Just a few days earlier than my appointment at Gamescom to see Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival was set to happen, I obtained an e-mail from a PR warning me about it.
“We wished to make you conscious of the robust content material you’ll see in your Hellraiser: Revival demo at Gamescom,” her e-mail stated. “Please word the demo closely options specific scenes of intercourse, nudity, violence, physique horror and gore.”
As somebody who’s been protecting video games professionally for almost 20 years, I feel that is the primary time I’ve ever been despatched a content material warning prematurely, so in that respect Hellraiser: Revival is already breaking new floor.
I’m a large horror fan who is aware of the Hellraiser motion pictures inside-out, so I’m already well-versed on how themes of sadomasochism, torture and massive pointy spikes going into flesh run by way of all 11 movies. However was the sport actually going to be as graphic as its supply materials?
Pricey reader, let me put it this fashion by paraphrasing my PR chum – please word this hands-on preview article closely options descriptions of specific scenes of intercourse, nudity, violence, physique horror and gore.
Significantly, that’s a real warning.
As I chatted to the PR earlier than my appointment she famous once more that I used to be in for a reasonably graphic demo. I requested her how she’s coped with spending her whole Gamescom watching individuals enjoying by way of the identical gory demo all day.
“Oh, I’ve just about develop into desensitised to it by now,” she cheerfully replied. Have a few of that, Pinhead.
She guided me right into a darkened room, the place two of its pleasant affiliate sport administrators stood subsequent to a PC operating the sport. They as soon as once more requested me if I used to be accustomed to the movies, and whether or not I knew it was fairly a graphic franchise. I assured them I did, and bought began.
Straight away, the warnings made sense. Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival – Saber Interactive insists on utilizing the complete title the place doable to make it clear that the legendary horror writer has been overseeing the story right here – opens with a slightly steamy intercourse scene which rapidly turns greater than somewhat ouchy.
Because it seems, the sport’s protagonist Aidan has shacked up with a woman pal referred to as Sunny who’s into the extra harmful stuff, which is promptly demonstrated when she pierces a giant hook by way of his nipple (which is proven in full element, naturally).
She then takes out the Lament Configuration, the long-lasting puzzle field that options within the Hellraiser motion pictures, and begins messing round with it. Eager to point out he can do kinky too, Aidan grabs the field and begins reducing Sunny with its nook – don’t fear, she’s apparently into it, in order that’s nice I suppose.
Ultimately all this box-fiddling results in the inevitable conclusion, which is the arrival of the Cenobites, a bunch of S&M demons from an extra-dimensional realm who like to seem earlier than any people who summon them, and supply to convey them again to their realm for a little bit of the previous How’s Your Father. And by that I imply an eternity of torture till they will now not inform the distinction between pleasure and ache. Like being a Star Wars fan, mainly.
Naturally, Sunny jumps on the likelihood, so when the 4 ‘predominant’ Cenobites – affectionately recognized by the Hellraiser group as Chatterer, Butterball, Deepthroat and the chief Pinhead – supply to take her away, she willingly accepts. And, since she has no want for her bodily physique on Earth any extra, it’s ripped aside by huge hooks in a wildly gory vogue.
Somewhat than phoning the police – how might you clarify that anyway – a unadorned Aidan decides to wander into the large dimensional rift that’s now appeared in his wall, in an try to search out Sunny. As a result of regardless of what simply occurred to her physique within the Earth realm, on this dimension she’s nonetheless very a lot alive, nicely and slightly unclothed. A whole lot of issues are bare on this sport, it seems.
So begins the sport itself, which is performed from a first-person perspective. The beginning of my demo session felt a bit like Outlast, as I made my means by way of a bunch of creepy corridors – all of that are completely designed to seem like they got here out of the 2 ‘80s Hellraiser motion pictures – as numerous grotesque creatures and different unpleasantries appeared round me.
Ultimately the demo moved on a bit and I discovered myself captured by a cult, whose chief desires to search out the Lament Configuration and use it to summon the Cenobites for himself. I used to be nailed to a chair by the wrists (apparently cults don’t use duct tape) and had my arm stitched to my abdomen.
When the chief left the room I needed to escape by pulling my palms as much as take away the nails, then utilizing the nails to chop the stitches. It was the type of sequence that made me recognize the NHS much more.
At this level the sport immediately modifications from a corridor-based horror maze sport to extra of a first-person survival horror with stealth-like parts. Assume Resident Evil 7, besides each time you look down you’ll be able to see your willy in graphic element.
On this part yow will discover weapons and collect sources to craft issues like bandages and ammunition, as a result of each sport must have crafting in it by legislation today. Placing apart the truth that just a few bandages is unlikely to heal having nails pushed by way of your wrist, I made my means by way of the varied rooms, taking out the cultists in a suitably gory method.
Even the puzzles within the sport are dodgy. At one level it’s important to discover components of a key, considered one of which is lodged within the head of a corpse. You may’t actually attain it from above, so it’s important to mainly dig your arm into its chest space and pull the important thing out from beneath, like that bit when Mr Bean misplaced his watch in a turkey. However with corpses.
“At one level it’s important to discover components of a key, considered one of which is lodged within the head of a corpse. You may’t actually attain it from above, so it’s important to mainly dig your arm into its chest space and pull the important thing out from beneath, like that bit when Mr Bean misplaced his watch in a turkey. However with corpses.”
One other particularly grim key-related puzzle has you attempting to stealthily get previous a demented scientist, who has a unadorned girl tied to a giant canvas and is dancing round, reducing at her with a scalpel. As soon as you’re employed your means across the room with out being noticed and get to the subsequent room, you realise you’ll be able to’t use the fingerprint scanner.
As ‘luck’ would have it, the mad physician has minimize off one of many poor woman’s fingers, so it’s important to stealth again into the room, decide up her severed finger from the ground and use that to open the door. The entire thing offers off ‘escape room devised by Charles Manson’ vibes.
Ultimately I ended up within the sport’s final predominant part, the place I used to be again within the different dimension and being chased by Chatterer, so-called due to his enormous chattering enamel. This was a fundamental chase part the place I needed to run down corridors, dodging large chains and selecting the best route to show.
At instances Chatterer would spawn proper in entrance of me, which means I needed to do a fast 180 and run in the wrong way. Usually the trail I had simply run down had utterly modified once I circled, making it really feel virtually like a fast-paced model of the PT demo at instances.
This part led to a couple deaths till I discovered the sequence of corridors to take, and though I fairly loved the trial-and-error strategy, if there are extra moments like this within the full sport I get the sensation these would be the extra divisive sections as a result of not each participant can be so forgiving.
As my demo ended with one other transient exploration part, I made a decision I used to be proud of what I’d performed up to now. That is the primary main Hellraiser online game – Pinhead has been in Useless By Daylight, however who hasn’t at this level – and there may be no denying that Saber Interactive and Boss Group Video games aren’t shying away from the subject material.
There’ll virtually definitely be tales written in regards to the extra controversial parts of the sport, however followers of the films who know that depravity equals authenticity will perceive that something tamer wouldn’t be Hellraiser. What’s extra, the return of Doug Bradley because the voice of Pinhead is a blood-soaked cherry on high of a cake made out of… I don’t know, cheek pores and skin and entrails or one thing.
Because the demo ended, I turned in my chair to see the PR and the sport administrators, huge smiles on their faces, eagerly watching me for my response to the slightly excessive demo I had simply performed.
“So simply to verify,” I requested. “It’s rated PEGI 7, sure?”
