Hellraiser Revival isn’t a game for the faint of heart. I showed my mom the trailer ahead of Gamescom, and it didn’t go down well.
While she might not approve of me telling people this, my mom was a 1980s horror fiend. My dad tells stories of all-night cinema screenings where she'd watch a couple of movies before dozing off, and then there's that one time she freaked out in that interactive, Universal's Halloween Horror Nights-esque walking experience. These are the stories that defined my childhood: ones that still make me laugh, and ones that she often still denies ever happened. Sorry mom, the internet knows now.
Showing her the trailer for Hellraiser: Revival made perfect sense to me, then. Clive Barker's debut horror film (based on his 1986 novella, The Hellbound Heart) came out in 1987, right when Lauren's mom was in her horror-watching prime. These days she's not as keen on horror films, but still, it felt like a blast from the past. What followed was a lot of little frowns and the odd gasp. "Shocking," she responded, shaking her head. You should have seen her face when I told her that those were the YouTube-friendly trailers.
Boss Team Games has been pretty clear that Hellraiser Revival isn't for the faint of heart. Having played the demo at Gamescom, all of the relevant themes that you'd expect in a Hellraiser game are very much present - sex, vice, and extreme violence. As such, it's garnered quite the reputation. "Did you read the notes in the liminal space sequence?" I asked my Gamescom colleagues. They all nodded, and agreed that it's pretty heavy stuff - stuff my mom definitely wouldn't approve of.
During my interview with Big Boss, which delved into the creation of Hellraiser: Revival and the balancing of its often triggering themes, I informed Game Director Emil Esov and Narrative Director Antony de Fault that my mother reacted to the trailers with an appalled "shocking," prompting a few laughs. "What would you say to her?" I asked, jokingly. "What would I say to a shocked mom?" de Fault says to himself. There's a pause for philosophical thought.
"There was a colleague of ours that actually posed the same question during development," Esov says. "If I was to talk to the shocked moms about [Hellraiser: Revival], I would try to make it less shocking, as it serves as a metaphor for many things."
Putting my shocked mom aside for a moment, I ask the duo if it's secretly thrilling that the game has developed such a fearsome reputation, and if the fact that its uncut trailers can't be displayed on mainstream streaming platforms brings a certain level of pride. "Yeah, I like that," Esov says.
"When you're trying to showcase the game to the general public, and you get denied in some cases to showcase at some events because it's too out there; that to me means that it's too Hellraiser, which means it's just right."
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pcgamesn.com/hellraiser-revival/gamescom-interview-trailers-censored
