Hellraiser: Revival.

Alright, so my kid showed me the trailer to this. I won't link it because it's very NSFW but I trust you adults can YouTube it if you're interested. Clive Barker himself has been said to be "very involved" in the process. It even has Doug Bradley returning to do the voice work for Pinhead.

Sounds like it's a story driven first person action survival-horror game.

Now, I'm doing a little speculation here but follow me:

The trailer starts with a couple being intimate. One they finish, the woman picks up the Lament Configuration, the wall opens and Pinhead and friends come through. She gets chained up and ripped in half vertically.

Then we see gameplay of hands fighting off a bunch of cenobite-style creatures and weilding chains. Looks like these hands have some sort of powers.

The write up says (quote): "You’ll play as Aidan, a man who must use the power of a mysterious puzzle box – the Genesis Configuration – to help his girlfriend Sunny’s escape from the otherworldly hellscape of the Labyrinth."

My son thought they renamed the Lament Configuration. After some thought, I am speculating they're introducing a new puzzle box. The main character will get powers to save his girlfriend... although this is Clive Barker, so don't expect this gift to come from benevolent angels and lead to a happily-ever-after. I'm predicting Aiden's "win" to be a pyrrhic victory at best. Perhaps it turns him into another Hellpriest? Or at least condemns him to hell in his girlfriend's place, his only solace knowing she was saved.

I don't often get excited for unreleased video games, but I admit -- I'm cautiously optimistic for this one.

Anyone else?

Definitely would be a challenging IP to make a videogame out of, so I applaud the initiative and... hopefully, innovation, regardless.

Don't know that the gameplay looked super compelling to me... my initial instinct would be that it would better fit something survival-horror-y like the Quarry or Alien Isolation, rather than first person... action-y?

Would probably want to see more actual play footage before I bought it, but cautiously optimistic is a good place to be for now!

I guess they're billing it as "action survival horror." Which admittedly feels a little like opposite ends of the spectrum. Still... the fact they're working with Clive Barker himself gives me hope. I don't think the gameplay is going to reinvent the wheel, but I'm there for the horror and story. As long as the play mechanics are serviceable and smooth (not glitchy or anything) I think we're fine.

And dammit, Pinhead is cool.

There was a Clive Barker game a long while ago set in a haunted house that I remember being pretty damn good. And another that was a sort of occult military shooter that sucked. This trailer gives me Outlast vibes, in which most of the horror derived from helplessness, which if this is more action-oriented won't be the case.

It's probably exactly Alien Isolation that made them think this would be a viable project, right?

Both 80s (okay, very late-70s for Alien) classic horror IPs.

Both first person games.

Similar graphics, and mix of cutscenes and gameplay.

We can see a bit of the "exploration/navigating/manipulating the environment"-ethos in the Revival gameplay footage.

It does have a little bit of the vibe of that game. Which is all to the good and gives me hope!

But it seems oddly brighter, more frantic, and yea, they're really featuring the HANDS and "tangling" with the horrors. Which gives me, like, 90s first person shooter vibes.

Which is not what I personally would hope for.

Here's to hoping it leans more toward Isolation?

Like I said... it's billed as "action survival horror."

Those two things (action, and survival horror) are pretty opposite ends of the gaming experience spectrum. So I'm curious how it'll actually balance those disparate elements.

Dying Light is actually what comes to mind, personally. Which, they're pretty fun games, so that's good. But, while the setting is certainly the stuff of horror, the actual gameplay never evokes that feeling. And I worry Rebirth may suffer the same issue. Still, it can be a good game even if it isn't scary a la Silent Hill.

Stylistically seems faithful (to the film continuity of old anyway) and intriguing. But made by Sabre Interactive, which is not everyone's cup of tea.