Hellraiser: Revival Is A Grotesque Survival Horror I Can't Wait For

[00:01] Let us begin.

[00:05] >> I got to play Clive Barker's Hellraiser

[00:07] Revival again because this guy played at

[00:10] Gamescom last year and I still have

[00:13] absolutely no idea how they're getting

[00:15] away with an M rating because it's got a

[00:19] lot.

[00:20] >> You know nothing.

[00:22] >> Brought to you by Xbox. So, thankfully

[00:25] today I saw something completely

[00:26] different from what I saw at Gamescom.

[00:28] If you haven't seen that, I highly

[00:30] recommend you go and check that video

[00:31] out because I was very excited about it.

[00:33] And after playing today's Little Chunk,

[00:35] I am still very excited about it. Now,

[00:38] what's different this time around is I

[00:40] got to see the game play a little

[00:41] further. Lower specifically introducing

[00:43] stuff like genitalia and like guts, lots

[00:46] of sex stuff. It's what everybody loves,

[00:49] sex, blood, poop. So, here are the three

[00:51] major takeaways from this hands-on. One

[00:54] is the lament configuration, also known

[00:57] as a cube. It's I actually got to use

[00:59] it. I actually got to see how it works

[01:00] in combat and it's pretty damn cool.

[01:03] We'll get more into it. The second thing

[01:05] I want to talk about are the enemies.

[01:07] Now, I got to fight a few of them back

[01:09] in the day, but this time I was put into

[01:12] an arena. And the enemies are

[01:14] fascinating because they talk to you,

[01:17] they antagonize you, and they talk to

[01:19] each other in a way in a way that feels

[01:20] very organic and almost even more

[01:23] terrifying. And the third thing I want

[01:25] to talk about is player expression

[01:26] because this game actually has a lot

[01:28] more going for in terms of letting you

[01:30] approach a situation exactly how you

[01:32] want. Now to start at the top, this was

[01:35] a little later in the game, so a lot of

[01:36] things weren't really tutorialized for

[01:38] me well. I was kind of thrown into the

[01:39] deep end where the first hands-on I did

[01:41] was a little bit more narrative driven

[01:42] and kind of set up the scene of the main

[01:44] characters and the conflict and the

[01:46] situation. This was really just a chance

[01:48] to show full force combat. In this

[01:51] arena, I was pitted against human

[01:53] player, like human enemies, because

[01:54] there are going to be monsters and

[01:56] zombie like things. And what's so

[01:58] fascinating about the way the enemies

[02:02] work is if you if you choose to sneak

[02:05] around, you get to listen to their

[02:06] conversations and they give you context

[02:08] and they name drop other characters

[02:09] names, other enemies names. And it feels

[02:12] like for a game where the enemies are

[02:14] these ruthless killers who get all their

[02:18] pleasure and kink out of hurting each

[02:20] other and hurting others. It humanize

[02:22] these characters, these enemies in a way

[02:24] that I'm just not quite used to in a

[02:26] horror game like this, which is really

[02:28] cool. It hits a little different when

[02:30] you kill a bad guy in front of another

[02:32] one and they say they express like I

[02:35] that they're frustrated like I can't

[02:37] believe you just did that. Or if you hit

[02:38] somebody with a certain thing, they're

[02:39] like, "Oh my god, I'm bleeding. I

[02:41] couldn't quite tell if how the AI was

[02:44] interacting with me, but it gives it a

[02:47] sense of believability that made

[02:49] tensions a little higher. So, when

[02:51] fighting enemies, you're given several

[02:52] tools. You have melee combat, which is

[02:55] what I saw a lot of in my first demo

[02:57] where I compared it a lot to Condemned,

[02:59] but then you also have pistols, and then

[03:01] you have the cube. And the cube is where

[03:03] things really start to change stuff up.

[03:05] The cube can absorb elements and even do

[03:07] like a gravity gun like thing where you

[03:09] can pole certain saws and things aim

[03:10] from the ceiling. You can absorb fire

[03:12] into the lament configuration and then

[03:14] set other people on fire which is always

[03:16] horrific and terrifying especially when

[03:19] they start screaming and they squander

[03:20] and they don't exactly die immediately.

[03:22] But the other element they introduce and

[03:24] this kind of leans into the player

[03:25] expression I was talking about in this

[03:27] arena. I could have approached it

[03:29] totally by stealth. I was like facing

[03:31] off against what felt like 10 dudes at

[03:33] once. And I was given the chance to get

[03:36] bear traps and kind of set them around.

