After 9 years of live service horror games, I can't wait for the new Hellraiser game to push back against the Dead by Daylight effect

I never thought I'd say this about the sadistic likes of Pinhead, but Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival has me breathing a sigh of relief. From Evil Dead: The Game (which never quite took off) to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (which had a sharp yet short viral moment) all the way back to 2017's Friday The 13th: The Game (may she rest in pieces), iconic slasher movies always seem to get the multiplayer cat-and-mouse treatment when adapted into video games. Trust me; I've played all of them.

But despite all these games being true labors of love, replete with lore-accurate design and mechanical flourishes from equally passionate developers putting their own spin on Dead by Daylight's blueprint, so many of these games go unappreciated. To me, that's a consequence of the genre itself. The new Hellraiser game being single player is finally proving my point: it's time for licensed horror games to stop trying to make Dead by Daylight 2.0 happen. It's not going to happen, and that's a very good thing.

We already have Dead by Daylight at home

As I opened up the press release for Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, I knew it would go one of two ways. I'd either be staring down the barrel of another well iterated yet doomed Dead by Daylight flanker, or the upcoming horror game would go rogue. Thankfully, the latter is the case here.

Described as a "single-player, survival horror action game set in the terrifying universe of one of the most iconic horror franchises ever," Hellraiser: Revival is everything I could have asked for. Its first-person stylings might have a look of playing as Jason Voorhees or any of the Dead by Daylight killers – yes, Pinhead himself is among the star-studded roster too – but the solo slant means it'll be a very different experience from either.

It's an immense victory for all horror fans, and for the first time since the PS2 glory days of movie tie-in games, I'm feeling confident about a horror video game adaptation. It all boils down to one thing: genre.

Hyper-specificity is a double-edged sword in games like these. In my experience, the fun I can have with an asymmetrical horror game depends on how much I can do with it rather than how deep and lore-accurate everything is.

That's long been Dead by Daylight's biggest strength. Despite launching in 2016 as a dedicated PvP love letter to classic slasher flicks, the online multiplayer game has developed a broader catch-all mentality over the years that has enabled Behaviour Interactive to pull from non-horror properties (most recently, The Witcher 3) to keep players guessing.

On the other hand, targeting a single IP turns that premise into a gimmick that wears down quickly. Essentially, I'd say Dead by Daylight has been popular for a decade while single-license games like Killer Klowns from Outer Space are struggling because one of them is expansive and the others are restrictive by nature.

Cutting above the rest

Perhaps the biggest cautionary tale against the creation of more single-IP asymmetrical horror games is how the most successful one of all recently shut down.

Friday the 13th: The Game went offline for good in December 2024 after the developer's license to the characters expired, which was a disappointment to many of us. Meanwhile, when Dead by Daylight lost its Stranger Things license for a few years, Behaviour could simply remove the specific expansion pack from sales. As someone who never bought it in the first place, I didn't feel I'd missed out much. Dead by Daylight has tens of other iconic licenses under its belt on top of a host of original characters, so the effects of that temporary loss upon were minimal.

Still, I don't blame devs for trying. Horror is a convivial space, and after chatting to Behaviour's Mathieu Cote about the Dead by Daylight community earlier this year, fandom representation is a large part of why the multiplayer format works so well.

Getting to interact with one of your favorite franchises in a competitive new format is exciting for a time, but even superfans are bound to feel the consequences of a fading novelty. How many times can you re-skin Leatherface, after all? Pair that limited scope with the cyclical format of live service games, and it's no wonder I've found myself unable to sustain interest in hyper-niche horror movie tie-ins over the years.

Yes, Hellraiser: Revival is still a hyper-niche horror franchise tie-in, but the campy single-player stylings make it feel more like a dedicated PS2 spin-off than an ill-fated Dead By Daylight-like. Saber Interactive has clearly paid attention to that pattern, and I can't wait for Hellraiser: Revival to put down the asymmetrical multiplayer format, pick up the Lament Configuration, and forge a new future for licensed horror games.

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