Saber Interactive wanted Hellraiser: Revival to be banned somewhere, and it looks as though it got its wish. Narrative director Antony De Fault told IGN that a ban, a refused rating or a restriction in at least one country was the team’s yardstick for whether it had captured the franchise’s extremity. VGC reports that Indonesia’s rating board has now refused to classify the game, which blocks its sale there.
“One barometer” of doing the job right
De Fault said Saber wanted the content to be as graphic as the Hellraiser films and Clive Barker’s original novella, The Hellbound Heart. He described a ban as “an unofficial goal of the team to be banned, unrated, or restricted at least somewhere in the world”, calling it one barometer of whether the studio had done its job right. VGC describes the result as a game with full-frontal nudity, constant references to self-mutilation, extreme gore and aggressive sex acts.
De Fault’s argument is that a game can’t just show taboo material the way a film does. In his words, the player has to take part in it, so the game requires players to engage with the content rather than simply watch it. He said that didn’t mean abandoning survival-horror conventions, only making them “more sensual, or disgusting”, and that the first-person perspective was a deliberate choice to make the experience more intimate.
The one scene Saber toned down
The team still kept an eye on the line. De Fault cited a sequence in which a character is seen pleasuring himself to images of the player’s girlfriend. He said showing the character’s genitals would almost certainly have tipped age ratings over a threshold and removed the game from sale in most places. Saber instead arranged the room so the player can’t get around in front of him. De Fault called it a tiny tweak and argued that the mental image is more unsettling than anything the team could have rendered.
That balance matches Saber’s pre-launch messaging. FRVR notes that the studio said the game wouldn’t be censored on any platform, including the Nintendo Switch 2, and that it had passed ratings boards without cuts. The studio was courting a ban in one market while protecting sales in the rest.
Indonesia delivers
According to VGC, the game is available uncut in most countries, albeit with the highest rating on offer, but the Indonesia Game Rating System gave it an RC (Refused Classification) rating. Under the system’s published categories, games rated RC aren’t permitted to be distributed in Indonesia. The rating system’s rollout on Steam in April has also been controversial, as players and developers criticised classifications that didn’t match the games’ actual content.
The timing is worth a note. In a post on X summarising an earlier PCGamesN interview, WalkthroughGamingTV quoted De Fault saying the team had “failed on the platforms” and hadn’t been banned in any country, though some had declined to rate it. The Indonesian RC rating appears to have come after that.
Hellraiser: Revival launched on 8 October. It’s on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X|S. Wikipedia lists the critical reception as mixed. IGN scored it 6/10, while Barker told Dread Central he had initially feared the game would be “overly censored”.
Is Hellraiser: Revival banned anywhere?
VGC reports that Indonesia’s rating board gave it an RC (Refused Classification) rating, which means it can’t legally be sold there. The game is otherwise available uncut in most countries, but with the highest age rating on offer.
What did Saber change to avoid a higher rating?
De Fault says one scene was staged so the player can’t walk around in front of the character involved. He says showing the character’s genitals would almost certainly have pushed the age rating over a threshold and removed the game from sale in most places.
Which platforms is it on?
It launched on 8 October on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. We haven’t confirmed local ratings or storefront availability for the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Egypt, so check your regional store listing before you buy.
