Saber Interactive, the video game company behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, has announced a brand new Hellraiser game alongside a trailer that’s not for the faint of heart.
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.
The trailer is certainly in keeping with the look and feel of Barker’s original Hellraiser movie, which began life in the late 80s. We see one character use the franchise’s infamous puzzle box, the Lament Configuration, to open a gateway to hell, and the Cenobites made famous by the movies walk through to do their thing. In a move sure to delight fans, actor Doug Bradley returns to the role of Pinhead for the first time in nearly two decades.
Barker is also involved in this new Hellraiser video game, helping out with the story. “Working on the first true Hellraiser game has been a venture deep into the recesses of my darkest imaginings,” he commented.
“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.”
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.
There’s talk of harnessing the abilities of the Genesis Configuration in combination with “earthly” weapons to “inflict bone-breaking, flesh-searing pain (or pleasure?) upon your enemies.” You fight hell’s wretches, deviants, cultists, and priests.
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 wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
