Hellraiser Revival evaluate – Angels, demons, and every part in between

Lauren spends most of her time lifeless in League of Legends, or equally as lifeless in Valorant. Do not ask her about Vampire: The Masquerade.

Revealed: October 8, 2026

There is a second in Hellraiser Revival the place you are trapped in a good, cubic room with no doorways. The eerie sound of footsteps reverberates off the partitions; it is deafening on this tight little field, and it is getting persistently louder. But, for barely a couple of seconds, the footsteps cease; for me, it looks as if a lifetime. I really feel myself clutching my mouse for some type of ethical assist; I do know one thing is coming, however I can not look away. The silence is crushing: there’s simply the ragged whispers of my breath, and the sound of my thoughts taking part in methods on me. This second – quick as it’s – encapsulates every part that Hellraiser Revival does nicely: it toys with you want a lion with a mouse, and it is aware of that, secretly, you prefer it.

Hellraiser Revival casts you as Aidan, whose girlfriend, Sunny, has been inducted into the Cenobites’ beastly Labyrinth after a very raucous night that entails myriad needles, chains, and the Genesis Configuration (colloquially often called ‘The Field’). After being kidnapped by the Cult of the Scarlet Church – an order devoted to worshipping the Cenobites – Aidan hears Sunny calling to him from The Labyrinth, and chooses to wade knee-deep into the fray to try to carry her again. A mysterious cope with Pinhead later, the discount is ready: the Cenobites will return Sunny to Aidan, however at the price of his personal flesh. What meaning is comparatively unclear, but it surely most likely is not something good.

I will take a pause right here to warn you that Hellraiser Revival is not for the faint of coronary heart. It offers with severe, real-life themes together with sadomasochism and BDSM, abuse, substance abuse, and excessive violence. A number of the relationships within the sport are deeply unhealthy, together with Aidan and Sunny’s. If these are themes that misery you, that is completely okay. However it could imply that Hellraiser Revival – and this evaluate by proxy – aren’t fairly for you. Reader discretion is suggested.

Let’s begin on the very starting. It is a Hellraiser story, and as such, it has to suit with the overarching really feel of the films and Clive Barker’s 1986 novella, The Hellbound Coronary heart. That, in itself, is not any simple activity; there’s deep, well-established lore right here, and a passionate fandom that’ll be fast to identify any errors. Fortunately, Saber has completed an impressive job of bringing the world and its characters to vivid, unchained life.

The cinematics are completely beautiful. In some ways, Hellraiser Revival seems like a playable film; I would fortunately sit again with some popcorn and watch Aidan and Sunny’s story of woe unfold (actually) in entrance of my eyes for a night. I do not know what Cenobite tech Saber has carried out right here, however its fashions look superb, and the toggleable ’80s film filter is a pleasant contact.

That, after all, extends to the Cenobites themselves. Anytime Pinhead is on-screen, he dominates. I discovered myself unable to take my eyes off of him; the way in which that he talks; his stiffened stature and nearly ethereal, angelic really feel. He completely encapsulates the phrase ‘demons to some, angels to others;’ he is an odd juxtaposition of foul and regal that leaves you each unsettled and intrigued. Even when the main target is Sunny or Aidan, or any of the opposite Cenobites for that matter, your eyes are on Pinhead – as, in some ways, they need to be.

I do just like the constant interactions with the entire Cenobite solid, nonetheless. Fallen (the feminine Cenobite, additionally generally often called Deep Throat) weaves her manner into the plotline properly, and the chase sequences with Chatter are genuinely scary. I want we would possibly seen a bit extra of Butterball, however truthfully, he is creepy as hell, and I am sort of okay with not having to cope with him.

Extra usually, nonetheless, the sport’s characterization is completely stellar. I took a direct dislike to Sunny, and because the story progressed and we realized extra about her and Aidan’s relationship, I grew to dislike her much more. Aidan himself is not simply the vaguely bumbling horror himbo – as an alternative, we see him slowly develop to make his personal selections, for higher or for worse.

