When Saber Interactive first emailed me saying, “We have such sights to show you…”, I knew my wish had come true; someone finally made a game based on Hellraiser, and again, Saber fulfilled my desire and granted me a chance to review it! So is this a dream come true, or a nightmare? This is Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival.
The story of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival takes place 20 years after the events of the first two Hellraiser films and follows sexual deviants Aidan and Sunny, who activated the Genesis Configuration (The Puzzle Box), and the Cenobites take Sunny. Aidan now must face the Cenobites along with a bloodthirsty cult to get Sunny back.
Now, onto the game itself! When it comes to the game’s controls, they’re alright. Combat is tricky, and I really don’t like how the controls are set up for the quick turn; you have to press down on the stick as you pull back on it, which sometimes won’t respond.
The art and graphics are good, especially the animation during cut scenes are insane how good they are! The lighting engine that’s used is phenomenal, resulting in no tweaking of the levels.
Sound-wise, the sound effects are good, and the soundtrack is decent. A lot of credit has to be given to the voice acting: Adian (Xalavier Nelson Jr.) and Sunny’s (Leader Looi) voice acting is good, but the fact that the man himself, Doug Bradley, is voicing Pinhead really sells it.
Gameplay-wise: Adian can explore around the maps and gather supplies to craft items he’ll need, along with finding coins that he can use to buy upgrades or sell items for coins at the vendor. There will be inventory management, but in the levels you’ll find items to increase inventory space. There are puzzles that you can solve by paying attention to your surroundings. At times, you’ll have to sneak around and can kill some enemies stealthily.
Aidan can use firearms as well as melee weapons that have durability; not all weapons work on some enemies (who are armored). Aidan can also use the Puzzle Box to solve environmental puzzles in the Labyrinth and as a weapon in the world of the living, but you’ll have to charge the box with suffering.
Overall, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a decent game for fans of the films and Barker’s novel. It might not be for everyone, as there’s a heavy focus on sexual content and imagery, along with some pretty graphic scenes that the movies wished to have shown. On my scale of 1-10, the story, gameplay/eastereggs, sound, graphics, and voice acting help it score high, but the clunky combat controls and awkward control mapping for a move that can either save your life in-game make my final score for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival a 9.5.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
