Hands-on with Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, Nekome: Nazi Hunter, and more

Hello there, and welcome to my final round of previews coming out of Summer Game Fest 2026. I have hands-on reports from even more games, including my personal surprise of the show, at least from the selection of games I actually played.

If you didn't seen my previous Summer Game Fest-focused newsletters, be sure to check them out, as I covered games like Alien: Isolation 2 and Onimusha: Way of the Sword, as well as Control Resonant and The Lost Wild. I also talked to Obsidian about bringing Grounded 2 to PS5.

Oh, and if you missed it, Xbox is currently set to conduct mass layoffs, including planning to close Compulsion Games. There's a lot more that's unclear right now with the cuts and what teams are affected, but rest assured, I'll absolutely have more to say in the weeks ahead.

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Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is extremely uncomfortable to play (compliment)

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is a game that I'll freely admit I had low expectations for. Hellraiser as a franchise has lacked impact outside of the original classic film, and the idea of a survival-horror game using this setting seemed unlikely to go as far into certain topics as it would need to.

I'm delighted (I think?) to have been completely wrong. Shortly into a 30-minute gameplay demo, it became apparent the team at Saber Interactive is pushing content boundaries to stay authentic to what Hellraiser is.

The premise is simple: upon opening a puzzle box, a man named Aidan Lynch accidentally sent his girlfriend Sunny into a dimension of pure torment and pleasure while having sex — who among us, right? — and is now desperately trying to rescue her from Pinhead (voiced of course by Doug Bradley) and his cohorts, as well as a BDSM cult dedicated to the interdimensional demons.

Gameplay borrows heavily from the Resident Evil series, with first-person combat and a limited inventory that requires crafting and careful moderation to preserve ammo and weapons. When knives and guns fail, there's also the Genesis Configuration to fall back on. This eldritch cube grants extraordinary power, letting you rip nails out the wall or take fire from a burning room, then unleashing it upon some hapless foe.

The atmosphere is drenched in the taboo, with erotic artwork and murals lining the walls, while Aidan is tripping over fetish gear around every corner. It doesn't hold back, and it's an uncomfortable experience to play through, even as a seasoned veteran of horror.

Yet at least from what I played, it never ventured into the territory of pure shock value. Everything here feels true to what Hellraiser is, weaving in concepts like addiction and pushing the boundaries of humanity. This certainly won't be a game to play lightly, but it's clear that the developers are taking their job seriously.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is slated to launch on Oct. 8, 2026 across Xbox, PC, and PS5.

Crimson Moon is an unashamed Soulslike

Stopping by ProbablyMonsters' booth, one of the games I checked out was Crimson Moon, which doesn't hide its Dark Souls-esque inspirations. Players take up the role of a Nephilim, a half-human, half-angel warrior tasked with saving the city of Gildenarch from undead horrors.

Combat feels fine, if unsurprising, with weighty attacks and challenging foes that necessitate blocking and parrying properly. Co-op support means two players can team up and go on runs together, and while I only played solo, I suspect co-op will make for the most fun and ideal experience.

The art direction isn't hyper-realistic, which is a good thing, lending unnatural color and stylized framing to the churches and ruins you explore, as well as the various vampires and other corrupted creatures encountered across a run.

There was some unnecessary friction, with areas sealed off until you kill all enemies in a particular section, which meant wandering around scanning the environs until I found a snarling undead creature I'd somehow missed before.

There isn't an exact date right now, but Crimson Moon is currently scheduled to arrive at some point in September 2026 on Xbox, PC, and PS5.

Nekome: Nazi Hunter needs more time

Another title from ProbablyMonsters, Nekome: Nazi Hunter has a promising foundation. A Romani man named Vano Nastasu loses his family to the horrors of the Nazi regime, and he swears revenge, tracking down the leadership responsible and brutally dispatcing them.

Combat is (in theory) something of Sloclap's Sifu by way of Quentin Tarantino's direction, as it revolves around around parrying and handling large groups of foes before finishing them off, buckets of blood spilling along the way. In-between these fights, Vano can move around stealthily, destroying Nazi iconography and assassinating unaware guards.

Unfortunately, the build I played was extremely rough, with numerous glitches and errors. Combat timing for parrying never seemed quite right, weapons would randomly be unresponsive when I tried picking them up, and multiple audio lines would repeat in frequent succession, sometimes even over each other.

I understand that it's a work in progress, and I hope the developers are able to polish this, because the ideas it has going are great, but it clearly needs far more time for refinement.

Nekome: Nazi Hunter is scheduled to launch in early 2027 on Xbox, PC, and PS5.

Turok: Origins is a surprisingly fun co-op shooter

Another Saber Interactive title, Turok: Origins is pretty simple, befitting the series' roots. Turok warriors fight off powerful dinosaur-esque creatures and alien monstrosities, working alone or in a squad with three-player co-op, a setup that's reminiscent of Saber's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Impressively, it can also be played in first or third-person, and players can seamlessly swap in the middle of a match.

Missions are short, with both missions my team played taking about 10-15 minutes, with various objectives as the squad pushes through rainy jungles and overgrown ruins. Different loadouts provide different weapons and abilities, with machine guns, crossbows, and laser rifles that can be used to obliterate alien foes.

My personal favorite ability created a bubble that slowed time inside to a crawl, making it handy for pinning down bosses in one spot to focus fire, or providing a breather from ranged opponents.

While my team was able to complete both missions, it wasn't always easy, and a fight against a giant, weaponized Tyrannosaurus-esque creature required especially-careful coordination. It was extremely fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else the game has in store.

Despite the heavy focus on co-op, the developers assured me that it supports full offline play, so if you just want to play by yourself or you happen to lose internet, you'll be all set.

Turok: Origins doesn't have a release date right now, but is currently schedule to arrive sometime this fall, and it's coming to Xbox, PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Saw: Genesis is Dead by Daylight with more horrific traps

Bloober Team, developers of games like Silent Hill 2 remake and Cronos: The New Dawn, are sticking with horror while taking a stab at a multiplayer experience. Saw: Genesis is pitched as a prequel to the Saw films, with a more rudimentary, less-refined "Judge" picking victims to suffer in horrific traps out of the wake of World War 1.

Co-developed between Broken Mirror Games (a subsidiary of Bloober) and an external team at Anshar Studios, Saw: Genesis is a 3v1 title, with one Judge against three victims called Accused that have to work together to try and escape. I didn't go hands-on, but instead saw some early gameplay as the developers gave a presentation on what to expect.

The Judge is given knowledge of the procedurally-generated map, setting traps and preparing ambushes with special routes that are unavailable to the other players. The Accused have to explore carefully, else they can be abducted and fall into traps that'll be familiar to veterans of the Saw franchise. Here in these traps, they'll die if they aren't rescued...or they can choose to sacrifice a body part, losing an eye or limb in order to free themselves.

I'll be interested to see if Saw: Genesis can pull an audience in from titles such as Dead by Daylight, which has maintained a strong playerbase for years.

Right now, Saw: Genesis is coming to PC via early access. There's no release date, but sign-ups are available for Closed Alpha testing.