Expect no filter or compromise on sex, nudity, gore, and body horror

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival Game Is As NSFW As Its Creator's Original Vision

Expect no filter or compromise on sex, nudity, gore, and body horror

This means you're not just coming across a brutally mutilated corpse without actually seeing how they met their horrible demise. A woman's mouth is pulled with a hook while more dig into her bare skin before her whole back is opened up. A nail is hammered through a man's hand and into the arm of a chair, which he's also pinned to with stitches from his stomach. Even the leftover body parts of victims are not just left as idle backdrops but something you will need to reach into and interact with.

Barker's approach to body horror isn't just violent but also erotic. Indeed, in his book The Hellbound Heart, from which Hellraiser originates, the sadomasochistic Cenobites--humans transformed into demonic beings who worship sensation, whether extreme pain or extreme pleasure--are described in more explicitly sexual terms than in the films that followed. So whereas games can often revel in ultra violence but hesitate at sex and nudity, Hellraiser: Revival takes no half-measures.

At the start of the story, we're introduced to protagonist Aidan and his affluent girlfriend Sunny, who are at home in a candlelit bedroom. The sight of BDSM gear like a mouth gag should be enough to tell you they have their kinks, but the game doesn't leave it there. We don't meet them post-coitus but instead still very much unclothed while physically exploring their extreme desires, as evidenced from the metal nails in Aidan's bare chest. But it's when Sunny pulls out a mysterious puzzle box that things begin to take a turn, as she unwittingly summons Pinhead--voiced by Doug Bradley, who played the iconic figure in the original films--and his fellow Cenobites from their hellish dimension.

The nudity is hardly what you'd call gratuitous, even if it's a very rare example of full-frontal nudity in a game, and it fits within the context of Hellraiser's body horror, exposing the frail vulnerability of human flesh. Aidan's story might be boiled down to a guy trying to save his girlfriend, but it hardly feels heroic when you're put in his shoes, tied up naked and awaiting torture from a sadistic figure called Bruno, whose blue-ish attire doesn't make him look too different from a cop.

From tThe game's first-person perspective, looking down from his chair, Aidan is quite literally exposed, until you look around more and come to the realization that you need to remove the nail pinning his hand before removing a hook in his shoulder and using it to pull out his stitches to free him. It's an ordeal that leaves him vulnerable, wandering around naked and bleeding profusely.

For that reason, the game's opening is more a slow-burning tutorial getting you acquainted with both crafting (used to heal Aidan) and stealth, which while fairly rudimentary is a way of voyeuristically observing this dank lair populated by Cenobite-worshipping cultists who are having fun experimenting on some other poor victims. The worst of these encounters is when you run into Bruno later, who's merrily dancing around a female victim tied to an upright gurney. As if she's not already suffered enough, as you can see from the numerous lacerations on her legs or how her tongue is hanging from where her lower jaw should be, he's still making fresh incisions with his knife as you try to sneak around him.

Having also been treated to a quick montage presentation of the horrific things that happen to people in the films, it's clear that Saber Interactive is serious about staying true to Barker's vision. The writer-director was also consulted on the original story written for Revival.

"We're trying to portray all the gore and horror that is present in the films, violence, sexuality, everything," said associate game director Aleksandra Pelivanović. "It was really important for us to catch every key element of the franchise and put it in the game in the right context. And when we sent Clive the final draft for the story line, he was like, 'Yes, that's Hellraiser!'"

Yet while it certainly captures the vibe, I wasn't able to get far enough in the opening hour to get a sense of the other game's components. Given that I was short of one material to craft a healing item, it seems resources will be precious. The same goes for lockpicks, also in limited supply and which you need to use both thumbsticks to position carefully to avoid them snapping from too much tension. If I had any relief, it was that I at least managed to find some clothes for Aidan so that he wouldn't spend the whole game in his birthday suit.

Unfortunately, the demo descended into a disorienting chase sequence in a constantly shifting labyrinth, which left me confused and frustrated. While this was a trick used early on when you're trying to find Sunny after the puzzle box opens up this strange hellish dimension, this time you're also being chased by a Cenobite who can just appear in front of you. It felt like a cheap way to tutorialize being able to perform a quick 180-turn by holding down on the d-pad, but it also became a frustrating case of trial-and-error to remember which path I needed to take after the labyrinth changed without going down a dead end, where you're doomed to instant death.

It's actually after this sequence, I'm told, that combat eventually unlocks, although it doesn't consist of much more than a melee weapon and a gun, and I've yet to get a grasp on what the Genesis Configuration--the name of the puzzle box given by Pinhead--can do once you recover it.

"Players will have the opportunity to choose their play style," Pelivanović assured me. "This is just the start of the game, so it's an opportunity for the players to familiarize themselves with tutorials and the atmosphere."

I'm also told that something players will be able to adjust is difficulty, which influences both combat and survival elements, such as resources.

But while it's possible to skip cinematic cutscenes, one thing that there won't be an option for is to reduce any gore, or any other NSFW material, for that matter.

"Visually, it's a crucial part of the franchise and we have to do it justice, so it is a part of the game," Pelivanović said.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival may not be for everyone--certainly not those who are squeamish--but that sounds like devotees to the franchise will be having a hell of a time.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is coming soon to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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