If I could say one thing about Hellraiser: Revival, it would be that it is a faithful adaptation of Clive Barker’s seminal horror series.
This survival horror does not stand out, with brutal gore, a disturbing world of sadomasochism, and pin-perfect recreations of aspects from the films. For this, fans of the series will enjoy this game.
The problem is that this fidelity is crippled by a frustrating mix of gameplay ideas that go back and forth from brilliant sequences to some of the worst gaming moments of 2026. The ups and downs I experienced while reviewing this game were really something.
But let’s start with the story. Sunny and Aiden are two adventurous souls, let’s say, but one fateful night they get a little too adventurous in bed using the sharp corners of the Genesis setup.
This opens a door to the Labyrinth and summons the Cenobites. Eager to agree to give herself up to explore the riches of pain and pleasure, Sunny is torn apart by the Cenobites in a horribly meaty way.
Aiden is then captured by a sex cult that worships the Cenobites and must not only escape, but also retrieve Sunny from the Labyrinth.
What follows is a fairly linear first-person shooter that relishes the brutality of this universe. For this reason alone, I really enjoyed my first few hours of play, and sparks of enjoyment remained until the credits rolled.
I’ve only seen the first Hellraiser movie, but I love that Saber went out of its way to bring Clive Barker’s world to another medium. Every hallway is filled with some sort of depravity, with some of the most violent and disturbing things I’ve seen on PS5. It certainly won’t be for everyone, for that reason alone, but I respect the commitment to Clive Barker’s vision.
The levels, including the Maze, which are spread out over the roughly eight hours it takes to reach the credits, are particularly great, with stunning use of lighting and fun, trippy puzzles. Although the chase sequences with a particularly grumpy member of the Cenobites become a bit repetitive, they remain tense.
I loved the transforming environments and how they delved into protagonist Aiden’s troubled past and his tumultuous relationship with Sunny. He never holds back and really pushes his note to the extreme.
The problem, in reality, is the rest. Although it looks stunning at times on PS5 and PS5 Pro, Hellraiser: Revival is clearly a budget game. This is felt in the gameplay, with a real inconsistency between weapons, clumsy platforms and moments of truly confusing level design. In many ways, it reminded me of Teyon’s RoboCop: Rogue City.
It feels like Saber is throwing gameplay ideas at the wall to see what sticks. While a moment straight out of PT certainly does, a weird mini-recreation of Call of Duty Zombies doesn’t. These ups and downs also apply to environments, which are sometimes Really pretty and atmospheric, and other times they’re just GOOD.
My biggest problem, however, is with the combat. The fight itself isn’t bad. The enemies are quite tough, and I liked that when a cultist showed up with armor, it truly changed how I had to approach them, as the blades couldn’t harm them. The problem was a serious lack of resources.
Hellraiser features a crafting system where you must collect supplies throughout the level and eventually purchase recipes from a recurring store. The idea is that you can eventually craft ammo, health packs, and lockpicks.
However, for most of my playthrough I felt like I had no supplies, which meant I had no ammo or weapons, and since melee weapons have very limited durability and repairs only partially fix them, I often had to fight enemies with my default blade, which did almost no damage.
I can already hear many of you protesting that this is a survival horror mainstay, but I would argue that there is a fine line that every developer must walk. Many other survival horrors skate on this line just the right amount of supplies to help you out, but the scraps Hellraiser leaves for you to collect don’t match the amount of enemies and bosses it throws at you.
You have the Genesis build to help you out, which allows you to throw sharp objects and even shoot enemies. However, it’s powered by dealing damage to said enemies, and since that’s a problem due to lack of resources, it doesn’t seem like as consistent a tool as it probably should be.
All of these problems really show up in the game’s boss fights. The biggest bosses are some of the most frustrating bosses I’ve played, with mechanics that aren’t entirely obvious or spaces that are incredibly difficult to navigate.
There were a few fights where I simply ran out of supplies, so I was trying to get my little moves in before they killed me and I had to start all over again. This is particularly frustrating since many of the mini-bosses repeat themselves. several times throughout the campaign.
The game definitely starts to throw more resources at you towards the end of the game, but I think it’s telling that in the later fights you’re able to move spinning blades to take out larger numbers of enemies, rather than fighting them with your weapons.
Hellraiser: Revival offers a quality and performance mode option on both versions of the Sony console. I didn’t notice any marked differences between the two versions, but even in performance mode I spotted some frame rate drops, especially when transitioning from one area to another.
Some DualSense haptics are implemented here, but they are very inconsistent, like feeling every selection in the storage box menu through the controller, but not in the store menu, or the shotgun having an actual punch but the machine gun looks like a lukewarm toy.
Conclusion
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Revival is a frustrating experience, because for every thing it does really well, it does two things that will bore your life. Part of me was ready to see past the bullshit, because you have a nice niche horror title brought to life in a new medium, and I certainly respect him for trying it.
However, too often its design choices irritated me, prevented me from progressing, or made me just not want to play. Although it contains small sparks of something special, Hellraiser: Revival is more of a pain than a pleasure.
Gn tech
