Developers behind the upcoming horror game Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival have stated that their intent is not to demonize BDSM or fetish practices. Instead, they aim to explore these themes as expressions of characters seeking to fill inner voids, a core element drawn from Clive Barker's original Hellraiser lore.
Early in the game, the protagonists Aidan and Sunny, who are already exploring BDSM, discover a puzzle box that summons Cenobites, leading to Sunny's dismemberment and descent into hell. Aidan then seeks to bring her back. This inciting incident has led to questions about whether Sunny is being punished for her sexual exploration, a trope sometimes seen in horror.
"She did not die as a punishment," game director Emil Esov clarified. "There's method to what Cenobites offer and what they do [and] she sort of willingly did it." Narrative director Antony de Fault added, "They're fucking around and finding out. But their finding out isn't a value judgement on our part where we're trying to say 'They did this bad thing'. It's not puritanical where this character is into BDSM and so therefore must die." Instead, he explained, Sunny's fate and her interest in BDSM are presented as facets of their personalities, stemming from a shared impulse to pursue extremes.
Esov elaborated that Sunny and Aidan both "come from this place of seeking something more to fill their inner voids." Their relationship, he stated, is a "kindred spirits type of thing" where desperation to fill these voids leads to a spiral. De Fault likened this drive to a midlife crisis, suggesting that Hellraiser speaks to a universal "neediness that we all experience deep down, the desire for more, the desire for greater experiences, or to explore."
The developers emphasized a distinction between self-destructive ways of engaging with BDSM and BDSM itself. While the game may depict unhealthy behaviors such as past drug and alcohol use, de Fault confirmed that interactive BDSM sequences with other characters are presented as healthy and consensual, with those characters being "self-assured." He was clear that "We didn't want to demonise fetish or BDSM. What is depicted as 'bad' in the game are unhealthy ways of engaging with BDSM, not fetish or BDSM themselves."
This approach aligns with Clive Barker's original short story, The Hellbound Heart, which de Fault noted was influenced by Barker's experiences and observations of excess and irresponsible engagement with the scene, rather than a judgment of the practices themselves.
However, the context has shifted significantly since Barker's work in the 1980s. The developers acknowledge that the anxieties surrounding the AIDS crisis and societal views on sexuality at the time are different now. Yet, they believe the underlying themes of pursuing voids through BDSM or body transformation remain relevant. Esov sees contemporary parallels in the "sense of identity" sought through these explorations.
Cultural changes have also influenced the game's themes. Esov noted how growing up in a patriarchal society shaped his perspective, and how conversations with de Fault, who experienced a more liberal upbringing, broadened his understanding of how to portray these themes. This led to a deliberate effort to depict male and female bodies and experiences with equal weight. "We show female pain, male pain, female pleasure, male pleasure. We linger on female bodies and male bodies as equally as we could in the game," de Fault stated.
De Fault also suggested that the game pushes boundaries further due to increased sexual liberation since the 1980s, influenced by mainstreaming of phenomena like Fifty Shades of Grey, Pride, and overlapping queer, fetish, and neurodivergent cultures. He alluded to some game topics being "too spicy" to discuss in detail, preferring them to be experienced directly through gameplay.
During a hands-on demo at Gamescom, the writer experienced the game's middle act, which, without prior context or familiarity with its mechanics, was challenging to fully appreciate. Exploring a fetish club and engaging in combat against cultists, the underlying themes were not immediately apparent. However, after speaking with the developers, the game's potential to engage with the complexities of fetish play within horror is seen as more intriguing, with an anticipation for how these themes will be realized.
