Reviewed on: PC
Review code provided by the publisher.
Hellraiser: Revival is the most authentic return to the original Hellraiser we’ve gotten since Hellraiser II, in my opinion. It’s weird, slimy, disgusting, and exactly what I wanted from a game set in this universe. There’s plenty of action, but the thing that kept standing out to me was how well the game understands the franchise it’s adapting.
Every bit of this game feels like it was made by people who love Hellraiser. There are plenty of references for longtime fans, but that appreciation goes much deeper than familiar lines and things you recognize. It carries through the atmosphere, the horror, and the story itself. This easily could have been an IP cash grab. Instead, the creators gave us something that feels right at home alongside the first two films.
And having Doug Bradley return as Pinhead is probably one of the coolest things to happen in gaming recently.
I got chills when he said the “Demons to some, Angels to others,” line. It’s a line I already know, and I still wasn’t prepared for how much hearing it here would do for me. There’s something special about hearing Bradley return to this character in a game that understands what makes Hellraiser work. His presence was a huge highlight, and as a fan, I was more than happy to soak up every bit of it.
Revival also fully commits to the weird and slimy side of this universe. Hellraiser claims the genre of splatterpunk, and it absolutely lives up to that description. The disgusting stuff is a huge part of the appeal. I wanted this game to make me uncomfortable, and it so delivered.
What I appreciate so much is how natural all of that feels for Hellraiser. The game truly bleeds Clive Barker DNA. There’s a particular kind of weirdness to this franchise, and Revival embraces it with the confidence you’d hope to see from people who understand the material. I kept coming back to that feeling throughout the game thinking, “Man.. these people get it.”
Revival does move a little faster than you might expect from Hellraiser. The original trilogy is a slow... slow burn, in the best possible way. Those films take their time letting you sit with the discomfort, and I love that about them. This game picks up the pace quite a bit, especially when you’re dealing with the cultists, but it still gives that weird, sludgy horror room to breathe.
It walks that tightrope between fast-paced action and slow horror incredibly well. The cultist encounters give you something to push back against, then the game slows things down and lets the discomfort settle in again. I enjoyed that back and forth. You get caught up in the action, then find yourself somewhere you really don’t want to be, wondering what the hell you’re about to encounter. It’s a faster Hellraiser experience, but it still feels like Hellraiser.
The chase and puzzle sequences in the Labyrinth are some of the best examples of that. They’re a perfect mix of satisfying and heart-racing. Figuring something out while Chatterer clicks in your ear feels good, but the pressure surrounding those moments keeps you on edge. That combination made these sections a real highlight for me.
The Labyrinth is also exactly the kind of place I wanted this game to take advantage of. It gives Revival room to lean into the stranger side of Hellraiser, and those sequences bring together so much of what I loved about the experience. The horror, the tension, and the satisfaction of getting through it all work incredibly well together.
With a licensed horror game, familiar imagery can only carry things so far. Eventually, you need a story that makes spending time in that world worthwhile. Revival delivered that for me, too.
Another thing I really loved about Revival is how beautiful it can be at times. That might sound strange after spending this much time talking about how slimy and disgusting it is, but some of these vast areas had me stopping just to take everything in. The visual design gives you plenty to appreciate, even when the place itself is somewhere you’d never want to visit.
The scale of these environments is a huge part of that. I loved getting a moment to look around and appreciate how much went into these spaces. Hellraiser has always had imagery that makes you want to look closer while also making you wish you hadn’t, and Revival captures that feeling incredibly well. Sometimes I was taking in the view, and sometimes I was wondering what the hell I was looking at. Either way, I wanted to keep looking.
This is one great story, and it wraps up with the perfect razor-wire bow. By the time it was over, I felt like I’d gotten the Hellraiser experience I was hoping for. The ending brought it all together in a way that left me satisfied, which matters when so much of my enjoyment came from how carefully the game handled this universe.
That’s probably my biggest takeaway from Revival. The creators understood what fans wanted to see, and they followed through. The references are fun, Doug Bradley’s return is fantastic, and the disgusting horror is everything I wanted, but having a story that brings those pieces together makes the whole experience that much stronger.
I do think your enjoyment will depend quite a bit on your taste in horror. This is a very particular kind of weird, and Revival commits to it completely. For someone who already loves Hellraiser, that commitment is a huge selling point. For someone whose interest in horror doesn’t extend to this much slime and splatter, I can see it being a harder sell.
For me, though, that was the appeal from the beginning. I wanted a Hellraiser game that would embrace everything I love about the franchise, including the stuff that makes you wonder what the hell you’re looking at. That’s exactly what I got.
Verdict
Hellraiser: Revival is easily one of my favorite horror games in recent memory, and it might even be up there among my favorites of all time. Doug Bradley’s return as Pinhead gave me chills, the Labyrinth’s chase and puzzle sequences kept my heart racing, and the story wrapped everything up with the perfect razor-wire bow. More than anything, this feels like a game made by people who understand and love Hellraiser. That appreciation carries through the entire experience, and I love it for that. If you’re a Hellraiser fan, I think you’re going to have a hell of a time with this one. Fun and disgusting. Exactly what I wanted.
