Drenched in blood, tears, semen, and every other bodily fluid in between, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a hardcore experience.
From the second its hapless protagonist, Aidan Lynch, opens up the Genesis Configuration — and inadvertently summons the Cenobites to whisk his girlfriend away for an eternity of torment — the game doesn’t once relent.
To give you a fighting chance at surviving against this title’s hordes of pain-worshiping zealots, towering gimps, winged dominatrices, and flayed psychopaths, we’ve pulled together a quick guide of helpful tips for beginners. Some of these are things that we worked out for ourselves over the course of a playthrough, some are mere suggestions based on our own personal experiences, and some relate to secrets that the game doesn’t even tell you about.
But they’ll all give you an edge when it comes to facing off against the legions of hell.
Wait Until The Last Minute to Heal
This one might require you to unlearn a deeply entrenched Pavlovian response, but you don’t need to use up recovery items in Hellraiser: Revival unless there’s no other choice. You may be accustomed to frivolously healing every time you so much as scrape your knee in Resident Evil or Silent Hill, yet that instinct won’t serve you too well here. In fact, it’s actually a bit of an extravagance when you consider just how many crafting resources it takes to craft a simple bandage.
Even when your vitals are in the worrisome amber region, you can usually refrain from applying a dressing. That’s because there will often be smarter, more economical alternatives nearby for replenishing your vigour.
For instance, you could perform a takedown finisher on a moribund enemy (not only rewarding you with HP, but also topping up the “Suffering” meter that powers your Genesis Configuration abilities) or you could just chow down on some food. Leftovers are abundant in the game’s many orgy dens and BDSM sex clubs — got to have a good spread at those kinds of functions— and if you root around in any given trash can, you’re likely to find a half-eaten apple or a strangely phallic sausage (the consumption of which is apparently Aiden’s equivalent to Popeye guzzling spinach).
We just shudder to think about how many times we wasted a full health-pack after an encounter, only to then stumble across a lavish banquet in the next room that could have sustained us. Because, trust us, you’re much better off holding onto the proper medical supplies here until you truly, desperately need them.
Horde Lockpicks
Another item that you can never have too many of is the good old lockpick! Granting you access to the storage cupboards scattered around the world of Hellraiser: Revival, these handy little tools are absolutely indispensable but also quite fragile. Apply too much pressure at the wrong angle, and you can wear them out fast, leaving you completely unable to access certain containers.
That’s an issue that could really bite you in the ass later! Sometimes breaking into a cupboard will only yield crafting resources and ammo that can be easily acquired elsewhere. Yet other lockers harbour more beneficial prizes, including rare weapon upgrades and extra inventory pouches.
You really don’t want to miss out on either of these, so it’s best to just stock up on lockpicks at every available opportunity. Even if it means choosing to buy them over shotgun shells when you next visit Zora the merchant.
Complete Optional Puzzles
Speaking of which, you’re gonna want to make the most of your shopping sprees in Hellraiser: Revival, as you can never know when the next opportunity for a bit of retail therapy will arise.
Zora periodically refreshes her inventory with new guns, new upgrades, new crafting recipes, and other tantalizing merchandise, so you don’t want to come up short when that shiny magnum finally arrives in stock. As such, it’s best to get scrounging early and build up your cash reserves pronto.
Though it might seem counterintuitive for a horror title, where judicious use of resources is often paramount, we’d recommend going out of your way to kill every Scarlet Church cultist you come across. They tend to drop coin purses upon death and, hey, any ammo that you do expend on them can be claimed right back with the fiscal earnings.
You’ll also need to keep your eyes peeled for hidden, optional puzzles dotted throughout the nao. These don’t always stand out from the grotesque furnishings and non-interactive decorations that clutter up the levels, and the game never explicitly tells you about them either. But they’ll reward you with valuable treasures should you manage to locate and complete them.
Case in point, there’s a recurring one involving a monolithic piece of (literal) body art — fashioned by the Scarlet Church’s deranged prophet, Bruno — that provides clues to help you track down fleshy pustules in the nearby area. If you manage to destroy all of these growths, then you’ll be showered with coins upon your return to the gory column. Enough to make a high-roller purchase from Zora.
Don’t Buy Every Upgrade
As for what you should be buying from the merchant, that’ll obviously depend on your whims as a customer. We’ve already stressed that lockpicks are worth a thousand times their weight in gold here, but you’re naturally going to want to own every firearm you can get your hands on.
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and we’d encourage you to build up a formidable arsenal. What we would advise, however, is that you be extremely selective when tuning up these weapons.
Certain upgrades are unalloyed positives, like the one that gives added kick to the pistol’s firepower or the one that mitigates the double-barrel’s recoil. Others are perhaps not worth shelling out for.
In particular, it’d behove you to make sure that you’re not purchasing mutually exclusive attachments for the same gun. For instance, you can’t have the scope and hollow-point upgrades equipped for the magnum at the same time, nor is it possible to have the extended magazine fitted to the assault rifle alongside the extra bullet penetration mod. In those instances, you’ll have to make a decision about which is going to complement your playstyle best, because there’s no point whatsoever in having both.
Again, you’d be better off spending the money on precious, precious lockpicks.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is now available for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series, and the Nintendo Switch 2.