The developers of Hellraiser: Revival intend to push its M Rating as far as it can with the upcoming video game adaptation.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a story-driven, single-player survival horror action game set in the Hellraiser universe. It’s developed by Boss Team Games, creator of the recently delisted Evil Dead: The Game, and is due out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Steam.
Hellraiser, for the uninitiated, is a cult classic horror franchise made up of 11 films and various comic books, all based on The Hellbound Heart novella by English author Clive Barker. The star of the show is Pinhead, a ‘Cenobite’ who harvests human souls to torture in sadistic experiments. And you can see that in action in the trailer, which — content warning! — contains as much sex as it does body horror.
Hellraiser: Revival is not for the faint of heart. If you’re wondering just how extreme the game gets, be sure to check out IGN’s hands-on Hellraiser: Revival preview for all the gory details. But in short, expect body horror, sex, no holds barred nudity, nightmarish scenes, and a healthy dose of hell.
It’s ‘Resident Evil For Sickos,’ we said coming out of our time with Hellraiser, but just how extreme can the developers at Saber Interactive take it? In an interview with IGN, Saber development chief Tim Willits said the studio plans to push Hellraiser as far as the people who make the rules around an M Rating will let them.
“We are going to go as far as we possibly can, as far as the people that make rules will let us go,” Willits insisted. “And I hope that we can make one version, but we are willing to go as far as we possibly can go.”
Of course, what we’ve seen of Hellraiser: Revival so far is in keeping with Clive Barker’s cult classic Hellraiser movies, so tonally, there’s no real difference. But there’s something unique about seeing and doing all this horrific stuff from a first-person perspective that’s a bit more in your face than watching a film in a theater or at home.
“We want to be a responsible publisher / developer, but we are going to push it as far as we possibly can in the context of the game and the movie.”
Clive Barker is working with Saber on Hellraiser: Revival to ensure it fits with his vision for the universe. This back and forth should result in a game fans of the movies will get a real kick out of, Willits added.
“He’s come back and said, ‘Yeah, Pinhead wouldn’t do that,’” Willits explained. “And he’s come back and said, ‘Yeah, you got to tweak this a little bit.’ Because this is his world and he knows stuff that we don’t even think about.
“And he’s been really fast too. Sometimes when you work with famous people you throw something over and then six months later they come back and they complain about something. No, he’s that on it.”
Doug Bradley, the original actor behind the Cenobite leader Pinhead, has reprised his role for the game, adding to the authenticity of the project.
Here’s the official blurb:
Discover the tale of Aidan, who must unlock the dark powers of the Genesis Configuration, a mysterious puzzle box, to help his girlfriend from a hellish abyss. As Aidan, you’ll harness the box’s infernal abilities to survive your pact with the sinister Pinhead and battle against the twisted cult that worships him and the Cenobites. Fail, and your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell.
Hellraiser was thrust back into the public consciousness in 2022 with a franchise reboot film. IGN’s Hellraiser review returned an 8/10. We said: “Hellraiser is a reinvigorated reboot that gets the blood pumping, starting with Jamie Clayton’s worthy Pinhead performance that sets a fresh tone with immense reverence paid to Clive Barker’s works.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
