Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival

Saber Interactive

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchPremium

Health Score

DECENT

Watch Gameplay

About This Game

Super Review

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a deeply unsettling single-player horror game strictly for mature audiences. It combines visceral combat and puzzles with relentless, graphic content including intense violence, gore, nudity, and disturbing themes. While it offers a finite, premium experience free from exploitative monetization, its explicit nature demands careful consideration for any family, making it suitable only for those 17 and older.

Super Review

Parent verdict

This is a qualified fit for very specific families, primarily those with older, mature teenagers who are already familiar with and understand the extreme adult themes of the Hellraiser franchise. With a health score of 43, the game's pervasive graphic violence, sexual content, and disturbing narrative are central to its identity, not optional elements. It works best with clear limits and open family discussion due to its uncompromising content, despite its ethical monetization and lack of social risks.

What players actually do

Players navigate disturbing environments, solving puzzles that involve finding keys, activating mechanisms, and observing clues to progress through the linear story.
Players engage in first-person combat against cultists and Cenobites using an arsenal of breakable melee weapons, scarce firearms, and supernatural abilities like telekinesis or fire, requiring strategic resource management.
Players scavenge for resources such as ammunition and healing items, and can craft supplies to aid their survival against challenging enemies and gruesome encounters.

Where it shines

The game delivers a faithful and uncompromising adaptation of the Hellraiser universe, co-written with Clive Barker, offering an authentic experience for fans of the source material.
As a premium, single-player title, it avoids predatory monetization schemes, loot boxes, or social pressures, focusing instead on a contained narrative experience.

Parent watch-outs

The game is rated Mature 17+ and PEGI 18 for persistent, graphic content, including intense violence, gore, torture, non-explicit sexual content, nudity, and a graphic opening scene with BDSM elements.
Mature narrative themes such as suicide, domestic abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and addiction are woven throughout the story, with no options to reduce the content intensity.

Family rules worth setting

Due to its extreme content, this game should only be considered for players aged 17 or older who have a demonstrated understanding of mature horror themes.
Establish strict time limits for play sessions, as the intense and disturbing nature of the game may be overwhelming in longer durations.

Talk about this

Discuss the mature and disturbing themes presented in the game, such as the philosophical relationship between pleasure and pain, desire, and suffering, and how these are depicted.
Talk about the difference between fictional horror and real-world violence or disturbing situations, and why such extreme content is part of the Hellraiser narrative.

Play style

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival offers a linear, first-person survival horror experience lasting about 8-12 hours for the main story. It features resource pressure and environmental puzzles, where players may need to scavenge and craft to survive. Combat can be clunky, and performance issues or bugs are noted on some platforms, potentially adding friction. The difficulty can be challenging, particularly with scarce resources and enemies that may require stealth or evasion, rather than direct confrontation. It's a strictly single-player journey with no social interaction.

Score Breakdown

Positive Aspects

Educational Value

1/5

Creativity

1/5

Pro-Social

0/5

Risk Factors

Addictive Monetization

1/5

Time Pressure / FOMO

0/5

Social Risk

0/5

Content Intensity

4/5

Why this rating

Educational Value

1/5

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a horror game focused on action, survival, and puzzle-solving within a mature and disturbing narrative. As such, it offers negligible educational value, reflected in its score of 1. Its design prioritizes visceral thrills and thematic exploration over learning objectives.

Addictive Monetization

1/5

The game is sold as a premium, one-time purchase with no loot boxes, gacha pulls, or pay-to-win mechanics, earning a low risk score of 1. While there are pricier editions with cosmetic extras, it avoids any exploitative or addictive monetization practices.

Content Intensity

4/5

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival receives a high-risk score of 4 due to its extreme and persistent graphic content. It is rated Mature 17+ and PEGI 18 for intense violence, gore, torture, nudity, strong sexual content, and depictions of BDSM, drug use, and disturbing themes, with no options to moderate these elements.

Negatives

•Rated Mature 17+ and PEGI 18, with strong violence, gore, torture and intense horror imagery throughout.
•Includes non-explicit sexual content, nudity and a graphic opening scene with BDSM elements that drives the story.
•Contains depictions of drug and alcohol abuse, tobacco use, and mature narrative themes such as suicide, domestic abuse and addiction.
•Horror content is persistent and graphic rather than mild or fantasy-flavoured, with no option to tone it down.

Positives

•Entirely single-player and offline, so there is no contact with strangers, no chat, and no online multiplayer risk.
•Sold as a one-time purchase with no loot boxes, gacha pulls, or pay-to-win mechanics
•the pricier edition only adds cosmetics and extras.
•No daily logins, streaks, energy timers, or live-service events pressuring kids to return.
•A finite 8-12 hour narrative means it does not encourage endless daily play sessions.