Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is an uncompromising and faithful adaptation of the horror universe, where the pleasures of its terrifying and sexually charged sequences are let down by the pains of its combat. The game, developed by Serbia’s Mad Head Games and published by Saber Interactive, launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on 8th October 2026, priced at £34.99 with an 18 rating.
A bold and unflinching opening
Video games are often brash with violence but less bold with sex, and the medium has struggled to evolve from its teenage titillation phase since Lara Croft appeared in lads mags in the 1990s. Modern games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 still feature mostly awkward sex scenes between uncanny valley CG models, born from flirty persistence in dialogue trees. Hellraiser: Revival won’t pioneer gaming’s sexual liberation, but it is unashamed to lay out its kinks from the start.
In the opening scene, you meet Aidan and his girlfriend Sunny as they engage in an S&M fumble involving pins, nipples, and a glowing box. Within the horror franchise, the fetish is business as usual, but for video games it’s one of the most arresting openers of recent memory. As the puzzle box cuts down Sunny’s back, the couple inadvertently open a portal to Pinhead’s labyrinthian dimension. Sunny submits to the horror icon and his sadomasochistic Cenobites, who tether her with hooks and brutally drag her into their realm of pleasurable pain. Aidan, left reeling in his birthday suit, feebly follows them into the portal to try and bring her back.
Story and world-building
Aidan’s rescue mission doesn’t go to plan. After being pulled back to the real world, he finds himself kidnapped by a group of Scarlet Church cultists, led by Marlowe – a charismatic and maniacal figure who worships the Cenobites. Marlowe wants to become one of them and transcend mortality, with his followers believing they can join him and unlock their purest form by exploring the extremes of pain and pleasure.
You don’t need to be a Hellraiser devotee to keep up with Revival. The game doesn’t assume deep knowledge of Clive Barker’s creation, and a large chunk of the plot re-runs a core concept from the first movie. The developers have said they were inspired by the first two films and that Barker was ‘deeply involved’ in the project, but this is a standalone story which does a commendable job of remixing the hits for both devout fans and newcomers.
Gameplay and combat
At its core, Hellraiser: Revival is a survival horror game cut from the same cloth as Resident Evil, with inventory management, scarce ammo drops, and many puzzles involving moving statues from one plinth to another. There’s even an equivalent to the Merchant, where you can upgrade guns and replenish health supplies. As a first-person horror, it owes the most to Resident Evil Village, but throws on mechanics from elsewhere: stealth takedowns, melee combat aspiring to Condemned, and BioShock-esque powers via the Genesis Configuration box you carry around.
The latter is the best tool in the arsenal, with the first ability you unlock allowing you to rip blades, nails, and other objects from the environment and blast them at enemies, as if Magneto was unleashed on a sex cult. However, because of these disparate elements, Hellraiser: Revival feels unsettled in its identity. The gunplay lacks any satisfying punch and feels at odds with a franchise hinged around intimacy and suffering. Melee combat makes more sense, with variety from baseball bats to cleavers, but its execution is subpar. A dodge mechanic exists, but there isn’t any elegance to movement, so fights often boil down to running in circles with the occasional panicked stab. The enemy AI is also pretty dire, making enemies more of an annoying chore than a source of scares.
The Labyrinth and Pinhead's return
Hellraiser: Revival is more at ease when it strips away combat inside Pinhead’s labyrinth. The game oscillates between real-world sections, where you’re primarily fending off the cult, and hallucinogenic sequences inside the dark maze. The latter takes inspiration from P.T., in how corridor loops morph when your back is turned, and the chilling atmospherics of a realm that’s constantly shifting – and hiding sinister sights – behind every corner.
For long-time fans, it’s in these sequences when Revival feels authentically Hellraiser – both aesthetically and in its gameplay. Instead of lacklustre gunfights, you’re engaged in corridor run chases from the terrifying Chatterer, as you slide beneath chains that try to obstruct your path. In other instances, you’re navigating around deadly traps, like Leviathan-shaped spikes, which barrel towards you on tracks when you’re in sight. The other joy of these sections is being in the presence of Pinhead himself. Doug Bradley returns to voice the character for the first time since 2005’s Hellraiser: Hellworld (outside of recording a few lines for Dead By Daylight DLC), and he’s just as imposing and quoteworthy in video game form. Like the other Cenobites, he’s smartly deployed, so when he does pop up, it’s always an event.
Hellraiser: Revival is confused, derivative, and janky, yet it’s one of the most fascinating games of the year. Those without any affection for the franchise might dismiss it as a shoddy Resident Evil reskin with added quirks, which wouldn’t be inaccurate. But when it thrives, it’s a surprisingly bold, unhinged, and faithful extension of a challenging IP. It’s taken almost 40 years to get the first standalone Hellraiser game, and while not devoid of it entirely, it’s certainly not a waste of good suffering. Score: 7/10.
