For decades, Hellraiser has occupied a unique place in horror. While many franchises focus on slashers, monsters, or jump scares, Clive Barker's iconic universe explores something far stranger: the thin line between pain and pleasure, or desire and suffering.

Now, the world is finally receiving its first major story-driven video game adaptation with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. Developed in Unreal Engine 5 and published by Saber Interactive, the survival horror action game places players in a new original story set within Barker's universe, featuring direct involvement from the legendary author himself alongside the return of Doug Bradley as Pinhead.

After going hands-on with the game at Summer Game Fest, we spoke with Associate Game Director Vid Rajin from developer Mad Head Games about staying faithful to Hellraiser's distinctive identity, balancing action and survival horror, creating meaningful encounters with the Cenobites, and why the team intentionally avoided turning the experience into a traditional slasher-style horror game.

Hellraiser: Revival is releasing on October 8 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role on Hellraiser: Revival and the development process?

Vid Rajin, Associate Game Director: Hi, I'm Vid. I am the Associate Game Director on Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. I've been there from the start of development. At first, I was in a game designer role, and then I switched to Associate Game Director. The game's been in development for about four years on Unreal Engine 5.

Team size has varied throughout the years. At one point, it consisted of about 70 people, but if you also include contractors and external partners, about 100 people.

How long is the game?

Vid Rajin: About seven to ten hours, depending on your playstyle. We didn't want to prolong it because, especially with horror games, it can be iffy. You need tension, but it can become too long if you overstay your welcome. We wanted to bring the essence forward.

From a gameplay perspective, how do you balance combat so players feel capable without becoming too powerful?

Vid Rajin: It's a balancing act. We have a sort of trinity in our combat system where you have melee weapons, ranged weapons, and special configuration powers, which gives it a unique vibe in the Hellraiser world.

Since it's a survival horror action game, we have a mix of action sequences and stealth sequences. Stealth is optional in most cases, but at some points it's mandatory because you're overwhelmed by a creature or an enemy, specifically the Cenobites.

We really wanted to do them justice, so you'll have different forms of interaction with them. They will be enemies chasing you. It's a variety of encounters. Scarcity and melee weapon durability also play a big role in keeping the experience consistent with the survival horror genre.

The firearms in the demo felt particularly strong and satisfying. How did the team approach gunplay?

Vid Rajin: We were aiming for a sort of realism. We do have some huge combat and gun enthusiasts on our team, such as our lead combat designer and director, especially.

We were enthusiastic about keeping it consistent with the oppressiveness of the horror.

Hellraiser's imagery can be extremely graphic and explicit. How do you prevent players from becoming desensitized to it?

Vid Rajin: Tone is always super important to us. We didn't want to overwhelm the player with anything, whether that's violence or sexually explicit material.

Obviously, Hellraiser itself provides a rich tapestry of imaginative and glorifying images. But if you watch the movies, and we've replicated this in the game, it's not a slasher-horror type of story.

It's more visceral, but also philosophical, because there is an underlying theme. There is a point to the sexuality and the violence. It's not exploitative. It has a narrative purpose.

In our game, we move between combat encounters, stealth encounters, and purely environmental puzzle sections to keep the player engaged and not overwhelmed.

Although I would say that for a normal person, whatever that is, it can be gruesome and overwhelming at times. We didn't want to restrict ourselves too much because we wanted to stay true to the core of the franchise.

Horror is experiencing a major resurgence right now. Where do you think Hellraiser fits within today's horror landscape?

Vid Rajin: I think Hellraiser has a unique status among all the others.

If you're looking for themes of pain and pleasure, and how they are interchangeable, I don't think you can find that in many other places. Every game tells its own story, and we're staying true to Barker's original vision.

I think it's original because there has never been a full story-driven Hellraiser game before.

Where does the story fit within the Hellraiser timeline? Do players need to know the films?

Vid Rajin: I wouldn't say you need to watch the movies because we're also bringing in a new audience.

They'll understand the overall themes and story. The game takes place 20 years after the original Hellraiser film and is heavily inspired by the first two movies in the series.

From the later films, we took some small bits for inspiration. It fits within the lore, Clive Barker was involved, and it's an official continuation.

Vid Rajin, Associate Game Director on Hellraiser Revival