I was already nervous about playing gory survival horror Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, and then I saw the stack of vomit bags provided by the devs

I am not a horror game person. I played Resident Evil 4 and 2 because Leon Kennedy was there, and The Quarry when I was feeling particularly brave, but I've never played anything quite so disturbing that it made me grimace. That was until I sat down for an hour with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival and saw a character's flesh get peeled off their body within the opening 15 minutes, wondering exactly how I'd ended up there.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is immediately, unapologetically graphic. This may not come as a surprise if you're familiar with the source material, but this upcoming horror game from Saber Interactive is quick to make this fact apparent, opening on an explicit, masochistic sex scene, followed by a wander through a creepy series of maze-like corridors before getting to the aforementioned grisly flesh peeling. …Lighthearted stuff!

Demon to others

Things don't get any more cheerful past that point, either. It's not long before you're thrown into the real action – playing as protagonist Aiden, you're forced to break out of a violent, sexually-driven cult that's kidnapped you, and wants answers about a mysterious device you and your partner were messing around with before her skin abruptly departed from her body.

What follows is a blend of first-person combat and stealth, sneaking around foes and launching attacks against them with everything from a gun to a massive knife and some sort of club. The stealth sections are tense, but I can't say I felt that much better even when I had weapons to defend myself with, since I have to be very careful about the resources I'm using in true survival horror style

Resource management is crucial from the get-go, making me feel even more vulnerable as I make my desperate attempt to escape. Melee weapons only have a limited number of uses before they break entirely, and ammo for your gun is in short supply. The latter I found out at an unfortunately crucial moment in the middle of a huge fight, when I tried to reload only to realize I had nothing to actually reload with. I turned and ran, which felt slightly embarrassing, but thankfully I was able to find more ammo during my retreat.

During my demo, there was also a chase sequence that honestly had me more on edge than any of the uncomfortable, gory scenes. Being hunted down by what seemed to be a teleporting, disfigured foe – who can appear in front of you at will as you're running away – had me stressed.

I can't lie – I think I was caught three times before memorizing the path I had to take, mastering when I had to quickly turn around to avoid directly running into the enemy as if going in for a tender embrace.

Seriously though, I cannot overemphasize how extreme the gore is. I don't think anything gets the point across better than the fact that a massive pile of vomit bags had been left on the desk next to the PCs in case anyone playing the demo needed them. Thankfully, I didn't require one myself, but the devs clearly came prepared.

I went into my Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival demo incredibly nervous, and honestly, I think I had the right to be. However, with that said, I was genuinely impressed by how much fun I had. The tension is exhilarating, and although certain scenes will almost certainly make you wince, the ick factor is very much the whole point.

Will I be brave enough to go back in when the game actually comes out? Don't hold me to it, but I can wholeheartedly say that the demo ended up being a real highlight of Gamescom 2025.

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