Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival officially announced

Between all the walking-horror sims and nonsense that goes on in the horror genre, just look at the state of Dead by Daylight, you’d think Hellraiser would have had a whole series of games by now. Aside from the late 2000s, there has been a “steady” flow of films in the series to whatever you want to call success in the horror genre these days. You’d have thought that, especially after Clive Barker’s Jericho, there would have been some interest. No, announced early this morning to the cheer of about 15 people, Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games are set to make an adaptation to Barker’s series that started with his The Hellbound Heart.

The first Hellraiser game, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, doesn’t have a lot of detail at this point. The trailer is fairly cryptic, as you’d expect, as a couple are seemingly having sex, then suddenly the Cenobites break through, take her to hell, and as the most boring looking and named man, Aidan, you’ll chase after her and Pinhead himself. As the trailer loves to tell you, it is actually Doug Bradley voicing the head Cenobite.

“Discover the tale of Aidan, who must unlock the dark powers of the Genesis Configuration, a mysterious puzzle box, to save his girlfriend from a hellish abyss,” as the description says. ” Playing as Aidan, you will harness the box’s infernal abilities in order to survive your pact with the sinister Pinhead and battle against the twisted cult that worships him and his Cenobites. Fail, and your suffering will become a legend, even in Hell.“

It’s an interesting announcement, especially given the timing. The last film on Hulu in 2022 was fine, but it had about as much fanfare as the second film released in 2005. With that (2005) sequel getting the famous 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’d like to think this reboot series with Jamie Clayton as Pinhead works out, and Revival can keep the older series alive for a bit, but what little gameplay we see in the trailer doesn’t look all that special just yet. Though I am interested to see more.

Clive Barker said in the press release, “Working on the first true Hellraiser game has been a venture deep into the recesses of my darkest imaginings. The dedication that Saber and Boss Team Games have shown is nothing short of remarkable. They’ve immersed themselves in the Hellraiser universe, capturing its essence—the seductive pull of suffering, the beauty within the grotesque—and forged a narrative that invites players to step beyond the threshold. I’m eager for both the curious and the damned to experience this new chapter in the Hellraiser mythos, where every moment balances on the brink of nightmare and revelation.“

The co-founder and CEO of Saber Interactive, Matthew Karch, also said, “Hellraiser is the quintessential horror franchise, and lends itself perfectly to a video game.” Then why has it taken more than 30 years for there to be an official game in the series? With the rest of his waffling on being about how the studio can make games out of unicorn farts or something you really don’t care about. Essentially, the studio and development team are poised to make the horror game through experience.

There are very few exact details on Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, but we do know that it is in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and, of course, on PC for Steam. It will be interesting to see more from this new Hellraiser and see what the team does to make it feel unique in a sea of horror tropes that infest every other game in the genre.