Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival
2026 video game
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Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a 2026 survival horror action game developed and published by Saber Interactive. Based on the Hellraiser franchise, it was written in collaboration with the franchise's creator, Clive Barker. The game was released for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in October 2026. It received mixed reviews from critics.
| Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | Saber Interactive |
| Publisher | Saber Interactive |
| Director | Emil Esov |
| Artist | Petra Nikolić |
| Writer | Antony De Fault |
| Series | Hellraiser |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5 |
| Platforms | |
| Release | October 8, 2026 |
| Genres | Action, survival horror |
| Mode | Single-player |
Gameplay
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a single-player survival horror and action game.[1] The player controls Aidan Lynch from a first-person perspective, and must defend against hostile humans and demonic Cenobites using both combat and stealth.[2] Additionally, players can solve puzzles and gather resources to craft items, such as healing equipment and ammunition.[3][4] In combat, the player can use melee weapons and firearms. Blunt weapons, such as clubs and baseball bats, break through armor, while sharp weapons, such as knives and machetes, are effective against unprotected enemies;[4][5] all melee weapons break after a certain number of uses.[5] A puzzle box called the Genesis Configuration can also be used as a weapon and provides the player with additional abilities, including telekinesis.[2][6] Some enemies cannot be defeated in combat and require the player to sneak or flee to survive.[2]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Biker gang member Aidan Lynch (portrayed by Xalavier Nelson Jr.)[7] and his girlfriend Yoon "Sunny" Sun-Hee (Leader Looi) discover a supernatural puzzle box called the Genesis Configuration.[2][6] When Aidan cuts Sunny with the box during sex, he inadvertently summons a group of extradimensional, sadomasochistic beings called Cenobites.[3] Their leader, Pinhead (Doug Bradley), offers to take Sunny to Hell.[3][4] She agrees, leading Aidan to follow her with the intent to free her from the Cenobites and their fanatical cult, the Scarlet Church.[2]
The Scarlet Church is a sadistic cult led by the charismatic Marlowe and his artist-prophet Bruno that worships Leviathan and the Cenobites. Operating beneath a BDSM club, it subjects people to ritual sacrifice and surgical mutilation in pursuit of transforming them into Cenobites, though its attempts at ascension produce monstrous beings.[8][9][10][11]
In addition to Pinhead, the game features Cenobites from the franchise including Butterball, Chatterer, and Deep Throat.[3] Other enemies include Bruno Keller, a sadistic artist.[12][13] The game's setting alternates between reality and the Cenobites' labyrinthine dimension.[2]
Plot
Aidan and his girlfriend Sunny have sadomasochistic sex involving the Genesis Configuration, a puzzle box given to Sunny. Responding to their lust and pain, the box summons the Cenobites: the Child, the Cabalist, the Fallen, and their leader, the Hell Priest. The Priest summons hooked chains that tear Sunny apart and knock Aidan unconscious.
Aidan awakens as a captive of the Scarlet Church, a cult that pursues extreme sensations of pain and pleasure and worships the Cenobites as divine angels. Led by Marlowe and his prophet Bruno, the cult seeks to recover the box for the Rite of Rebirth, which its members believe will transform them into Cenobites. Marlowe demands Aidan's help to activate the box, but Aidan escapes and fights through the church's sprawling complex of torture chambers and a sex club. As he approaches Marlowe and the box, he hears Sunny calling to him, telling him she survived and asking him to find her. Disguised as a cult member, Aidan watches Bruno implant the box in the chest of Charlotte, a woman Bruno has mutilated in preparation for the ritual. The Cenobites briefly appear, and Charlotte transforms into a grotesque monster. In the ensuing panic, Aidan reclaims the box, kills Bruno, and escapes.
Outside the facility, Aidan encounters Zora, an Eremite who offers him advice. Aidan activates the box and summons the Priest, who agrees to help him rescue Sunny in exchange for his flesh when the time comes. The Priest leads him into the Labyrinth, the Cenobites' dimension, ruled by Leviathan. In the Field of Souls, Aidan finds a stone pillar associated with Sunny and uses the box to liquefy it into blood.
