The Hellraiser franchise has been lying dormant for too long. Clive Barker’s hellish tales of depravity, pleasure and pain provided some of the best body horror of the 1980s, but outside of an underrated and under-seen reboot in 2022, the franchise has been resigned to shoddy sequels that fail to capture the source material’s essence. That’s what makes Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival such a breath of fresh air – a game that understands the themes and rules of its world and uses the interactive format to expand upon them.
You play as Aidan Lynch, a member of the aptly-named Hellraisers biker gang but more importantly, the lover of Sunny. She’s a little more, shall we say, out there than our protagonist, and unwisely falls into the classic Hellraiser trap of activating the Genesis Configuration, unleashing Pinhead (a returning Doug Bradley) and his crew of Cenobites in the process. Attacked and taken to the Labyrinth to face untold pain and pleasure, Aidan’s quest is to get her back. But along the way, he has to confront some uncomfortable home truths and decide whether he’s even deserving of having his lover back.
In true Hellraiser style, the plot of Revival is peppered with depravity and the thin line between enjoyment and horror. It’s refreshing to see the series in a somewhat modern setting, even if most of the game is spent in otherworldly environments – or Earthly areas that feel far outside the usual realm of you or me. From ethereal puzzle worlds to the seediest BDSM clubs ever depicted in a game, you’re never meant to feel comfortable, and it’s a better game for that. Some of the interior designs, littered with splayed bodies and detached, slimy limbs, feel more like something out of Scorn or the work of H.R. Giger than usual Hellraiser fare, making every new area discomfiting and unwelcoming.
While Aidan himself isn’t the most engaging protagonist – a fairly standard video game character without much nuance – his dynamic with Sunny is very nicely told. Without going into spoilers, not everything is quite as you expect between them. Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival does a great job of sprinkling in that detail at the right time to ramp up the stakes and moral ambiguity of the cast.
On a gameplay level, anyone familiar with Resident Evil or other modern survival horror games will feel right at home here. The core gameplay loop is entering a new (and often horrifying) area, scavenging for resources and trying to conserve ammo while dealing with a deluge of bloodthirsty enemies. It’s perfectly satisfying here, even if you’re never too strapped for ammo or bandages. At least on Normal difficulty, Revival is fairly generous both with its loot and the crafting resources you need to produce more yourself. Pre-boss areas are littered with goods and there are plenty of treasures to sell to the vendor for more gear, but the game does throw some resource-scarce sections in there to force you back into melee combat.
Of the game’s problems, most stem from easily fixed issues rather than anything deep-rooted. Movement can be clunky and occasionally glitchy: in one of the game’s several climactic boss fights, I found movement to be imprecise and unresponsive at some of the worst times. The frame rate on Switch 2 also falters at times when lots of enemies are on the screen, but a crisp 60 frames per second elsewhere, even in handheld mode, papers over those issues. As mentioned, Aidan isn’t the most engaging character in gaming history, but the characterisation of Pinhead and his cavalcade of Cenobites is so spot-on that you’re rarely thinking too much about the protagonist.
Groundbreaking, no, but Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a standout even in a year when new Resident Evil and Silent Hill games released. As a big fan of the franchise, having read much of Clive Barker’s original work and seen all the films worth watching, I was always predisposed to enjoying the game, but there’s a real charm to seeing the grisliness of Barker’s world executed so faithfully in video game form. While there are some technical issues to iron out, the surprising thematic depth of the story and hallmarks of well-trodden survival horror gameplay make it more than worth trying for fans of the franchise.
★★★★
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is out now. Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2. A code was provided for review purposes.
