Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival has debuted to a deeply divided critical reception, with Metacritic scores showing a notable split among reviewers. While some outlets have praised the horror title, others have highlighted significant technical issues and design flaws, leading to a range of opinions from high praise to scores as low as 5/10 or even lower, according to Pure Xbox.
Hellraiser Revival Reviews: Divided Opinion and Scores
As of its launch, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival holds varying aggregate scores. The PlayStation 5 version registered a Metacritic score of 69, based on the platform with the most reviews. Meanwhile, the PC and Xbox versions both currently sit at 74. Despite the mixed bag of opinions, the game has also garnered a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, suggesting a more favourable reception among some players.
For those interested in purchasing, Pure Xbox reports the game is available for £34.99 / $39.99 on the Xbox Store, and includes Xbox Play Anywhere support, providing a free PC version with purchase.
Praise for the Hellraiser Experience
Supporters of Hellraiser: Revival frequently commend its faithful adaptation of the source material. Reviewers have described it as an “unexpected gem” and an “excellent entry into the horror genre and an even better entry into the Hellraiser universe.” The game is lauded for pushing boundaries and revelling in the uncomfortable, with its disturbing gore and sexual content, though noted as “never crossing a truly problematic line” for the latter, according to Game Informer.
The visual and auditory design has received significant praise, with mentions of “gorgeous visuals” and “stomach-churning sound design.” The Labyrinth, the Cenobites, and the Genesis Configuration are highlighted as standout elements that demonstrate the game’s respect for Clive Barker’s creations. Doug Bradley also reprises his iconic role as Pinhead, a performance widely described as a “career-capping return” that “unsurprisingly kill[s] it.” The game is also noted for being accessible to newcomers while offering “neat callbacks for fans.”
Significant Criticisms and Technical Flaws
Conversely, many critics, including Game Informer, have cited a myriad of technical problems and design choices that detract significantly from the experience, describing it as delivering “indescribable suffering” to players due to what is often a “miserable experience.”
Key issues include poor lip syncing, subpar audio mixing that can muffle quieter voice lines, and subtitles that sometimes fail to appear or do not match dialogue. Combat is frequently criticised for lacking weight, with unwieldy aiming for gunplay and melee feeling basic. The quick-turn mechanic, triggered by pressing the left stick downward, is singled out as particularly problematic due to accidental activation and no option to remap the input.
Enemy AI for the sadomasochistic cultists is described as uninteresting, with instances of them shooting at walls, blowing themselves up with grenades, and lacking pursuit or tactics. Resource management is another major point of contention, with an inconsistent economy leading to insufficient supplies for encounters and a frustrating store system where items randomly become unavailable. Reviewers also reported a general lack of polish, with enemies becoming trapped in geometry and major boss characters glitching out during scripted moments, all contributing to the game being labelled a “technical mess” that “falls apart more and more as the roughly 10-hour adventure progresses.”
Story and Gameplay Mechanics
The game’s narrative centres on Aiden Lynch, who must rescue his girlfriend, Sunny, after she unlocks the dreaded puzzle box and is taken to the hellish Labyrinth by the Cenobites, led by Pinhead. Lynch’s quest involves navigating the Labyrinth’s dangers and battling a Cenobite-obsessed cult in the human world. While the protagonist is deemed “uninteresting” by Game Informer, the story is considered decent, with interesting events unfolding around him.
Beyond basic gunplay and melee, players can weaponise the puzzle box, which adds unique gameplay elements like telekinesis to manipulate environmental objects or absorb torchfire to use as an attack. Exploration-focused segments within the Labyrinth are often cited for their strong art direction and macabre visuals, though even these sections are not entirely free of bugs.
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