About a year ago, Saber Interactive offered up the fairly surprising reveal of a Hellraiser game in the form of Hellraiser: Revival. It’s a singleplayer joint, one that sort of reminds me of Outlast in vibe, and now a year on from that reveal Saber have locked in a seasonally appropriate (roughly) release date.
I say roughly, as that date is October 8th. October is basically all Halloween, anyway! This release date reveal came with a new trailer that looks bloody as hell and surprisingly… rhythmic? As some slightly grimey, bassy, drum loop heavy music plays while scenes of necks getting sliced, a heart beating, a woman in kink gear getting her derriere slapped and someone’s skin getting ripped off by chains play out.
The story of this one follows Aidan, who uses that pesky puzzle box (the Genesis Configuration) to help his girlfriend Sunny escape from the very hellish Labyrinth. It’s an original story, not technically based on the films or Clive Barker’s book, so the only familiar faces you should expect are those of the Cenobites.
I remain unconvinced that Hellraiser as a series is one that needs a game adaptation, given that the original 1987 is honestly just a bit weird and horny more than it is scary or gory for the most part (I say this lovingly, to be clear). It’s the later, crappier ones where the blood and guts factor gets ramped up, so Hellraiser: Revival feels a bit out of step for me personally, but the proof could be in the pudding, so I’ll withhold judgement. But if you’re more interested than me, you can always check the game out on Steam ahead of its October 8th release.
