Hellraiser Revival review: Sex, sawblades and plenty of suffering

"Insufficient suffering". That may sound like something your boss would say in your performance review, but it's actually Hellraiser Revival’s way of telling us we can’t throw saw blades around anymore.

In the new game, suffering is a resource for using the Genesis Configuration, Hellraiser’s otherworldly key/weapon/sex toy, and it’s also the ethos of the whole experience.

That’s something we mean both positively and negatively, because while Hellraiser: Revival gets so much of the series universe right, arguably even delivering one of the better sequel stories it’s enjoyed for a long time, it’s all wrapped around what’s essentially a very straight forward horror FPS.

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It’s a little clunky, tired and – at least in our run through – full of some pretty hefty bugs, leaving us falling through the floor on multiple occasions and having to reload an older save to get back in the game.

Straight off the bondage rack, Hellraiser: Revival is gory and that can’t really be understated, from the first level right until the end you’ll be asked to stick your hand in mutilated corpses, hack limbs off people and so much more we won’t list here - all with blood constantly splattering around the room and on the screen like an episode of DIY SOS that got incredibly dark.

Sex is pretty proudly on display in the game, with its uses varying from meaningful to humorous, and on some occasions are simply cringy.

One sex-heavy mission felt very Hitman, for example, tasking you to find an array of items including a giant dildo and pleasure a club guest in exchange for a BDSM-teddy that doubles as a key.

Though we will say Hellraiser: Revival’s depiction of clear consent that runs through is something to be applauded.

Fans of the series will be delighted to hear Doug Bradley is back as the iconic Pinhead – leader of the Cenobites, those demonic rascals who take pleasure in striping humans of their flesh and offering them some light sight-seeing in the labyrinth – and as he constantly aura farms in every scene possible, it’s clear he’s still got the chops to deliver stoic terror and is one of best parts of the experience.

Focusing on the story of Aidan Lynch – he accidentally unlocks the Genesis Configuration during an X-rated scene that some years back might have had parents arguing to ban games forever, which leads to the Cenobites taking his partner Sunny to the labyrinth.

Waking up in a torture room led by a very BDSM-positive group, the Scarlet Church, Aidan goes on a journey quite literally to hell and back to find Sunny.

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It takes a few hours to get going, with the first few feeling like a generic Far Cry-esque shooter with okay combat and fairly bad enemy AI – in one instance, one of the cult was stuck in a barrel, endlessly repeating lines about both being able to see us and being unable to find us.

Ammo is scarce but headshots are easy, while melee combat is a little stiff as you juggle breakable weapons with no means to block. Eventually, however, the Genesis Configuration takes its first steps as a weapon, becoming a gravity gun of sorts and allowing you to send saw blades and nails at your enemies for some rather delicious decapitations and limb removal – as long as you’ve caused enough of the aforementioned suffering to charge up.

It’s here the combat starts to feel more fluid and enjoyable, moving around the map sending sharp objects into enemies, setting off explosive barrels and nailing stealth kills to clear the way. Managing limited resources and even more limited satchel space. It doesn’t push any boundaries or try to reinvent the wheel but there’s fun to be had.

Hellraiser: Revival, through its run time, tries to balance all the things it wants to offer, from straightforward stealth sections, puzzle solving in the labyrinth, lots of running down corridors to avoid stalker enemies and almost Resident Evil-esque mini maps. It does some well, others less so and it never quite manages to shake off the clunky edges it’s wrapped in.

Ultimately, if you’re a fan of the franchise, this is a great entry into the series lore, and a horror experience you’ll find lots in to enjoy, but you’ll need to be willing to look past it’s inconsistent pacing and spotty gameplay experience.

If you’re not a huge Hellraiser fan, then it might be that bit harder for you to push through, but it’s by no means a bad game – just one that, perhaps fittingly, offers some pain with its pleasure.

Hellraiser: Revival is available now on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.

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