Hellraiser: Revival is making me rethink my tolerance for videogame horror and gore
31
Oct 26
If you were around on the internet in the 2000s, chances are you probably saw something that desensitised you to violence and gore. It was the Wild West, when Google would link to anything and everything, and after playing games like San Andreas in my childhood, little phases me in videogames. I went into Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival expecting a unique horror gem to add to my list. Little did I know the nausea that would set in.
Considering the series is almost 40 years old, and I am merely 26, I haven’t actually watched any of the Hellraiser movies. All I know is that there’s a bald man called Pinhead, and he didn’t get that name because he’s always getting pins and needles. When I started the game, a naughty scene that looked painful to watch introduced me to the Cenobites, including the infamous Pinhead himself. This was partly because I had to turn down my office speakers, and partly because of the sadomasochistic nature of the sequence (try saying that five times). Most of them looked strange, but the Chatterer in particular is quite unsettling to see.
It wasn’t anything out of my usual comfort zone at this point, so I continued. Until Aidan, the main character, witnesses his girlfriend getting torn apart by chains in the most unsettling, gut-wrenching way possible. Look, a sickness bug has been storming its way through my house, and seeing that scene made my stomach turn upside down. That was unusual, because virtual gore has never made me feel so uneasy, and I would love to say that it got better from there.
It didn’t.
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival
See, after that, you wake up naked and chained to a chair in the most unsettling way, and I can confirm that Aidan may be the only protagonist in videogame history to have a piercing on his… well, you’ll see. It’s here where you meet Bruno, but mainly through his artistic pieces, which really put the body in body horror. Some of his creations are truly, deeply disgusting, and—at this point—I was due to have lunch. I can promise you I was not hungry.
You can’t really have a horror game without making the player (meaning me) uncomfortable. They’re just spooky games instead. But Hellraiser: Revival managed to put me on edge in two ways: through absolute visceral disgust and, eventually, the familiar scares that us horror fans are used to. They blend together very well, in a way that made me question the developers—that’s only a compliment, I assure you.
It’s certainly not a game I’d recommend to everyone, especially those who are sensitive to gory imagery. Hellraiser: Revival manages to capture tension and fear through its atmosphere, visuals, and sound—the chattering of teeth as you’re chased comes to mind. I haven’t completed it just yet (call me a scaredy cat, I don’t care), but for those looking to be scared on Halloween, I can’t think of a better choice of game to play.
Just… don’t eat before you play, okay? If you do, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Callum Self is a videogames journalist who has spent more than six years writing about games, from guides and gaming trends to the weird little details that make a game worth talking about. His bylines include GameSpot, Wargamer, PCGamesN, IGN, Gfinity, and Pocket Tactics. When he isn't writing about games, he's probably playing them, collecting Pokémon cards, or wondering why his backlog keeps getting bigger despite knowing full well he doesn't have time to play it.
