Hellraiser: Revival Story, Cast & Characters Explained
Everything below comes from Saber’s announcements, the developer diaries and the store page. Nothing is from leaks; the ending is not discussed because nobody outside Saber has seen it.
The premise
Aidan Lynch has spent his life chasing sensation: crime, drugs, sex, danger. By the time the game starts he has found a kindred spirit in his girlfriend Sunny, and the two have “entered this infernal spiral into depravity”, in the narrative director’s words. They find a puzzle box, the Genesis Configuration. Opening it summons the Cenobites, and Sunny is taken.
Aidan learns her soul may still be saved. He follows her into the Labyrinth and strikes a bargain with Pinhead. In doing so he unwittingly kickstarts Pinhead’s ritual “to unleash greater pain and pleasure than ever before”. What the Cenobites actually want is the game’s central mystery; Aidan keeps asking, and they keep answering in riddles.
The developers told RPS that Sunny’s fate is not a punishment for the couple’s sex life; she goes “in some sense voluntarily”, and the game shows healthy BDSM relationships among other characters. Aidan is partly an homage to Julia from the original film.
Characters
| Character | Who they are | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Aidan Lynch | Player character, follows Sunny into the Labyrinth | Xalavier Nelson Jr. |
| Sunny | Aidan’s girlfriend, taken by the Cenobites | Not announced |
| Pinhead | Hell Priest, leader of the Cenobites, Aidan’s bargain | Doug Bradley |
| Chatterer, Butterball, the Female Cenobite | The other three original Cenobites | |
| Marlowe | Charismatic leader of the Scarlet Church | Not announced |
| Bruno | A sadistic artist (per the Hellraiser fan wiki); his keycard appears in the demo | Not announced |
| Leviathan | God of the Labyrinth, seen above it |
The factions
- The Scarlet Church wants to create Cenobites it can control and use the Genesis Configuration to build “a debauched paradise”. It is the human enemy.
- The Unworthy sought ultimate sensation but were rejected by Leviathan. Released by the box, they hunt you thinking it is their way out.
- The Cenobites want something from the box, too. Details on the Cenobites page.
Where it sits in Hellraiser canon
Saber calls it “a new story in Hellraiser’s canon”. The developers say it takes place about 20 years after the first movie and draws on three works only: The Hellbound Heart (the novella), Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). They were “selective” about the later sequels. Clive Barker advised from the start, reviewed scripts and gameplay periodically, and his name is on the title.
New to the films? Here is what to watch first.
Tone
The developers wanted players to feel “discomfort” rather than jump scares, and say they placed something beautiful next to the grotesque on purpose. The game deals with drug abuse, suicide, domestic abuse and addiction in narrative scenes (listed on Steam), so read the content and ratings page if that matters to you.
Noted. Your answer shapes which page gets checked next.