[03:38] I could lure people in or I could even

[03:40] like bait them and use bottles to do

[03:41] stuff. So, in a way, it's like almost

[03:43] like I'm not going to say it's full ei,

[03:45] but there is there felt like there was

[03:46] some sort of eim sort of intent behind

[03:49] the design of this section that I could

[03:51] stealth my way through it. I could find

[03:53] a way. In fact, the player next to me

[03:55] bypassed the enemies entirely uh because

[03:57] they got the key to be go to the next

[03:59] room and they just went ahead and did

[04:01] that without having to fight anyone. And

[04:03] it's that sort of that depth of player

[04:05] expression, the ability to let people

[04:06] play exactly how they want isn't exactly

[04:08] something I would have expected in a

[04:10] Hellraiser game. But it feels like the

[04:12] team is doing more than just to make a

[04:14] really cool Hellraiser IP sort of game,

[04:16] but also make a game that just feels

[04:18] really good. like I compared it a lot to

[04:21] both Contemp and Village, Resident Evil

[04:23] Village when I played it uh at Summer

[04:24] GameFest. But I think this time around

[04:26] playing the game now being able to get a

[04:28] little bit more of it and understand it

[04:30] a little bit more. I actually kind of

[04:32] think it's this if this game is proving

[04:34] that it does have its own identity that

[04:36] yes, does have elements of those games.

[04:37] It does have elements that's taken from

[04:39] survival horror and puzzle elements and

[04:41] all that. But I was impressed to play

[04:43] this game and not really feel the need

[04:45] to have to compare it to anything. It

[04:46] feels unique and really cool and

[04:49] certainly refreshing to not just be

[04:51] playing another asymmetrical multiplayer

[04:54] horror game. I'm going to keep saying

[04:54] that because I said that during I think

[04:56] that's what people most people expect

[04:57] from an IP like this. The other thing

[04:59] that was different from this playthrough

[05:01] versus my Gamescom coverage is that the

[05:03] setups weren't really present. Although

[05:04] like when I played at Gamescom, uh the

[05:07] chatterer was kind of the big focal

[05:09] point that I had faced running away from

[05:11] through the labyrinth. This time around,

[05:12] I did go to the labyrinth, but it was to

[05:14] show how environmental puzzle elements.

[05:16] So, in this section, I was able to use

[05:18] the lament configuration to turn the

[05:21] walls and create these platforms in

[05:24] order to bypass uh booby traps and all

[05:27] sorts of other things to then charge up

[05:29] the cube and go into the next section,

[05:31] which was a very PT inspired sort of

[05:35] nightmare. Yes, we've seen a lot of PT

[05:38] inspired stuff. Guess what? There's a

[05:40] bit of that in this game, too. However,

[05:42] they did it well. And they did it well

[05:44] because it was very deliberately used to

[05:46] progress the story. They had a looping

[05:48] room where you're just going around in

[05:50] an environment and you go through the

[05:51] door into the next section. And it was a

[05:53] small puzzle that you had to solve of

[05:54] finding the right object to basically to

[05:56] trigger the next sort of loop in this

[05:59] thing. But with each loop, you got more

[06:02] and more context to the relationship of

[06:04] the main character and his girlfriend.

[06:06] So, it was one of the better sort of use

[06:07] cases of using something like PT on its

[06:10] own in this game. That being said,

[06:12] they're swinging high. They're trying a

[06:14] lot of different things. They're not

[06:15] afraid to hold back their punches. And

[06:16] speaking of holding back punches,

[06:17] they're not holding them back. I cannot

[06:19] believe this game is not adult only.

[06:21] Yes, as we all know, there's going to be

[06:24] lots of genitalia. There's going to be

[06:25] lots of gore. But the thing I was

[06:27] probably most surprised of what they're

[06:28] getting away with is how sexually

[06:31] charged the notes are. the things you'll

[06:34] be finding around the environment. They

[06:35] are graphic. They are there a lot. And I

[06:38] cannot believe it because the developers

[06:40] told me that apparently they didn't have

[06:42] to cut anything. How they got away with

[06:44] it, I don't know, but I'm here for it.

[06:47] And it's cool. Now, having had my second

[06:50] hands-on with Clive Barker's Hellraiser

[06:52] Revival, I am still very excited to play

[06:55] it. It feels like there's still so much

[06:57] more to see. There's lots of enemy types

[06:59] I haven't seen. There's boss fights that

[07:00] I haven't seen, and there's puzzles to

[07:02] solve. There are lockers and other

[07:04] elements I didn't get to unlock because

[07:06] I have to find codes and all these other

[07:08] things. So, there's all these small

[07:09] little elements and all these small

[07:10] little nuances and things that are

[07:11] happening in this game that just I don't

[07:12] know, it's shaping up to be something

[07:14] I'm really damn excited to play. So,

[07:16] when that time comes, we'll have to see

[07:18] what it's like wandering through the

[07:20] labyrinth of Hellraiser Revival. For all

[07:23] that stuff, stay here at GameSpot and

[07:26] listen to me talk about it. Thanks.