There was a time when Clive Barker was synonymous with horror. It was an elegant, spine-chilling, brutal kind of horror, and one far more elaborate and complex than the mainstream was capable of offering. If Stephen King was already the king of horror in those days, Barker emerged as the prince: a rebellious and brutal one, capable of opening up an unimaginable new space. One full of violence and sex, but also of divergent identities where many more people could find a place than before.
That was the secret not only of Clive Barker, but of Hellraiser. That it was a place with room for everything and everyone. Behind the blood, the pain, and the sex, there was something more. There was room for something different. For more people. That’s why it was so popular, and why Hellraiser, over the decades, has endured as a franchise that has become a veritable founding myth. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival has finally been revealed. And that it’s a game very much worth keeping an eye on.
A protagonist scarred by trauma
Developed by Saber Interactive, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival puts us in the role of Aidan Lynch, a member of a biker gang whose job is to enforce order within it. But despite the violence of his profession, his personality couldn’t be more different. Cunning and a little faint-hearted, he lets events carry him along. As when, after a session of rough sex with his girlfriend, Sunny, they activate the Genesis Configuration and the cenobites, extradimensional beings with a BDSM aesthetic, flay her and take her with them. But completely in love with her and dependent on her, he decides to pursue them to bring her back.
The tone of the game is exactly what this first paragraph suggests. There’s explicit sex, there’s BDSM, there’s gore, and there are visions of a singular, strange hell that is as unsettling as it is confusing every time we set foot in it. The game is aggressive both visually and emotionally and has no problem showing us all the facets of Barker’s literature, not just of Hellraiser, but of his Books of Blood in general. And that’s why it works.
In any case, Aidan isn’t defenseless. Or not exactly. With the Genesis Configuration and all kinds of weapons, melee and firearms, he can defend himself against his attackers. Who aren’t cenobites, but things even more peculiar and strange: human adherents of the cenobites and the experiments they perform on them.
As a result, the whole adventure is a survival horror that recalls a mix of Resident Evil 8 and Condemned: Criminal Origins, where we’ll have to manage our inventory, constantly be crafting ammo and keep a close eye on our limited resources. Creating a constant tension not only because of the combat, where every one of our blows will be less brutal than the brutal blows of our far more numerous rivals, but also because of the scarcity of what we have at our disposal.
A game of pure horror
All of this, moreover, unfolds on two planes of reality at once: our world and the Labyrinth. In our world are the action sections where we fight enemies and move forward normally in a survival horror. In the Labyrinth we enter cenobite territory, where they’ll pursue us, we’ll have to dodge deadly traps and solve simple, but stimulating puzzles in order to uncover their secrets and get out of there alive.
This combination of elements makes the game always stimulating and interesting. Never losing its tone. We always feel completely overwhelmed by the situation, just as Aidan is, always dependent on something: drugs, his gang, Sunny. Having to discover for the first time in his life how to survive a situation far beyond his abilities without giving himself over to a higher power. Not even that of the cenobites.
And that’s even though the power is far greater. Because the Genesis Configuration gives us immense, limited-use powers, that make it easier to get through the levels. Though at the cost of Suffering, which is drained by using powers and is only recovered by inflicting pain on our enemies. Something easier said than done.
With close collaboration from Clive Barker himself, and with many references to the lore of the franchise that only the most die-hard fans will be able to spot—especially the comics, though not only those; and you don’t need to spot them or know them to appreciate what the game does—, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is one of the best survival horror games of the year. And for fans of the franchise, an absolute must. Because few franchise-based games have managed to capture the tone of a work so well and translate it into a video game as this one does.
