Clive Barker’s Hellriser: Revival – Beseech my Hellbound Heart
While I’m well aware of Clive Barker’s work, I think I’ve gravitated towards it mostly from name recognition. I’m not a bit into the sex, gore and other extremes that Barker weaves into his work. I did play and enjoy Cliver Barker’s Undying, and despite remembering Clive Barker’s Jericho looking awesome visually, I don’t think I played much of that.
That said, I am a fan of Hellraiser. And I don’t mean the series of the IP, I mean literally that one film. The one where Andrew Robison gives that phenomenal performance, “Jesus wept!” (Also, he was Garak in Stark Trek: Deep Space Nine, so that helps a ton.) The rest of the Hellraiser series didn’t appeal to me much. But since I saw it as a kid, there was a deep, visceral fear the imagery put into me, especially the iconic Cenobites.
I need to reiterate that I’m not into sex + gore + horror. I like horror, and I understand that it’s frequently intertwined with sex. I don’t mean to knock it. If you like that sort of thing, more power to your freaky self. But I’m no extreme pleasure seeker, and there is a lot of discomfort to be had for me because the game is all about extreme pleasure seekers. Those who like introducing cutting and other sorts of pain into sex.
That’s how the game starts out–in the middle of a sex scene with protagonist Aidan Lynch and his girlfriend Sunny. Sunny brought one of Pinhead’s puzzle boxes–the Genesis Configuration–into their sex play, and Aidan unwittingly activated it. Sunny is torn apart in front of him, and Aidan is thrust into the terrifying hellscape of the Labyrinth, and all the fleshy nightmares inside rendered in full Unreal Engine 5 gory. I mean glory. Aidan gets involved with a Cenobite worshipping cult, and that’s the impetus to have him stalking through mansions, sewers, and inside the desolate hellscape of the Labyrinth itself.
Hellriser: Revival is a first person survival horror game. It borrows heavily from modern Resident Evil games–which is, in my opinion, a fantastic angle. While there are certain enemies you can’t kill with conventional weapons–like the Cenobites–there is a fair amount of combat in Hellriser Revival. Sometimes stealth is an option, and usually the best route. But there are other occasions you’ll be stuck in a room and have to fight your way out through waves of enemies. These enemies range between cultists and zombie-like abominations. Combat feels okay enough. Melee weapons break easily, and you need to repair your favorites lest you lose them forever. But replacements are available.
Firearms feel about as useful as they would in a Resident Evil game–that is to say, it can take several bullets to take down abominations. But cultists without armored heads go down in one well placed headshot. There are a variety of guns, and they all sort of use the tried-and-true survival horror game weapon standards of pistol, shotgun, submachine gun, powerful handgun, etc. Weapons are upgradeable–but even then, ammo is scarce. As are most resources.
The Genesis Configuration puzzle box is both a tool and a weapon. Sometimes you have to manipulate it to fit into certain shapes during puzzle segments–which is an excellent touch. But it can also be used in combat to banish enemies. It even has a telekinetic grab that works like the Gravity Gun. And with lots of sawblades and zombies around, it reminds me of some of the best parts of “Ravenholm.” You also get access to pyrokinesis to burn and stagger enemies.
You’ll also have to solve puzzles, using both the environment and Genesis Configuration. Again, it’s more Resident Evil-like sections as you’ll be finding statues to fit into slots, keys to open doors, etc. There is also lockpicking which is almost exactly the same system used in Fallout 3 and beyond as well as Dying Light–but on hard mode. Lockpicks break super easy, making the lockpick minigame a bit too difficult.
Everything comes together brilliantly–from the graphics making the immersive atmosphere, to the chattering of the Chatterer making my skin crawl and other great sound design. Doug Bradley is back voicing Pinhead, and he does a great job. And every other named character is voice well enough. But some of the additional voices really take me out of it. I get it: saying lots of sexy, kinky stuff for a job can be awkward. But boy, does some of that sound extra awkward. It would have been better just to leave it out and let the visuals do the talking.
Hellraiser: Revival is so visually visceral and audibly squelchy I found myself holding my head in my hand a few times. Being chased in the Labyrinth genuinely terrified me–and video games rarely scare me. Hell, I felt sick by the time the prologue was over–and that's why I knew that they were on the right track, and it would be a hell of a ride. While not all of what is depicted is what I want to be looking at, developer Saber Interactive did a great job making an authentic Hellraiser experience.
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