Maybe probably the most attention-grabbing characters, nonetheless, are the Cult themselves. In some methods they’re vaguely paying homage to Far Cry 5’s Seed household, with high canine Colin Marlowe reflecting the maddened, psychotic really feel of Joseph Seed, whereas Bruno Keller, Charlotte Strauss, and Sister of Mercy all act as his ‘generals.’ Marlowe steals the present every time he is on display, however I’ve to shout out Keller, whose odd, ‘unhinged artist’ persona and screechy outbursts persistently left me each uncomfortable and not sure of what he was going to do subsequent. It would be simple to have the Cult mix into one, however every member feels established in their very own proper, and terrifying in addition.

These characters all work collectively to create a world that you simply truly end up caring about. Whereas ‘the search to avoid wasting Sunny’ initially rang a bit hole with me, Saber’s narrative workforce has completed a unbelievable job of becoming all of those characters into one cohesive storyline that usually tugs on heartstrings (fortunately not actually) and explores themes that we see in actual life. Inserting Sunny because the abuser versus Aidan shines mild on an often-forgotten male relationship expertise, which is cleverly juxtaposed by Marlowe’s therapy of the Sister of Mercy – the concluding a part of that boss battle genuinely made me nicely up.

It implies that Hellraiser Revival turns into greater than only a collection of jumpscares – sure, these are in there, however they’re used cleverly and to nice impact. As an alternative, it is an nearly human story, regardless of the hyper violence, over-the-top BDSM, and otherworldly themes – one thing that, in some ways, makes it even scarier.

That odd sense of humanity is mirrored within the sport’s environments, too. Motion takes place on two fronts: on ‘Earth’ and in The Labyrinth. Whereas the latter parts aren’t a lot to jot down residence about – they largely include the standard sewers, laboratories, outside sequences, and golf equipment – The Labyrinth itself is dropped at life in gorgeous element.

There’s an actual sense of oppression; corridors transfer and shift to funnel you to your vacation spot, and through the Chatter chase sequences, you do end up blindly operating down passageways and hoping for the perfect. Generally that works – you get spat out the place you wish to be. Different occasions, you run slap bang into him, cueing a very brutal dying animation. It places you within the footwear of a horror film protagonist, which is precisely what you’re.

These sequences are made harder when it’s a must to use the Genesis Configuration to maneuver floating parts out of your path or, alternatively, construct new routes ahead utilizing the objects round you. Whereas the chases and constant panicked operating make you’re feeling helpless, the Field provides you an odd sense of energy – you’ll be able to actually bend the Labyrinth to your will, simply because the Cenobites do. There’s a bit rush of pleasure each time you utilize it, and an attention-grabbing sense of wrestling again some type of management in a world the place you’re, certainly, very a lot not in management.

All of that is amplified by spectacular sound design. There’s nearly an awesome sense of ‘white noise,’ with eerie ‘waow, waows’ echoing off of stone partitions, and the rampant scuttling of what you presume are bugs. That, as soon as extra, builds on the thought of deafening silence: the fixed sound makes you’re feeling such as you’re by no means actually alone; that each transfer you make is being analyzed and noticed. There is a heaviness to the Labyrinth that you simply by no means fairly shake off.

Many of the precise fight, nonetheless, takes place in the true world. Whereas I will not spoil precise plot factors right here, with a view to save Sunny, it’s a must to take out high-ranking members of the Scarlet Church. You begin out with little to no weapons, however as you progress, you are adopted round by the Church’s resident enigma, Zora Beckett, who sells you weapons, med kits, and varied kernels of knowledge. Man, I want I had a voice like her.

It is clear from the onset that fight goes to be brutal. To retrieve a knife early within the sport, it’s a must to take away it from what you imagine to be a corpse hanging the other way up. Seems, stated corpse is alive, and he actually, actually likes being stabbed and, consequently, unstabbed. You may hack your manner via tons of of cult members, stealthily carving into their sides, or popping heads with Zora’s rifles as the sport progresses. It is messy, chaotic, and made vaguely uncomfortable by how a lot your foes appear to get pleasure from being dismembered.

Even seemingly mundane issues like rising your well being or saving the sport require you to shove your hand into bizarre, pain-inducing contraptions, usually prompting a “why did that really feel sort of good?” from Aidan. Procuring new gadgets and powerups requires violence at each flip; it is a fixed, but intelligent reminder of what you have gotten your self into, and who you are coping with.

