Skip to main content

5 games to play after you’ve watched Hulu’s Hellraiser remake

After 35 years and 10 films, Hellraiser has finally received a reboot. The new movie stars actress Jamie Clayton as the infamous and iconic Pinhead. In the film series, a puzzle box, often referred to as the Lament Configuration, can be shifted into new shapes…acting as a key to opening up a gateway to hell.

Once summoned by the puzzle box, a group of interdimensional beings known as the Cenobites arrive, bringing pleasure, pain, and often death. To these beings, pleasure and pain are intertwined. Since they live in a realm beyond life and death, they respond simply to physical sensations, unable to separate the good from the bad.

After watching the new film, horror fans will likely want to keep the scares coming, and one of the best ways to do that is with a great game. Because games are immersive and interactive, they can sometimes be even scarier than movies. So, if you liked Hellraiser, here are five games you need to check out.

Agony

One of the demons sits in Hell in the video game Agony
Madmind Studio/PlayWay

In Agony, players wake up as a lost soul trapped in Hell. It’s a natural choice for fans of Hellraiser since the film series also explores the tortures of the netherworld. Both Hellraiser and Agony also feature tons of body horror. In the films, the Cenobites often hook their victims, stretching them out like a morbid form of body suspension…until the person is completely torn apart. In Agony, Hell is presented as a cavernous lair with walls made of burnt flesh, bones, and exposed muscle. Blood seeps from virtually every corner of the game. Many of the characters in Agony even look like they came straight out of Hellraiser (the game’s Red Goddess could easily be mistaken for a Cenobite).

However, Agony is a bit controversial. First of all, it was a critical and commercial disaster. The game was panned upon release for feeling tedious and lacking much to do…though it has gone on to find a cult following in the years since its release. It’s also controversial because it was originally rated AO (Adults Only), one of the very few games ever to receive the rating. To get the game down to an M rating, the creators had to remove some scenes of demonic sex, nudity, and gore. But don’t worry, a lot still made it into the final product. Plus, an uncut version can be downloaded for PC, giving gamers the full AO experience (which fans of Hellraiser will probably prefer).

Alien: Isolation

The xenomorph finds its prey in Alien Isolation
Creative Assembly/SEGA

Alien: Isolation is another game that feels and looks similar to Hellraiser, and the reason is obvious. Both franchises were born from blending horror with sexualization. For Hellraiser, writer and director Clive Barker has openly stated in interviews that his time in the BDSM scene inspired the story. The leather and latex outfits, exposed flesh, and the Cenobite’s obsession with feeling physical stimuli – even if it brings pain – were all aspects pulled straight from the fetish scene.

Alien: Isolation is also considered one of the scariest games ever made, forcing players to run and hide from a xenomorph who is stalking and killing survivors trapped on a failing space station that’s descended into chaos. Adding to the terror is that there’s no way to kill the alien in the game. Instead, players are forced to run, hide, and evade until the very end.

The xenomorph in Alien was born from a similar combination. Designed by H.R. Giger, who called his art style “biomechanical,” the xenomorph was inspired by Giger’s obsession with blending bodies with machines. Is it a vein or a tube? A heart or a battery? And has anyone ever noticed that the alien’s head looks surprisingly like an erect body part? Giger loved creating sexualized and terrifying images, often depicting nude bodies that were part machine or hooked up to a larger structure.

Clive Barker even wrote the introduction to one of Giger’s books of art, the Necronomicon, so there’s a good chance that Giger’s work is not only similar to Barker’s, but actually helped inspire Barker and even Hellraiser to some degree.

Dead by Daylight

Pinhead holds the Lament Configuration in the Dead by Daylight video game
Behaviour Interactive

Oddly enough, Hellraiser almost became a video game quite a few times, but every attempt ended up falling through the cracks. So, for any fan wanting the closest thing to a Hellraiser game they can get, they need to check out Dead by Daylight. In this 4 v 1 game, one player takes the role of the killer and the others must fight for survival and try to escape.

The game has also become famous for including horror icons like Pinhead, the lead Cenobite. The Hellraiser DLC allows you to play as Pinhead himself, who comes with his own special attacks that use hooks and chains, and even the Lament Configuration. While it doesn’t provide a true Hellraiser gaming experience, it’s still incredibly fun and is the closest we have so far.

