‘Hellraiser: Revival’ Secures Its ESRB Rating With No Cuts

After aiming to push the ESRB rating as far as they possibly could, Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games have secured a rating for Hellraiser: Revival. And while it’s assumed that the game snagged a Mature rating (as an Adults Only classification would effectively block it from being sold on Steam and the PlayStation Store), Saber’s chief creative officer Tim Willits revealed to IGN that they “had to take nothing out for [the rating]”.

Similar to the MPA, the ESRB tends to come down on games that have a focus on sexual content (Madmind’s Agony and Succubus come to mind). This is particularly noteworthy, since the world of Hellraiser has plenty of that, mixed in with its brutal violence and gore.

However, the ESRB is only one of the multiple ratings boards that Saber will have to satisfy in order for Hellraiser: Revival to secure a wide release. The Australian Ratings Board is one such example of a big hurdle, along with CERO for Japan. The latter having more focus on violence, and the former treating video games as if they were film.

Nonetheless, Willits is confident the team will get their ratings for those respective territories. “We’re working with all the other ratings groups now, and I think that we’re going to do really well. It’s all context. It all fits with the IP. It is an artwork, and it is a mature game for mature audiences. We’ve stayed within those lines, and we’ve been very successful at moving the game through all rating boards.”

As mentioned last month during Harrison’s interview with the team, Saber is aiming to deliver an authentic Hellraiser experience. “We studied a lot of what makes Hellraiser so unique and appealing,” said Revival Game Director Emil Esov.  “[And we] believe that what we came up with captures that true essence both in theme and in audio-visual delivery.”

Hellraiser: Revival will unleash its sights later this year for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series.

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