Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival – a game so grotesque it scares its own director
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a forthcoming first-person action-horror game set in Barker's universe, developed with his direct oversight and featuring Doug Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead for the first time in two decades. Game director Emil Esov says the team deliberately prioritised sustained discomfort over jump scares, drawing on unsettling imagery so effective that Esov discovered his own fear of clustered small holes while researching it for the game. The approach matters as a rare instance of a horror licence being shaped by its original creator's continued input rather than handed off wholesale to a studio.
The story follows Aidan Lynch, who must use the Genesis Configuration puzzle box to rescue his girlfriend from the Labyrinth as Pinhead, the Cenobites and a cult pursue him, with roughly a quarter of the game set within the Labyrinth itself. Barker helped shape the universe's characters and rules before advising on details such as the sky's colour, while Bradley reportedly needed little direction, according to Esov. The Cenobites remain unbeatable rather than conventional enemies, combat draws comparisons to Resident Evil, BioShock and Condemned, and the hardest difficulty setting is named after the film itself. Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival launches on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on 8 October.
- New Hellraiser game overseen by Clive Barker launches 8 October
- Doug Bradley returns as Pinhead after two decades away
- Game design prioritises sustained discomfort over jump scares
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Hellraiser is a horror universe created by British writer and filmmaker Clive Barker, first introduced in a 1986 film. Its stories feature Pinhead and the Cenobites, figures from a dimension called the Labyrinth, and the Genesis Configuration, a puzzle box that can open a way between worlds.
The game follows Aidan Lynch as he tries to rescue his girlfriend from the Labyrinth while Pinhead, the Cenobites and a cult pursue him. Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in earlier films, returns to the role, and Barker has helped shape the game’s world and characters.
The project brings the creator of the original universe into the making of a game based on it. That gives Barker a continuing role in how Hellraiser is adapted, while the game’s focus on sustained unease reflects the series’ mix of graphic horror and supernatural threat.
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