something that would let me open the van doors and head through.
Then there's the elevator that won't arrive until you've cleared every enemy in the room, another cliché I absolutely despise. Why is that better than making the player endure and survive until the elevator actually turns up? The anxiety of holding out is far stronger than the frustration of knowing you have to kill everyone before the doors open.
We have such sights to show you
I know the above feels like a massive list of issues, but let's not allow that to take away from plenty of the good stuff that Hellraiser: Revival does. Let's be honest, every game has issues, and the key part is that the good stuff outweighs the bad one, and that's mostly the case for Hellraiser: Revival.
The atmosphere is impeccable. I loved the look of the Cenobites' world, the design of the labyrinth and everything that awaits you there. It's unsettlingly dark, reminiscent of the classic dark worlds of old horror films.
The game also starts incredibly well. My first trip into the Cenobites' world made my jaw drop - I was in awe of the size of the labyrinth, the dark clouds looming over it and the ominous shape, which is the Leviathan, in the distance gazing upon everything.
You won't spend much time here, and that's for the better. It feels designed to be a deeply unsettling place you want to leave at all costs, as soon as possible, and the game nails it. The labyrinth itself is more linear than an actual labyrinth, and it's brimming with the sort of traps that will cut you in half: giant blades, spiked walls that start closing in, chains blocking your path and, from time to time, Cenobites chasing you in a nerve-wracking sprint to save your head.
The same goes for Marlow's mansion, which you visit right at the start and spend a lot of time exploring. In terms of art, it's an incredible mix of modern and classic interiors, depending on which floor you're on. At one moment, you'll be walking through hallways with stunning paintings hanging on the walls; the next you're in industrial techno clubs with laser lights, neons, chains, metal fences and cages as decorations.
Then you end up in blood-soaked cellars filled with corpses, torture machines, BDSM toys and other ghastly things that certainly made Aidan question his commitment to saving Sunny one or two times. It's one mansion, but the differences between the floors or even rooms can sometimes make it feel like you're not in the same house at all.
The inspiration from Resident Evil 7 is here again, but I think Mad Head Games managed to differentiate the mansion enough to give it its own flavour and identity. It's a place I'll remember for a long time, simply because it's so disgustingly beautiful.
Level design overall isn't bad either. You'll revisit old locations a lot, but every time you return there's something new, whether the world has changed or you're exploring a different variation of the same level, which I appreciated. Walking around these levels never felt tiring, and they even feel somewhat interconnected.
Demons to some, angels to others
The thing that struck me the most is the design of the Cenobites. This was the highlight of the entire game for me. The voice acting by the iconic Pinhead actor Doug Bradley for Pinhead, and his whole look, were believable and terrifying. He really feels like a strong antagonist, one everyone fears and respects. I carefully listened to every word he had to say, mainly because they're a bit ambiguous in their dialogue, but also because his voice and presence have such a powerful effect.
I particularly enjoyed the cinematics featuring the Cenobites, and the cinematics overall are of excellent quality. The production feels expensive, and the cutscenes tell the story in an impactful way that leaves you wanting more. It's a shame the character models for Aidan and Sunny are a bit basic, especially Aidan's, but I guess that was the goal: to make them feel like regular people you'd see on the street, not superheroes or film-star types.
Performance is great. The game ran well above 60fps without frame gen, or DLSS enabled, on my PC with an RTX 4080 and a Ryzen 7800X3D. I cranked everything up to ultra and, while this isn't the best-looking game you'll see and it's far from something like Resident Evil Requiem, it's a really pretty title, mainly thanks to its strong art style and environmental art. There were a few more open locations when the performance dropped, like the cemetery, but it's a minor thing that doesn't take away from how well optimised Hellraiser: Revival is.
Hellraiser: Revival review verdict
Hellraiser: Revival is a game I can easily recommend to Hellraiser fans. It's a unique take on the franchise, with a world that will pull you in despite all its gameplay shortcomings.
It's also a major step up for Mad Head Games, a studio whose previous title I didn't like at all, but who have really knocked it out of the park with this one. Taking such a classic franchise and making a good game out of it is no easy feat, but they've done it.
As I've written throughout this review, I have my issues with this game, but those shortcomings don't undo everything Hellraiser: Revival does right. Its gruesome world, eerie atmosphere and depiction of the Cenobites make it a unique experience, even as the gameplay and immersion-breaking design take something away from it.
If you're looking for something to play this Halloween, add this one to your list. It's a very good video game, and I hope it's the start of a proper revival for the franchise in gaming.
The Good
Fearless, uncompromising mature content that elevates the horror- Impeccable atmosphere, especially the Cenobites' realm and the labyrinth
- The puzzle box is a fun, brutal combat tool
- Outstanding Cenobite design and Pinhead voice acting
- High-quality cinematics
- Strong art style, and it runs great on PC
The Bad
Melee weapon degradation is useless- Awkward melee and dodge, and heavy bloom on automatic weapons
- Mini bosses repeat far too often
- The puzzle box is underused, with only a handful of abilities
- Writing that doesn't always land
- Has two endings, but both are poor
