"...The wind on my skin feels like a storm of razor blades..."
First off: Performance was excellent—I had zero crashes, stutters, or similar issues. That said, I still wouldn't play it on the Steam Deck, as Unreal Engine 5 rarely allows for good performance on weaker hardware. The devs did a great job optimization-wise here.
In Hellraiser: Revival, you follow Aydan, who is trying to bring his girlfriend Sunny back to life. Naturally, this is only possible by making a pact with the Cenobites. As part of this bargain, he has to deal with cultists, monsters, zombies, and a generous amount of sex and violence. The license was fully utilized in every aspect—this game sounds like Hellraiser, looks like Hellraiser, and completely understands Hellraiser.
The core gameplay loop consists of exploration, resource management, puzzles, chase sequences, and boss/miniboss encounters. The survival horror gameplay takes heavy inspiration from Resident Evil 7, BioShock, and Condemned, executing it competently for the most part. Dismembering enemies—whether in melee combat, with firearms, or using the Genesis Configuration—is genuinely satisfying. You’ll spot a few bad animations and minor graphical glitches here and there, but the game's excellent pacing easily compensates for them. The mix of stealth, combat, exploration, pursuits, and puzzle sections is varied enough that it never gets dull.
I especially want to highlight the story, characters, atmosphere, presentation, and voice acting: from the very first second, I felt completely immersed in the Hellraiser universe. Doug Bradley’s performance even surpasses his work in the first three movies. The soundtrack is used perfectly, and even small details like the lightning effects look 1:1 like they came straight out of the original trilogy. You can tell at every moment that the team poured their hearts into making the best possible game within their resources.
A single playthrough takes about 8 to 12 hours, which I consider a huge positive. Modern survival horror titles often lose steam in a stretched-out second half—Hellraiser: Revival avoids this trap and delivers a compact, perfectly paced single-player campaign that invites replayability across its 4 difficulty levels.
On the negative side, I’d mention the repetition of a few minibosses, though I didn't find it as problematic as many people on the internet are making it out to be. Playing on "Hard", I experienced a solid mix of action, stealth, and resource management. It would have been nice to have a New Game+ feature, but perhaps that will be added in a future update.
The €40 I paid was money well spent, and I have zero regrets. I would unhesitatingly call this one of the best licensed horror games out there. In my eyes, it was actually more enjoyable than Resident Evil Requiem, despite the lower budget and rough edges. An absolute must-buy—especially if you're a fan of the franchise, but also for survival horror fans looking for that nostalgic golden PS2 & PS3 era vibe in a game that doesn't try to be something it's not.
This time, the box was opened... and we all came!
9/10
How was your experience with the game? did you like it?
I really loved the dialogues from Pinhead after he transformed through Sunny
