For a series as long-running as Hellraiser (nine movies, and counting), it’s incredible that until next year’s Hellraiser: Revival releases, there’s never actually been a video game adaptation. It seems like a natural fit for a survival horror, and so far, Hellraiser: Revival is hitting all of the right notes.
The sex and gore of the game’s reveal trailer, combined with the famous faces of the Cenobites and glimpses of the legendary puzzle box, have us hooked. As GamesRadar+’s own Jasmine Gould-Wilson noted back in July, it’s a refreshing experience that, unlike many other horror games, isn’t trying to flank Dead by Daylight. Instead, we’ve got a refreshingly single-player experience.
The Genesis Configuration
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Over the course of the game, players fight against members of the Scarlet Church, essentially a BDSM cult. They’ll be joined by non-human enemies, who game director Emil Esov tells me are “twisted, imperfect abominations, unworthy of the labyrinth [the Cenobite’s realm], subjected to extreme pain in their transformation”. In a franchise that produced the famous quote of “pain and pleasure, indivisible”, I was curious as to whether enemies would perhaps enjoy being attacked by the player. With human enemies, this will be the case at times – “sometimes it will appear that they are enjoying the pain,” confirms Esov – but non-human enemies are far more relentless.
Esov also promises that the game’s combat system will be appropriately gore-tastic in the way that you’d expect. “As the player, you will be able to confront most enemies, kill them, maim them, cut off their body parts, and really hurt them in some discomforting ways”.
Basic enemies will be low-threat, but others will be far beefier, and you won’t be able to kill every enemy the first time that you meet them. When faced by the Cenobites, you’re going to need to take a much more cautious approach. Pinhead, Butterball, et al, aren’t scared of you: after what they’ve done, why would they be? Instead, they engage the player in a battle of wits and willpower.
The famous puzzle box (or, if you like, the Rubik’s Cube of Doom), is known in this game as Genesis Configuration, rather than the films’ Lament Configuration. Players will be able to use it in both our realm and the Labyrinth. “The player will get to use it inside and outside of the labyrinth in multiple ways,” says Esov, “most of them pretty visceral and gruesome”. The Labyrinth itself is a key part of the game, with time in the realm of pain taking up around “quarter of the game, depending on the player”.
From what we’ve seen in screenshots and video, the real-world areas of the game appear to be less than wholesome, too, including BDSM nightclubs and twisted forests. Inside the Labyrinth, it’s stark and oppressive. Wherever you are in the game, it doesn’t look like you’ll be too far from a gore-soaked scene of one description or another. We’ve seen people dig into a split corpse and chains being threaded through the eye sockets of a flayed skull. It’s fundamentally grim, as a Hellraiser game should be.
Authorial input
Clive Barker has been intimately involved in the project, ensuring its story fits with the rest of the canon. “Clive was instrumental in our initial ideation of the story, then after the first year switched into an active advisory capacity”, Esov says. “Clive knows Hellraiser better than anyone and is, of course, a world-class storyteller, but he isn’t a gamer. Once we had the spirit of the story, he empowered us to make the idea into something you play. At that point, he began reviewing gameplay and narrative scripts periodically, giving feedback and keeping us true to Hellraiser’s soul.”
He was loving it, and he also shared plenty of tips about getting Pinhead’s portrayal right.
The game also features the vocal talents of Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in the franchise’s movies, reprising his role. He’s been enjoying his time with the game, too. “Probably one of the most encouraging things in development was Doug’s excitement about what we are doing with his character,” says Esov. “He was loving it, and he also shared plenty of tips about getting Pinhead’s portrayal right.”
All of these points towards a project that cares deeply about its subject matter and tone. Based on this and everything that we’ve seen so far, we should expect an atmosphere in the game that’s very similar to that of the films. That’s a real badge of honor if it’s successful.
It’ll be extremely interesting to see whether Hellraiser: Revival is able to stick the landing. We’ve not had a great slew of single-player horror games in recent years, and that’s been a real shame. Horror films and ghost stories are always spookiest when you’re alone in a darkened room, and I’m curious as to whether Hellraiser will be able to produce any genuine chills, or if its horror will be limited more to various ways that a human body can be ripped apart. If it does manage to nail it, though, we could be looking at one of 2026’s biggest titles.
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