Saber Interactive’s Hellraiser: Revival appears to be a success. While critical reviews, including our own, have not been stellar, fans have fallen in love with the first-person horror adventure, and so has series creator Clive Barker.
Since the original novella and trilogy of films, the iconic horror series has been troubled. There have been 11 films, including one reboot, overall, countless comic books, and even multiple cancelled games, and the series undoubtedly lost its bite.
In a discussion with Dread Central, Clive Barker explained that the release of Hellraiser: Revival is an essential part of reviving the franchise. “I have many ideas that I’d like to see realised in the Hellraiser universe,” the series’ creator said. “And I’m planning to keep my fingers in that pie.”
Barker explained that he was initially worried that the video game would water down the point of Hellraiser. “I was fearful at one point that the game would be overly censored but I’m genuinely astonished by how far they’ve been able to push it,” he said. “I’m proud as f**k at the end result”.
For the video game, Barker worked closely with the development team to make the game look and feel right. Barker, who has since reclaimed the legal copyright for his original novella and film, believes the game’s success is a rude awakening for studios that simply hold onto IP rights and squeeze out poor-quality sequels.
“I think what was achieved in the game is a wake-up call to anyone who’s been involved in the making of a franchise like Hellraiser,” Barker said, explaining that some of the poorer sequels were the result of studios rushing fast deadlines and low budgets.
“It’s not the fault of the writers and directors,” the horror icon said, “but just the way the system works in some cases. It’s a sad thing.”
As a story in itself, Hellraiser: Revival is a clever legacy sequel, wiping the slate of follow-ups after Hellraiser 2. While there is some fun to be had with some of the later sequels, they were messy, lore-twisting titles that ruined a lot of what made the series great.
With Barker at the helm, this could mean that any future sequels, including game sequels, could be set in this continuity. This could see the return, once again, of Doug Bradley as Pinhead with Barker saying: “Doug is Pinhead and Pinhead is Doug. They occupy the same space.”
At the time of writing, there’s no official confirmation on Saber’s plans for Hellraiser. While a sequel could be a good idea, or even a DLC expansion, there’s no word on how successful the game has been at this moment. With that said, the game certainty has a lot of chatter(er) surrounding it, and it does seem that the game has been a resounding success.
