Hands-on with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival

I spent an hour with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival and came away cautiously optimistic. Saber Interactive’s first-person shooter horror plays like a BioShock Lite drenched in the franchise’s leather, latex, blood, sex, and gore, and even the developers seemed surprised it earned an M-rating rather than something stronger.

Players take the role of Aidan, who ventures into a world where his girlfriend Sunny has been captured by Pinhead and the Cenobites. In one playable section I explored an underground S&M club, trading gunfire with leather- and latex-clad cultists, finding keys, cassette recordings, photos and scarce ammo, and dispatching foes who sometimes sprang from iron maidens.

The Genesis Configuration, a new version of the franchise’s puzzle box, proved pivotal. I could siphon fire and energy from the environment to set enemies ablaze and manipulate rooms in Hell’s labyrinthine corridors and puzzle spaces.

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