Across the halfway level, nonetheless, the feminine Cenobite teaches you to make use of the Genesis Configuration as a weapon. You may choose up varied sharp objects utilizing telekinesis, together with sawblades and shears, then later within the sport you need to use it to soak up and shoot hearth. Lobbing sharp objects at enemies chops off completely different limbs relying on the place you goal, and in case your foes line up in a queue, no matter you are tossing cleaves via them. I additionally seen that if you summon the article, it will injury any foes it passes via on its solution to get to you. It is a good contact, and scoring a multi-enemy collateral by no means will get outdated.

The Field, nonetheless, is powered by Struggling, so it’s essential inflict ache on others to cost it up. It is a enjoyable metaphor – trigger ache to trigger extra ache – and I discovered that it tempered how overpowered the Field could possibly be. I discovered myself operating out of sources semi-frequently, that means I needed to get into the nitty-gritty, and could not simply spam-toss sawblades from afar.

Maybe my solely actual challenge with the fight is that you could banish creatures to the Labyrinth to sap up some well being and Struggling. Enemies which can be banishable are outlined in blue, however I discovered that generally the immediate solely appeared at sure angles, and that if I by chance hit them as soon as once they have been in that state, they’d die and the banish would not work. I will actively admit that I spent most of Hellrasier Revival in a obscure state of panic, so I did maintain by chance killing enemies that I needed to banish. There’s some consumer error right here for certain (not helped by my ever-present tremor), however I feel making the immediate a bit extra responsive would have helped overcome that hurdle.

Hellraiser is all about its boss fights, nonetheless. A few of them are extra cinematic than others, however general all of them present one thing distinctive. An early battle in opposition to one in all Marlowe’s deputies, for instance (I will not let you know who), feels extremely paying homage to the primary Tzimisce battle in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, whereas the latter showdown with Charlotte forces you to make use of the Field and its newfound flamethrower skills as your main weapon. They every check various things, and power you to make the most of the entire completely different instruments in your arsenal.

There are a few fights that felt like they went on a bit too lengthy – the Sister of Mercy generally felt a bit like she was only a bullet sponge, and the third or fourth run-in with a recurring slug-like, corpse-fed monster will get a bit outdated. Typically, that is indicative of the pacing in direction of the latter half of the sport, which, whereas nonetheless pleasing, feels a bit rushed in some locations, however bloated in others. Fewer slug enemy fights and a bit extra time spent on the sport’s ultimate boss would have gone a protracted solution to making the latter really feel extra conclusive and bombastic, however Revival continues to be enjoyable, and the narrative is powerful sufficient to hold you thru.

I will additionally notice right here that I did not actually encounter any efficiency points. I did get caught between a few our bodies throughout one fight sequence, prompting me to reload the save, however there have been by no means any main points with body fee. If something, Hellraiser is likely one of the extra polished video games I’ve performed in a very long time.

What I actually love about Hellraiser Revival is that I merely did not see it coming. It is very easy to connect an IP to a middling sport and name it a day, hoping that the hype across the model will make mediocrity simpler to forgive. What Saber has created right here, nonetheless, is the proper tribute to the movies and novella, whereas concurrently making a genuinely distinctive horror sport. Revival is greater than an inexpensive homage; it is a standalone, well-crafted expertise.

However maybe what’s extra necessary is what Hellraiser Revival made me really feel. There are jumpscares right here; there was worry when the Chatter chased me, and anxiousness after I was politely requested to spank a woman in a gimp go well with at a intercourse membership. Placing all of that risquéness apart, nonetheless, Revival made me really feel uncomfortable; it made me face a few of my very own triggers head-on. In consequence, I stroll away feeling extra full, and in a greater place to cope with these ideas and emotions every time they could seem. Only a few video games have left me feeling that introspective.

Maybe the Cenobites are angels; then. There is a lesson there, I reckon. However both manner, Hellraiser Revival will depart you feeling some sort of manner, and in my thoughts, that is proof of an excellent sport.

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