Saber Interactive spent the last week teasing a big announcement, and now it’s finally been revealed: Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival. The first proper, single-player adaptation of the famous horror franchise showcases the return of Pinhead actor Doug Bradley and includes a red-band version of the trailer you won’t find on YouTube.
“Discover the tale of Aidan, who must unlock the dark powers of the Genesis Configuration, a mysterious puzzle box, to save his girlfriend from a hellish abyss,” reads the official description for Hellraiser. “Playing as Aidan, you will harness the box’s infernal abilities in order to survive your pact with the sinister Pinhead and battle against the twisted cult that worships him and his Cenobites. Fail, and your suffering will become a legend, even in Hell.”
Horror makes me queasy, and I’ve never been able to sit through an entire Hellraiser movie before. So, it didn’t take much for the game’s first official trailer to gross me out. But the real Hellraiser: Revival trailer is actually only hosted on the game’s website. It does not hold back. I can’t embed that one, though, so here’s the YouTube version:
It shows Aiden and his unnamed girlfriend having sex before she solves the puzzle box, summons the Cenobites, and is subsequently ripped apart by chains as the extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic cult is wont to do. Taking the women in refrigerators trope to new hellish depths, we then get a quick sizzle reel of Aiden using melee weapons to beat the crap out of various monstrosities. No release date was teased, but it’s coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Saber Interactive is making Hellraiser: Revival with Boss Team Games, who it previously collaborated with for Evil Dead: The Game. However, that adaptation, which featured the return of Bruce Campbell but faced mixed reviews over its lack of content, was primarily an asymmetric multiplayer game. Hellraiser: Revival looking like a traditional first-person action adventure should be a lot more reassuring to fans who want another story in that universe rather than another knock-off of Dead by Daylight.
Saber Interactive confirms this is a brand-new Hellraiser story within the established canon. The most recent film was the 2022 reboot directed by David Bruckner. While no sequel has been announced, one is reportedly in the works.
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