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Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Revival from developer Saber Interactive joins the fray as the genre continues to enjoy a resurgence.
A first-person survival horror game that brings the iconic IP to next-gen video games, Hellraiser Revival presents a medley of some of the genre’s best in the process.
At a time when Resident Evil and a host of others have seized the gaming space, Hellraiser Revival looks less “new kid on the block” and more like a release capable of standing up there with the heavyweights right from the jump.
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A Hellraiser game needs to present top-of-line graphical horsepower to accentuate the heaps of gore and violence to really drive home the nail-biting immersive tension.
Hellraiser Revival does just that with all the expected graphical bells and whistles.
This game is notfor the faint of heart. Like itsy, dismemberment, mutilation and gore
And yes, on the sound design front, Doug Bradley is back as Pinhead. Just as important, though, are the borderline uncomfortable sound effects that come with the violence.
It’s an overall immersive romp, for those seeking it out. The entire vibe is less “time for another jumpscare” and more a persistent unsettling feeling in one’s gut.
Combat against humans and other monstrosities hits on the expected stuff in terms of melee and environmental wrinkles. It’s responsive and fun. Uncomfortable, given the never-ending tension, but effective at what it sets out to do.
There’s an expected, small touch of combat realism in terms of effectiveness. Blunt weapons smash up armor, whereas, from a strategy standpoint, sharp weapons will do more damage to enemies not wearing armor.
As is common in these types of games now, there’s a durability system for players to juggle, so finding new weapons is a must.
Not common, though, is the Genesis Configuration. It’s a box that bestows users supernatural powers. Think, controlling fire, or ripping sawblades out of a wall to send them ripping through enemies. It’s very Bioshock-like, in a good way.
Admittedly, Hellraiser Revival wouldn’t be so horrific if it didn’t have a brilliant wrinkle: Stealth is mandatorysometimes thanks to the presence of enemies who can’t be defeated in combat. Listening for sound cues before ever actually seeing these types of enemies is a nice little survival tip, to say the least.
Beyond combat, players will tackle puzzles, especially of the environmental variety. There’s the basic matching and finding stuff, but the Labyrinth puzzles where players mold the path forward are a nice touch.
Craftingd the reliance on things like melee weapons and the little magical cube
As expected, Clive Barker’s fingerprints are all over this.
The tale might land as polarizing for most. Protagonist Aidan Lynch and girlfriend Sunny are split up early on during the intro that is not PG or even PG-13 friendly. The long and the short of it is that Aidan must go through literal hell at times in his efforts to save her from the Cenobites.
Somewhat fittingly, though, Aidan and Sunny are crashouts and biker-gang aligned, so they’re not exactly role models or enjoyable. Deacon from Days Gone, these guys are not.
Alas, the story is a vehicle for the gameplay and vice versa. The overall lore ties are fun and any excuse to charge into hell itself works.
Where Hellraiser Revival really shines is in small non-combat sequences inspired by P.T. that feature players taking a lonely nightmare stroll through Aidan’s home with some horrifying results and puzzle-like scenarios. It’s supernatural horror at its finest and a welcome change of pace from the gory combat.
Hellraiser Revival runs well and comes with the expected suite of options, too.
For those who can stomach body horror and a marriage of sex and violence, Hellraiser Revival is a grotesque movie at a player’s fingertips.
In a very basic video game sense, this is almost a film adaptation done right in video game form. The gameplay is solid and the entire package’s level of immersion is downright impressive.
Disclaimers aside, Hellraiser Revival is a solid medley of gameplay elements found elsewhere in the space and bathed in a slew of gore. It’s not knocking genre heavyweights out of the way, but it is standing on its own as unique.
