Hello, I’m Emil Esov from Saber Interactive, and we’re excited to have Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival coming to PlayStation 5 on October 8, 2026! The staff has been laborious at work over the previous 4+ years making a sport that brings life to Clive Barker’s distinctive type of horror and we’ve bought the primary take a look at an unique behind-the-scenes developer diary to share with you that covers what constructing this sport has been like for us:
Hellraiser separates itself from different items of horror media by having villains, the Cenobites, who aren’t so simply seen as being morally dangerous. Because the Hell Priest (aka Pinhead) explains in the unique Hellraiser film, they’re “Explorers in the additional areas of expertise. Demons to some, angels to others”. We like to consider them as monks – whether or not it involves excessive ache or pleasure, they’re in exploring sensations and pushing the boundaries of what’s attainable.
Your Hellraiser: Revival expertise will come from the angle of Aidan Lynch, our story’s protagonist. He first encounters the Cenobites after his girlfriend Sunny prompts the Genesis Configuration, a mysterious puzzle field with unknown energy and objective. The Cenobites seem and unceremoniously tear Sunny in half. At first this looks like some sort of fever dream to Aidan, however he rapidly involves study that Sunny’s soul can nonetheless be saved and that the Cenobites are integral to undertaking that objective.
Whereas Cenobites exist as godlike explorers of expertise from one other realm, there are individuals in the actual world who’re looking for that very same sort of enlightenment. That is the place one of many teams of enemies that you simply’ll face in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival come in… the members of the Scarlet Church. Led by a charismatic determine named Marlowe, this cult is working to ascertain contact with the Cenobites and seeks to make use of the Genesis Configuration in order to create a debauched paradise for themselves.
However the cultists of the Scarlet Church aren’t the one individuals that may stand in Aidan’s means. There are individuals, possibly now higher described as wretches, who as soon as sought out better experiences however had been denied by Leviathan, the creator of the Cenobites and ruler of the otherworldly Labyrinth. We name these creatures, who’re basically Hell’s rejects, the Unworthy. They’re drawn to the Genesis Configuration as a possible path to redemption, and can instinctively hunt down Aidan in an effort to acquire it.
You’ll have the ability to combat again in opposition to the cultists of the Scarlet Church and the Unworthy by attacking whereas dual-wielding weapons (R2) and Genesis Configuration powers (L1). Aidan’s journey preventing in opposition to these teams shall be stuffed with ache, pleasure and all the pieces in between. In a means, this mirrors our expertise creating the sport over the previous few years. A few of us have even uncovered our personal fears and phobias by way of the event course of. I discovered that I endure from trypophobia, a situation the place you are feeling sick from clusters of holes or bumps!
Fortunately, in case you run into something you discover too disturbing or end up needing to make a fast escape away from a sure Cenobite, you’ll be able to both flip your Flashlight off (R3) and hope the issue goes away… or make a fast 180 diploma flip (Left Stick + L3) and run on your life!
In the event you’ve made it this far into the weblog, congratulations! You may be precisely the kind of one who will get pleasure from exploring that which Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival has to supply. However I’m not one to cross judgment – Leviathan is the final word decider. Will you be worthy? We’ll discover out on October 8 when Hellraiser: Revival launches each digitally and on bodily media.