The Hellraiser Franchise Is Getting Three New Tabletop Adaptations for Halloween 2027
Pinhead and the rest of the Hellraiser crew are seeing quite the resurgence right now, and that looks to continue into next year. Announced today, Salt Entertainment has revealed that they have entered an agreement with Clive Barker and Park Ave Ent. LLC to release not one, not two, but three official Hellraiser tabletop games with the first of these planned for release Halloween 2027. Perfectly timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original film.
Salt’s currently slated hellish titles begin with Hellraiser: Puzzle of Flesh from designer Travis Chance (Cthulul: Dark Providence, Heroes Wanted) a dice-based / push-your-luck title themed around the franchise's signature Lament Configuration box. Coming in a custom box modeled after the artifact (which doubles as the game’s dice tumbler) Salt describes it as an “escape-room style and social deduction game in which hidden desires, shifting loyalties and questionable choices make it increasingly difficult to know whom - or what - to trust”. These devilish little boxes are some of the most recognizable relics from the films and I will be excited to see how what they represent gets adapted for the ol’ weekly game night when it releases next Halloween.
If you would prefer something more story driven, then you are in luck too as a fullblown Hellraiser tabletop RPG is also in the works. This project is being helmed by designer Franceso Nepitello who has a little experience in adapting big properties into TTRPGs, being the co-designer of The One Ring RPG based on the Lord of the Rings. Others may know him for another little game set in that universe, War of the Ring - a game we consider one of the best LoTR board games period. This RPG looks to allow fans to expand and open up the Hellraiser universe to let you explore and play out your own stories of temptation, desire, and the horrors that lie beyond our own world.
“I wanted to design a horror roleplaying game for years,” said Nepitello. “Getting to do it with Hellraiser is incredibly exciting. Its blend of dread, desire and forbidden knowledge offers so much to explore at the gaming table. I can’t wait to open the box with the players.”
Last up for this initial slate of games is the one I am most excited to learn more about. Headed up by game designer Michael Shinall, the guy behind other games such as Marvel Zombies, a Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game, Bloodborne: The Board Game, and most recently the Tasting History board game also being produced by Salt Entertainment (and currently on Kickstarter). Out of the three this is the one we know the least about, only being described as “a major new Hellraiser board game”, On the topic of working with such a legendary property, Shinall has a solid grasp on what this IP means, "Hellraiser is unique among the horror world as, outside brilliant monster and world design, it delves into the reaches of the human psyche in ways that many others have tried to emulate, but often failed to reach. It accepts that the truest horrors are never external, but the inner depths of the darkest parts of the soul... And I look forward to bringing that to a new medium."
Speaking with Geoff Skinner, President of Salt Entertainment regarding Barker’s input on these projects, he had this to say; “Yes, Clive Barker is approving everything and guiding our creative, so we are all on our A-game. We’re using not only the films as a basis, but also the original novella, Hellbound Heart. It’s always a treat to work with the original creator of any brand, but to be working with someone who shaped the culture so heavily is an absolute honor. He’s on such a hot streak with the Hellraiser video game (writer's note: check out our review we did here) and two hugely successful Kickstarter campaigns (comics and books), and we are thrilled to be a part of the Barkerverse. “
More details involving Puzzle of Flesh, the TTRPG, and Shinalls major board game project will be revealed over the coming months with the titles planned for release for the retail market.