As visually shocking as the Hellraiser reveal trailer was, I don’t think it could’ve prepared me for the hour-long theater of violence and sadism my poor eyes were going to be subjected to at Gamescom 2025. My Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival preview is not for the faint of heart, but if you can stomach it, there could be a special horror game here.
Let’s start with the most important detail first: I have never consumed one second of Hellraiser media. Never watched a movie, know nothing about the lore, and my only exposure is basic horror knowledge of the Pinhead character. I think we can label me a Hellraiser noob in this case.
I was very excited to be invited to an exclusive hands-on preview with Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival at Gamescom 2025. This preview will not hold back, folks. If you’re squeamish, get a sick bag on standby.
Hellraiser Will Raise Blood Pressure and Anxiety
The first five minutes of the Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival preview demo features graphic nudity, the male and female genitalia, BDSM, extreme mutilation, and images the human mind should only dream of—not see. It’s a continuation of the Hellraiser reveal trailer, which shocked audiences on July 22.
It’s not long before I take control of Aidan in this brand-new Hellraiser story (considered canon). Associate game directors Srđan Nedić and Aleksandra Pelivanović made it clear to me that this is the perfect starting point for newcomers. The Genesis Configuration is a legendary device mysteriously activated by Aidan and his girlfriend, Sunny. Pinhead and his cultist cronies want to know how you activated it and want to harness its power.
Aidan needs to suffer until this happens. You must wrench a hook out of your body, cut away at your stitched-up torso, and pull nails out of your hands. It’s just a casual Saturday night for some. There’s an impressively broad spectrum of horror on display throughout the demo: PT-esque hallways, clever environmental puzzles requiring lateral thinking, chase sequences, jump scares, and the constant dread of psychological torture and mental anxiety.
Oh, I nearly forgot the visual horror—only joking, the shocking images are burned into my retinas. My journey through the Labyrinth is a supreme gut check, which is apt as I lost count of how many entrails I saw. The cultists who inhabit the area are obsessed with art and making people suffer. You venture from room to room, and it becomes a swift game of one-upsmanship.
Each new ‘piece’ features new layers of evisceration, dismemberment, and testing the limits of the human body. It’s even more disturbing when you encounter people who are clearly still alive and are suffering through this. A distinct moment of the demo features a dancing ‘doctor’ cutting up a naked woman strapped helplessly to a vertical surgery table. Her jaw is missing, causing her tongue to flail around like an angry cat’s tail. I eventually have to sneak past the scene—getting close to the massacre in the process—and watch in horror as a pair of hands suddenly fly past me—hers, and she’s still alive.
If You Love Resident Evil, You’ll Love Hellraiser
Hellraiser turned out to be my most surprising game of Gamescom 2025. I went in with no expectations, and it’s now immediately on my perpetual wanted list. If I had to describe my time with it, I’d liken it to Resident Evil 7 and 8—a proper first-person horror game with puzzles, finding key items, and even in its combat.
This isn’t an Outlast-type of horror journey. You get weapons early on, and you must be cognizant of their types. Certain tools won’t be effective against armored enemies, for instance. Each tool has a degradation meter, so you could easily destroy your weapon without really inflicting any damage. I also got a gun towards the end of my playtime.
The enemy AI was quite smart and was quick to go into cover if I had a gun. They would utilize the surroundings to try and flank me. However, there was nothing I could do against The Chatterer. Some basic research allows me to understand it’s not a new enemy in the Hellraiser universe, but for me, it’s one of the most horrifying figures I’ve come across. Think of Nemesis, but with unnerving chattering teeth, with every coming together of those canines ringing in my ear like hypnotic torture.
Do not sleep on Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, there’s something horribly cool here. If this Hellraiser preview hasn’t made it clear, you probably won’t want to sleep anyway.
I hope you get to see what I saw for yourself. Its palette of violence and vivid imagery is so rare in gaming. You can expect Terrifier levels of gratuitous gore in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival. If Saber’s new horror game can maintain its consistency throughout the whole runtime, this might not be our first visit to hell.
Let me know what you’re most excited for about the game via the Insider Gaming forum. What do non-Hellraiser fans need to know or do to prepare themself?
Also, check out even more IG previews coming straight out of Gamescom 2025: Phantom Blade Zero, LEGO Voyagers, Valor Mortis, Super Meat Boy 3D, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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Now go watch the first two movies. Now. We have such sights to show you!