PatchNote

Hellraiser: Revival is the latest game from Alien: Isolation developers Sabre Interactive and joins the modern trend of reintroducing horror franchises from the eighties to a twenty-twenties gaming audience.

It follows multiple (mostly failed) attempts at asymmetric horror games like Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the new Saw title. But this time we delve into the realm of survival horror, something Sabre have proven they are more than capable of.

However, having watched all of the currently released trailers and the numerous Dev Diary’s that Sabre have been trickling out, I can say that – as a devout Hellraiser fan – I am tentatively excited.

A bit of background of my fandom of the series – I have seen most of the films (yes, including the bad ones), read the original The Hellbound Heart novella plus its sequel The Scarlett Gospels, a number of other works by Clive Barker himself and my wrestling persona is explicitly based on the series. So it is safe to say I know a little about the franchise.

This being said, I don’t know if survival horror is the correct genre for Hellraiser as a series.

The gameplay, from what little we have seen, has some excellent gore, interesting puzzle mechanics and some delightfully hellish environments with the Labyrinth itself looking like it’s straight out of your worst nightmare.

But unfortunately, it seems very generic. Too generic for such an interesting setting like Hellraiser.

You, as the protagonist, parade around with a number of different weapons – including the elusive Lament Configuration (which has been given a variety of new powers that separate it from its previous counterparts). There are guns and melee weapons that allow you to deliver no end of punishment to your endless foes, but there is one significant problem with arming the protagonist of a Hellraiser game. The Cenobites.

These godlike beings are meant to be indestructible beyond the realms of their own dimension, which worries me as to why we are being given such an arsenal. If we, the players, are to be given mundane weapons in order to fight the Cenobites – which has become a theme amongst survival horror (see any Resident Evil game) then we may see a dilution of the Cenobites; their potential and, the horror that they inhabit.

What I want from this game is a series of interesting puzzles surrounded by engaging horror segments as we navigate the story. I want to feel defenceless against this otherworldly threat. So I am worried about how we will interact with such powerful entities as the cenobites.

The Chatterer, for example, seems to have some really unique chase sequences through the Labyrinth, but if these segments are scripted rather than a form of stalker enemy like the Xenomorph, then I become significantly less interested, because then there is no threat.

Sabre have clearly done their research about the franchise, and with the original Pinhead, Doug Bradley, returning to reprise his role – I as a fan am vibrating with excitement. But with the limited amount of gameplay with seen (and the tedious censorship that is present across online platforms) I don’t know if I’ve seen enough to sell me on the game fully.

I’ll still be buying a copy and will likely gush about it until the end of time, but right now, my excitement nis tapered by what seems to be a standard Resident Evil clone with the Hellraiser franchise attached.

Now, Sabre, where is that Jurassic Park game you announced a few years ago.