Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival : as fascinating as it is painful

Revival takes over a fairly classic structure of survival horror.

Exploration, limited resources, firearms, close confrontations and puzzles make up most of the adventure.

The Genesis Configuration also allows to introduce some supernatural capabilities and brings a bit of variety.

The problem comes mainly from sometimes stiff controls and fighting that lack precision. Some clashes against bosses are also far too long.

This is where Hellraiser: Revival really impresses.

The Labyrinth, its brutalist architectures, mutilated bodies and impossible environments are remarkably transposing Clive Barker's universe.

The game never tries to make Hellraiser more acceptable or more public.

Gore, flesh, chains and disturbing images are omnipresent. Visually, Revival has an extremely strong identity.

The sound environment is a major contributor to the malaise.

The metal noises, the distant screams and the numerous manifestations of the Labyrinth make the exploration constantly disturbing.

The presence of Doug Bradley obviously brings an additional dimension to the appearances of Pinhead.

Aiden seeks to find Sunny after the opening of the mysterious Genesis Configuration.

The starting point is simple, but gradually allows much deeper exploration of the mythology of the Cenobits.

The involvement of Clive Barker is felt in the ambition of certain scenes and in the desire to constantly explore the boundary between suffering and pleasure.

It doesn't always work, but licensors will find a lot of material.

This is the main issue of Revival at launch.

Several reviews report important bugs and a very irregular level of finish.

Some problems can be fixed after the release, but in its current state the game can go from a particularly successful sequence to a frustrating situation in a few minutes.

This instability largely explains the considerable difference between the different scores attributed to the game.