"Hellraiser Revival" Is a Wicked Feast for Decadent Eyes
Published October 9, 2026 at 12:30 AM EDT
Saber Interactive
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL— Imagine if the gay club sequence in Gaspar Noé’s 2002 film Irréversible were a horror FPS, with hordes of leather-clad gimps straight out of Pulp Fiction that you had to slash, bash, stab, saw and shoot your way through while simultaneously evading sadomasochistic entities from the netherworld. That’s the flavor of this filthy descent.
Of course, we’re just voyeurs, not players of AAA games that require more finger dexterity or hand-eye coordination than Madden or NBA 2K. Besides, we don’t like getting our hands dirty stealing cars, running over innocent bystanders or hacking things to death—even virtually. When it comes to games like God of War, GTA and Silent Hill, we like to watch.
And Hellraiser: Revival is immensely watchable—even through splayed fingers—though we wouldn’t recommend watching while eating.
The storyline and characters are sexy and depraved, and the environments downright filthy. We could practically smell the stale piss—and God knows what else—in the rotten, graffiti-strewn bathroom stalls. The sex clubs are a wicked feast for decadent eyes, while the Scarlet Church is hell on earth.
Even random NPC conversations reinforce the atmosphere. “If he kills me while fucking me, I’ll have earned my place in the labyrinth. Won’t I?” asks one. Elsewhere, one lesbian NPC tells another—the one who wants to use the biggest, thickest dildo—“You won’t be able to walk after I’m done with you.”
At one point in the sex club, you have to attach a spreader bar to a bony-butt chick with huge boobs in pink latex and unenthusiastically spank her ass until she relents and gives you a VIP pass to a more intense area. There, the cult leader is getting a blowjob while delivering a sermon on Cenobites to a bed full of weirdos having indecipherable group sex. That combination of sexual depravity and religious devotion defines the club’s particular madness.
But even depravity can become monotonous. The sheer volume of flayed, ripped-open, artistically reassembled human body parts eventually becomes mind-numbing. Add the endlessly dripping, oozing department-store mannequins made to resemble human cadavers, and there are stretches when the spectacle becomes desensitizing. After enough mutilation, another grotesque display starts to feel like part of the furniture—and that’s scary.
The labyrinth depicted in 1988’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II is faitfully rendered and expanded upon here and it's the highlight of Revival, allowing you to explore the endless catacombs of Clive Barker’s hell. Pinhead and the other Cenobites don’t get much screen time, but when they appear, they’re effective.
Still, its excesses make an impression. Sexy, sickening and saturated with sadomasochistic menace, "Hellraiser: Revival" is the wildest dark ride into the abyss we’ve ever taken in a video game.
Into the abyss, ni**a!
CLIVE BARKER’S HELLRAISER: REVIVAL
Studio: Saber Interactive | Released: Oct. 8, 2026
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC
Price: $39.99 Standard / $49.99 Deluxe
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