The concept of overwhelming pleasure has always fascinated me. Craving sensation is primal and civilization has built much to better that, from fine dining to VR gaming. This deeply human pursuit is a core part of both Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, and my favorite Warhammer 40,000 faction.
Saber Interactive's new horror game explores sensation from the off, beginning with a BDSM-tinged sex scene before introducing the franchise's iconic Hell Priest Pinhead and his cohort of fellow Cenobites, who tear the protagonist's partner Sunny to shreds. The violence is gruesome, but the recipient doesn't seem to object, even if our protagonist Aidan does.
Aidan soon finds himself breaking free from a torture den before arriving at a sex club, both of which belong to a Cenobite-worshipping cult called the Scarlet Church. As our hero is about to leave this world behind, the disembodied voice of Sunny calls out, luring Aidan back in the name of liberating her. Here, I start to see connections to Warhammer 40K.
The Emperor's Children legion are a group of Space Marines – enhanced human beings who are now full-time thrill seekers in the name of the Chaos deity Slaanesh, pursuing pleasure and sensation above all else, and their origins may sound familiar.
The superhuman soldiers found themselves in a temple of hedonism, surrounded by creatures known as the Laer in the throes of ecstasy, when a siren song called to their hearts. Much like Aidan, they responded with violence as a natural instinct, while the whisperer in their ears pulled them further along the pathway to something beyond their comprehension.
Stepping into Hellraiser: Revival's Labyrinth, Aidan could just as easily be one of the Emperor's Children. The otherworldly sights before me are fear-inducing but also alluring. The leather-wrapped enemies that lash out when I interrupt their enjoyment respond just as the Laer might, using violence as both a defense mechanism and conduit to sensation.
Even back in the human realm, the home of Scarlet Church feels ripped from the pages of Warhammer 40,000's grimdark universe. Mutilated corpses hang from ceilings and painted canvases stand proudly upon easels, matching the imagery from the Horus Heresy novel Fulgrim and its Emperor's Children spaceship featuring similar levels of violence and artistry. We even see an apparently high-ranking member of Revival's cult carrying out a sort of surgery on a living person, much like the Emperor's Children character Fabius Bile is infamous for.
هەفتانە هەرسکردنەکان، چیرۆکەکانی ئەو کۆمەڵگایانەی کە خۆشت دەوێن و زۆر شتی تر
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/horror/hellraiser-revival-warhammer-40k-slaanesh
