Hellraiser Makes a Surprisingly Great Video Game, but it’s Definitely Not for the Faint of Heart

Image Credit: Saber Interactive

Pleasures of the Flesh Can Be Terrifying.

When Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival was announced in July 2025, I was curious but not excited. I have never been a fan of the movies–not that I have seen them all. But the ones I have seen were pretty boring. I fully expected this new game from Saber Interactive to be the kind of horror game I don't vibe with. Very quickly, Saber showed me that they are coming, and they are coming hard.

Image Credit: Dan Morris for Fearzine/Saber Interactive

If the dirty insinuation wasn’t enough, let the record show that Hellraiser, as a series, has always been tied to sexual fantasies. The Cenobites are meant to be gods of pleasure, including sensual satisfaction and pain. Hellraiser: Revival is dripping with all of it. One core horror aspect here is vulnerability—the vulnerability we all share as squishy beings with relatively easy-to-damage bodies.

Very early in the game, you are faced with this “naked” sensation and the added stress of feeling like, at any moment, something may attack the most sensitive areas of your body. Hellraiser: Revival is one of the goriest games I have ever seen and naughtiest, that isn't a porn game or Baldur’s Gate 3. If you are sensitive to sexual content that also includes torture, BDSM, and, well, lots of other things, you may want to stay clear of this game.

Image Credit: Dan Morris for Fearzine/Saber Interactive

If, like me, you are not bothered by that, then buckle up because this is one heck of a ride. Hellraiser takes clear inspiration from Resident Evil VII and Condemned in its grounded, heavy combat. I started with nothing, and I mean nothing. After sneaking around cultists who worship the Cenobites as gods, I found my first weapon and immediately had to use it, for protection, of course. I later pillaged my first handgun, which I tested on the skull of an unsuspecting cultist. The pistol felt punchy, and I got distracted watching the body fall with a thud, as another cultist quickly attacked. I then scrambled for ammo, which I was able to craft more using found resources, similar to Resident Evil VII and Village.

I witnessed some truly awful things: people being murdered, a man making a human statue out of a living woman, corpses piled high all around. At one point, I started to think, in an alternate timeline, this could have been the direction DOOM games went. The way the game presents you with hellish landscapes, fighting foes in visceral and frantic combat; it all just felt very DOOM-y with strong horror vibes like the originals. In fact, the more I played, the more this thought occurred to me. I kept finding more weapons to play with and a shopkeeper who wanted to aid me in my conquest, not too unlike the merchant from Resident Evil 4. She then offered modifications to my arsenal and much-needed resources.

Image Credit: Dan Morris for Fearzine/Saber Interactive

The Labyrinth is a really cool element folded into the game, as you are transported there from time to time. Here, the Labyrinth is equal parts character and obstacle course where you will be faced with Aiden’s past and motives for wanting to save his girlfriend Sonny, who the Cenobites took after a particularly naughty night of play between Aiden and Sonny involving the Configuration, a cube-like device made by Orno. A top dog, but rarely seen, as it were, among Cenobites, according to a note I found.

The Labyrinth also hosts stalker sequences where “The Chatterer” pursues you, forcing you to run and navigate with the threat of him catching you. These portions were properly scary and cool. Stalkers in horror games don't always work for me, but I enjoy these.

Hellraiser: Revival then hosts three different gameplay loops: the Labyrinth, which is more of a walking sim solving puzzles, the stalker moments running from creatures, and the core gameplay where Aiden has his full repertoire of weapons at his disposal and the Configuration to lay down some serious pain and make some cultists very happy. Telekinesis with the cube is reminiscent of Dead Space’s or Half-Life’s gravity gun and is very, very fun.

Image Credit: Dan Morris for Fearzine/Saber Interactive

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival was not a game I intended to play right away, and now I am fascinated by it. I have only just started exploring the reaches of "pleasure" the game has to offer but very quickly it has stood out to me as one of the most brutal horror games I have played and I am in it now for the long haul. Plus, I don't mind all the naked people you see all around either. The incredibly solid gameplay paired with the mind-bending Labyrinth moments filled with exotic Cenobites and horrible death have hooked me.

I am ready to see the sights, Mr. Pinhead.

Learn more about Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival by visiting the official website. Pick up the game on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 2 and see for yourself.

A key was provided by Saber Interactive

Find our full review for Hellraiser: Revival coming to our Patreon and Fearzine #6.

Are you excited for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Revival?