Pain and pleasure – Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival gameplay trailer and exclusive interview with the Game Director
What is hidden behind the creative curtain of blood, smoke, chains and blades, we asked Emil Esov, Game Director of one of the biggest gaming projects in the region. We know that the expectations of both new and old fans of the franchise are high and that the task of transferring the IP from a linear medium to an interactive one is as sensitive as it is technically demanding.
In an exclusive interview with SGA, Emil takes us even deeper into the beloved world of Clive Barker.
SGA: Hello, Emil! We are talking again after the interview about the release of Scars Above. You’ve worked your way up from Assistant Game Director to Game Director. What did that mean to you?
Emil: First of all, hello everyone! I am glad to have the opportunity to speak to the SGA again about the work of our studio. It’s been a little over two and a half years since Scars Above came out, but it seems like a long time ago, because things are moving at a fast pace, both professionally and personally.
After Scars, I worked on another game for a short time, and then it happened that Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival needed someone with experience who could take over the management of the whole team. It was a big leap in responsibility for me, but also a moment for which I had been preparing my entire professional life. I had the full support of the studio’s top management, which gave me additional security and motivation to show that their trust was justified.
Also, I want to emphasize the support that comes from my private life – from my girlfriend Tijana. This support allows me to maintain a good work-life balance and to be able to focus and provide the maximum in the role of Game Director.
So I would say… a level-up for me in every sense.
SGA: Did working on Scars Above prepare you for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival? How many similarities and differences are there between these two titles?
Emil: Working on Scars Above prepared me for working on Hellraiser in several ways. First of all, both projects had a similar size of team working on them, so developing those projects has many production things and processes in common. There, I could draw knowledge about “how to do things”.
As for the creative part, that’s where all the similarities end. Scars Above and Hellraiser are both genre-wise and creatively two completely different projects. In this sense, our entire team had to practically find the vision and direction of the game all over again, but that is certainly one of the most beautiful parts of the job. 🙂
SGA: Which games most influenced Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, primarily in terms of gameplay?
Emil: Basically, given that Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a first-person action horror survival game, we watched and played games of our competitors and similar games, and took inspiration from them. These are titles like the Resident Evil series, Dead Space, Bioshock, Dying Light… All of them have their strengths and contribute to the horror genre.
However, what sets the Hellraiser game apart from the rest is the specificity of the IP. It is a mix of horror, erotica and dark fantasy, dealing with philosophical and metaphysical questions such as: “What is the line between pain and pleasure?” or “How to fill that endless void within yourself?” It is precisely in this interpretation and revival of the world that the uniqueness of our game lies in relation to others that were a kind of inspiration.
SGA: How difficult was it to transfer the cinematic IP into the video game world?
Emil: I think it depends on the ability to find the “core” of the IP. You need to understand what makes that IP special, what sets it apart from other popular (in this case, horror) IPs. In terms of understanding the source materials, we had the fewest problems because between the movies and Clive Barker’s novels, it’s pretty clear what the main themes of this IP are.
As for the challenges themselves, I can say that we found inspiration for our story in the novellas and the first two films (the best ones 🙂). Hellraiser’s visual style is quite iconic, but the first film was made in 1987 and is quite dated in terms of visuals. One of the challenges was how to present this world in a more modern way, in good quality, and still remain faithful to the original design.
The second challenge was how to make this game based on visceral body horror, which is quite explicit, and make it so that the game still fits the M rating. There are only a limited number of compromises we were willing to make while still being able to call our game a true Hellraiser experience.
SGA: It’s a very different to work on your own IP and a canonical horror franchise. What were your impressions when you heard that this fell into your hands?
Emil: The first impression after we got the license for Hellraiser was the excitement that we were going to be working on something familiar to people and yet not so mainstream. The fact that no one has made a Hellraiser game in our industry is, in essence, additional motivation for our team. In my opinion, this is the best situation to be in with an existing IP, because it has a cult following, and there is no game in the same IP to compare it to.
On the other hand, there is also an instant sense of great responsibility that you have become a collaborator on something from someone else’s kitchen. Every move in that creative process should be measured and respect the original creator and their vision.
SGA: The thing that fans want you to stay true to is the gore aesthetics and depiction of violence, which is becoming increasingly tricky for video games due to Steam censorship. How do you plan to tackle this?
Emil: I like to joke about this topic with the team and show a mime where Godzilla and King Kong fight. On one side are our vision – ours and our IP holders’ – and on the other are rating agencies, such as the ESRB, first-party publishers, like Microsoft and Sony, and storefronts, such as Steam, which take care of what appears in their stores.
We approach it all quite directly and try to make a game that best captures the essence of Hellraiser. The game is still not rated; we are waiting for that process and aiming for an M rating.
SGA: At Gamescom, you had a chance to show the demo to the press and the reviews were great. How important was this to you and was there any feedback that made you question some design decisions?
Emil: First of all, good reviews mean a lot to us in terms of team morale; it’s a validation that someone values everything we’ve worked on. During the multi-year development cycle of a game, there is a vacuum in which the team works, where no one outside is allowed to see the game, where, basically, we can never be sure exactly what the audience’s reaction will be. That process can be exhausting both physically and mentally (perhaps especially for our team, which sees all kinds of explicit things daily).
And when a Gamescom happens after such a period, with so many positive reactions to the game, I can say that I feel quite proud of the whole team and what we have made.
SGA: Community management for this game is fantastic! Is this area also the responsibility of Mad Head Games and, if so, how do you approach it?
Emil: I agree that community management is fantastic 🙂 I enjoy reading their posts and replies. This is done by our partners from Sandbox Strategies, who are also part of the Saber Interactive family. Shoutout to them \o/
SGA: Thank you, Emil, for another great interview! We can’t wait to face the world you have in store for us.
Emil: Thank you also for organizing this interview. Personally, I have tremendous respect for the SGA organization and all that you do. Keep it going 🙂