Hellraiser Revival preview: what IGN France thinks after an hour of gameplay

A roughly one-hour demo on PC, positioned at around 60% of Hellraiser Revival's progression according to Saber Interactive. You play as a hero searching for his companion, held prisoner by Pinhead, alternating between present-day sequences and disturbing psychological flashbacks. IGN's dominant impression coming out of the session: it's disturbing, often in-your-face, and surprisingly well-crafted in its construction.

What works first is the exploration. We expected a linear horror FPS, but instead we clearly get an old-school Resident Evil-style structure: color-coded map, locked doors you reopen later, thorough searching to dig up ammo and weapons. Nothing revolutionary on paper, you might say, but it's a change from the classic horror corridor and really pushes you to examine every room, the journalist tells us.

The combat, meanwhile, hits hard: machete, shotgun, a simple feel that nonetheless seems to get the job done, and an already varied bestiary (masked fanatics, chained enemies, shooters). The Configuration - the cube stolen from Pinhead - isn't just a narrative gimmick: you use it to levitate sharp objects and hurl them, or move sections of wall while exploring. It integrates well into the gameplay, without being too gimmicky according to IGN.

The sound design is impressive too: moans, creaks, sudden silences after the chaos. It's this brutal contrast between carnage and calm that instills unease better than any in-your-face gore scene.

What's worrying, on the other hand: the demo was running on a high-end PC setup, so it's hard to judge the final rendering on consoles. And above all, this very in-your-face aesthetic (sex, S&M, explicit torture) clearly won't win everyone over, even among adult players used to the horror genre. The question of how well it holds up over time also remains open - one hour of gameplay, even dense, doesn't tell us whether the exploration/combat/puzzle loop holds up over the planned 8-10 hour total runtime.

Things are off to a good start if Saber Interactive keeps up this pace and this suggestion/exposition ambiguity all the way through, according to the IGN France journalist. For the exact release date, see our dedicated article.