Clive Barker’s Undying

one of the demons in Clive Barker's Undying video game
EA LA/EA Games

For gamers who are wanting more of Barker’s trademark mix of horror and gothic fantasy, they should revisit his 2001 PC game, Clive Barker’s Undying. In the game, players take on the role of Patrick Galloway, who is called to a coastal estate by his friend, Jeremiah Covenant. Jeremiah claims that supernatural entities have taken control of his home, but it turns out the paranormal beings are actually Jeremiah’s siblings, who have all been reanimated by a curse and turned into beings of pure evil. Before long, players are transported into a hellish realm where they must fight to end the curse and save their friend and his family.

For an older game, Clive Barker’s Undying actually has a pretty solid creepy ambiance. As long as you’re OK with the game’s dated appearance, it can be really enjoyable thanks to its great story that was written by the horror legend himself.

Outlast

The deranged doctor gets ready to mutilate someone in Outlast
Red Barrels

For fans of the blood, gore, and mutilation of Hellraiser, Outlast is the perfect game. The story centers around a journalist who investigates a dilapidated insane asylum. Inside, absolute mayhem has erupted. Patients and doctors have become murderers, many with wounds so severe they shouldn’t be alive. Things get even worse when gamers learn that insanity isn’t the only danger in the hospital…there’s also a malicious entity, The Walrider, killing people one by one.

Just like Alien: Isolation, the game is regularly hailed as one of the scariest games ever made, forcing players to navigate pitch-black hallways while the sounds of footsteps can be heard around every corner. It’s incredibly (and almost unbearably) suspenseful at times and a lurking sense of dread runs throughout the entire game.

Hellraiser fans will also notice and appreciate the way Outlast uses and subverts concepts of religion. Barker often incorporated religion into his works, including Hellraiser. The film asked “What is Hell?” and that iconic “Jesus wept” line still lives on as one of the most memorable in the entire movie. Outlast also subverts religion, using it as a plot device to add depth and questions to the story, while also alluding to a much deeper danger.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Keith Langston
Keith Langston has been obsessed with entertainment ever since he was a kid. He fully believes The Faculty and Deep Blue Sea…
5 video games to play if you liked Doctor Strange 2
Jesse Faden holding her gun and using her powers in Control promo art.

Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is finally out in the wild, and while it's getting less positive reviews than what longtime Marvel Studios fans have grown accustomed to, it's still a solid reception for the director's trippy take on the MCU. The movie adopted a distinctly Raimi tone, bringing out some of the horror weirdness that's defined so much of the director's catalog. Some might understandably feel it's a much-needed shakeup to the typically safe Marvel formula, with horror fans surely finding something to love.

Video games are also a medium where developers can get noticeably inventive and bizarre with their worlds, and the action-adventure and survival-horror genres have certainly flexed those creative muscles. Recent years have seen delightfully strange gaming titles that, in some form or another, should strike similar tones that Multiverse of Madness does.
Control (2019)

Read more
Hulu gives you the binge-watch option you’ve been needing on the Switch
hulu nintendo switch on header

Seemingly out of nowhere, and with little fanfare, Hulu and Hulu with Live TV are now available on the Nintendo Switch. Users can download the Hulu app from the Nintendo eShop for free, but as on other Hulu-supported devices, you have to have a Hulu account to use it.

Both Hulu on-demand content and Hulu with Live TV are supported by the Switch Hulu app, adding further versatility to the already super-flexible nature of Nintendo's home console/handheld hybrid. Now not only can you play console-quality games on the go, but you can watch shows like Handmaid's Tale or even live sports. This also brings HBO and Showtime content to the Nintendo Switch, in a roundabout way, as Hulu subscribers who also have HBO or Showtime add-on subscriptions will be able to watch that content  Plus, watching on the Switch has some unique advantages that some other devices lack. Specifically, thanks to the Switch's ability to seamlessly, well, switch from TV mode to handheld mode, you can keep watching even when on the go without any interruptions.

Read more
The best movies on Apple TV+ right now (June 2023)
Michael J. Fox in Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

Unlike competitive platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ only gets new movies once or twice per month. But that doesn’t mean they’re not some of the best flicks in town.

With A-list talent both on-screen and behind the camera, Apple TV+ is one of the best spots to get your silver-screen fix, and there’s plenty to see on the platform for June 2023. Here are all the best movies on Apple TV+ you can watch right now.

Read more