He returns home and finds Sunny as a living skeleton in immense pain. The Priest tells him that she must feed on the chosen to be fully restored. Aidan seeks out Charlotte, but the Fallen confronts him along the way, telling him that Leviathan sees the emptiness of his soul and that he desires the same extreme pleasures as the Cenobites. Aidan kills Charlotte and takes her heart. His return journey through the Labyrinth reveals his past substance addictions, and that his seemingly idyllic relationship with Sunny was actually volatile and abusive. He feeds Sunny Charlotte's heart, partially restoring her body.
Aidan next seeks Marlowe at his club, where Zora suggests that he is confusing needing Sunny with loving her, and that she fills the same void as his previous addictions. Aidan kills the Sister of Mercy, one of Marlowe's failed Rebirth creations, and feeds her heart to Sunny, further restoring her body and revealing her pregnancy.
The Labyrinth transports Aidan back to the church's facility, where Bruno—resurrected in the same way as Sunny—takes the box and flees. Aidan pursues him into the lower levels, where a desperate Marlowe demands that Bruno perform the Rite of Rebirth on him, believing himself destined to become a god. Bruno presses the box into Marlowe's chest, summoning the Cenobites. The Priest tells Marlowe that he was never destined for ascension, but is an ingredient for the Rite. Marlowe is transformed into a hulking monster and flees to the church's cathedral. Aidan confronts Bruno, who abandons Marlowe's cause and declines to fight. Recovering the box, Aidan pursues Marlowe to the cathedral and defeats him.
Aidan feeds Sunny Marlowe's heart, fully restoring her human form. The Cenobites arrive, and the Priest demands that Aidan fulfil his bargain. Aidan submits, allowing Sunny to consume his hand, and learns that she only needed flesh from the chosen; Aidan did not have to kill them. The Priest reveals the Genesis Configuration is actually used to identify a Revenant Mother, Sunny, someone with a womb, sufficient will, and an unquenchable void within them. As Sunny begins to give birth, the Priest kneels over her and dissolves. Aidan tries to intervene, but the Child throws him into the Labyrinth. By the time he returns, Sunny has given birth to an ascended incarnation of the Priest, capable of experiencing greater sensations and wielding Leviathan's powers of revelation.
Sunny reveals that she agreed from the outset to give birth to the Priest in exchange for joining the Cenobites, and manipulated Aidan to resurrect her. Aidan angrily accuses her of using him, but she replies that they used each other. Sunny and the Cenobites, except the Fallen, open Leviathan's body and enter the Void within—a deeper realm where they can explore the apotheosis of sensation. The Fallen offers Aidan the choice to join them, while Zora encourages him to choose his own destiny and believe he can change. If Aidan accepts the Fallen's offer, they enter the Void, and Aidan becomes a Cenobite. If he refuses, Aidan is optimistic about building a new life.
Development
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is being developed by Saber Interactive using Unreal Engine 5, with Emil Esov serving as the game director.[1][12] It is the first video game in the Hellraiser franchise and the second to feature Pinhead, following the character's inclusion as downloadable content for the asymmetric multiplayer game Dead by Daylight before its removal in April 2025.[14][15] The game was predominantly inspired by the "atmosphere, themes, and mythos" of the original film, Hellraiser (1987), and its first sequel Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).[16]
Franchise creator Clive Barker was consulted on the game's story from the beginning of development,[16][17] while Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in the first eight Hellraiser films and voiced the character in Dead by Daylight, reprised his role.[18] Other key development staff include art director Petra Nikolić and narrative director Anthony De Fault.[1][19][unreliable source?]
Release
Saber Interactive first teased Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival on 17 July 2025,[20] before officially announcing it on July 22.[6] In August 2025, a 45-minute demo of the game was featured at Gamescom.[4] The game was released for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 8, 2026.[21][22] Boss Team Games created three collector's edition releases for the game, which will include collectibles such as a re-creation of the Genesis Configuration puzzle box, a statue, an art book, a SteelBook case, and an art print signed by Barker.[23][24]
Reception
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | PC: 75/100[25] PS5: 69/100[26] XSXS: 71/100[27] |
| OpenCritic | 62% recommend[28] |
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[29] OpenCritic determined that 61% of critics recommended the game.[28]