This Hellraiser: Revival review looks at a survival horror adventure inspired by Clive Barker's famously graphic horror series. Right from its explicit opening scene, the game makes it clear that squeamish players should stay away. Beneath the buckets of blood and BDSM imagery, however, heavy-handed storytelling, repetitive chases, and flat boss fights keep the experience from truly sinking its hooks in.
Table Of Content
You play as Aiden, an everyman struggling with addiction who makes a grim pact with Pinhead, voiced by original actor Doug Bradley. To bring his murdered girlfriend back to life, Aiden must slaughter members of a local death cult and feed their hearts to her remains. Although the cenobite scenes are gripping, much of the nine-hour story relies on lengthy exposition dumps from secondary characters and a chatty merchant.
Combat, Stealth, and the Genesis Configuration
On the combat front, the shooting feels solid, even if its weapon and inventory systems borrow heavily from Resident Evil. You juggle scarce ammo across upgradeable pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and breakable melee weapons against a small roster of cultists and monsters. Unfortunately, overly aggressive aim assist and Aiden's inability to vault through an open window create unnecessary frustration.
Stealth also plays a role, letting you toss bricks and bottles to distract foes before landing brutal takedowns. Even so, the lack of corner-peeking controls often forces you into loud gunfights when you barely step out of cover. Worse still, instant-fail stealth sections feature stalker enemies that can sometimes spot you through bushes while you stand completely still.
Fortunately, the Genesis Configuration elevates the action by giving Aiden telekinetic abilities tied to a rechargeable suffering bar. You can hurl nails or sawblades at enemies, manipulate fire from explosive barrels, and perform grisly executions to refill your meter. A late-game super move even shackles and tears apart entire groups, though it arrives too late in the campaign to enjoy often.
Uninspired Bosses, Puzzles, and the Labyrinth
Despite some creative ideas, most boss encounters feel surprisingly dull and rely on simple circle-strafing. Standouts like the flying Sister of Mercy and a beast that traps you in a hanging cage offer brief excitement. By contrast, fighting a skinless creature twice and a sluglike cenobite four separate times quickly wears out its welcome.
Puzzles stick to familiar survival horror tropes like finding bolt cutters and keypad codes, alongside a few bizarre adult-themed tasks in a bondage club. Meanwhile, several set pieces imitate classics like Resident Evil 4 and P.T. without capturing their tension. In one elevator ambush, you can even step outside the front door and easily pick off enemies as they funnel toward the exit.
Between these moments, Aiden regularly enters the Labyrinth, an ominous maze of shifting concrete walls and spinning traps. Exploring this otherworld for health and suffering upgrades captures the eerie tone of the films. However, repeated chase sequences against the chattering cenobite known as Chatterer grow monotonous after the third or fourth run.
PS5 Bugs and Hellraiser: Revival Review Verdict
Technical hiccups on PS5 further dampen the experience, ranging from wall-clipping enemies to audio dropouts during boss battles. More annoying bugs included a safe that permanently relocked after leaving to clear inventory space, and a stuck safehouse door that blocked merchant access for roughly 30 minutes. Surviving that combat-heavy stretch on scavenged ammo turned a tense finale into an unwelcome grind.
Replay value is also minimal, as the two endings depend on a single binary choice at the climax that you can easily reload to see. Finishing the story boots you straight to the main menu with no New Game+ mode or unlockable rewards. Ultimately, Hellraiser: Revival delivers gory thrills in short bursts, yet it struggles to match the survival horror classics it imitates.
Source: Hellraiser: Revival Review
