In a world in which every horror franchise seems to have spawned an asymmetrical multiplayer tie-in, it’s refreshing to go back to basics with some good-old-fashioned single-player action. Sure, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the short-lived Evil Dead: The Game, served us well, but there’s something about multiplayer which feels at odds with the horror experience.
Eschewing the route taken by many, here’s Saber Interactive with their take on Hellraiser. Going single-player isn’t the only way they’ve returned to basics either – resurrecting Doug Bradley’s Pinhead for the first time in two decades.
The story is simple. Ex-convict and tough guy Aidan Lynch descends into a world of pain when his lover, Sunny, summons the Cenobites during a particularly experimental night’s lovemaking. Determined to bring Sunny back, Aidan enters the Labyrinth himself, armed only with a mysterious cube (not that one, though) and an impressive threshold for pain. It’s Orpheus and Euridice, if Orpheus had been a masochistic biker with a thing for guns and steamy sex.
Back in the real world, HELLRAISER: REVIVAL plays by typical first-person survival horror rules. Aidan’s arsenal, at least at first, is scant and underpowered. Ammunition and health packs (plus the occasional, uh, sausage) are scarce, and enemies are abundant. On Earth, that means hordes of cultists, sex pests, and zombie-like creatures known as ‘The Unworthy.’ There’s plenty to kill and be killed by, then, each with a distinct flavour befitting the Clive Barker universe.
At the same time, the game resists the urge to cheapen Barker’s Cenobites by rolling them out as mere end-of-level bosses. Instead, they’re largely on the fringes of the narrative, utilised sparingly but with enough efficiency that there’s genuine chills when one does show their horrific face. Case in point The Chatterer, whose dogged pursuit of the player gives the game some of its most tense (and punishing) moments.
Gameplay wise, it’s a cross between the powerlessness of Outlast and the tense back-and-forth of the later Resident Evil sequels. That’s not the only thing that’s been cribbed from the Capcom classic either – most notably a shopping and equipment management system straight out of Resident Evil 4 and Village. As Aidan progresses, so too grows his arsenal, giving a satisfying heft to the gunplay.
What REVIVAL also brings to the (torture) table is its utilisation of the Genesis Configuration, turning the humble puzzle box into a nifty weapon in Aidan’s hands. Powered by suffering, it’s capable of flinging around fire and sharp objects (think Dead Space’s Kinesis Module), ripping victims to shreds with relative ease. Between this and its familiar crafting, stealth and lock-picking mechanisms, the game isn’t particularly innovative, but the sense of familiarity allows for easy traversal of the game’s world.
And what a world it is! Befitting horror cinema’s kinkiest franchise, REVIVAL is chock full of smut, from Aidan hanging dong to BDSM nightclubs and ballgag-wearing rubber duckies. This, it does without kink shaming, although the armies of gimp-gear clad freaks hardly do the community any favours. The level design is varied and impressive, drenched in atmosphere and packed to the rafters with some of the most horrific visuals ever seen in a horror video game. And then there’s The Labyrinth, brought to life in all its confusing, mind-melting glory.
That’s not to say there are no pain points. REVIVAL is undeniably clunky at times, and its chase sequences (think Crash Bandicoot and the Boulder) quickly become tiresome. Reliant on trial and error rather than skill, these sections are some of the game’s most frustrating – made worse by faraway checkpoints and unskippable death animations. Likewise, the game’s bosses can be an agonising experience, soaking up damage without indication whether the player is even doing the right thing or not.
Still, it’s hard to begrudge the game its clunkier moments. For every annoying chase scene or finicky puzzle, there’s several more of genius — a mission in which you’re tasked with gathering sex toys for a pleather-clad play partner, for example.
Like Robocop: Rogue City and Alien: Isolation, we’re taking on boardsome jank in exchange for a faithful take on the franchise. At its (Hellbound) heart, REVIVAL is a letter of love to Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. A letter smeared in blood, semen and all the other bodily fluids.
CLIVE BARKER’S HELLRAISER: REVIVAL is available now, from Saber Interactive. This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.
