ILL made fairly the splash — or fairly, splatter — when the trailer dropped at Summer season Recreation Fest 2025. We noticed a first-person horror sport full of guts, frenetic fight, and a few heinously grotesque creatures — and we liked each disturbing little element.
So what sort of twisted minds could make a sport like ILL? Ones well-versed within the horror style. The builders at Staff Clout have loads of expertise with horror, together with engaged on a number of well-known TV and movie tasks (e.g. Longlegs, V/H/S/Past, It: Welcome to Derry), and so they’re desperate to convey their model of terror to a brand new medium. We requested Staff Clout founders and unbelievable artists Maxim Verehin and Oleg Vdovenko to allow us to choose their brains about ILL.
The distinctive horror of ILL
As Verehin tells us, ILL is “A narrative-driven action-horror sport with visceral visuals, ugly moments, fascinating inspiration, exploration, and wild concepts — a very good mixture of survival horror parts and first-person 3D motion. We’re working to stability the elements the place gamers are s***ting their pants from fright with elements the place gamers are screaming as a result of they’re having fun with the extraordinary motion, capturing mechanics, and dismemberment.”
A lot of the small print across the sport’s story — which entails a mysterious fort in an Japanese European-like setting overrun by monstrosities — have been stored secret thus far. Whereas Verehin intends to maintain it that means, he does share some info once we ask. “ILL’s focus is on the private story of the primary protagonist. His story is deeply interconnected with what is going on on the planet. Broadly talking, the world will really feel remoted and hopeless. We would like gamers to really feel how darkish the temper is. I hope the viewers will sympathize with the primary character and his private motivations.”
“We would like ILL to make you are feeling just like the horror is bodily taking place to you. Not simply psychological pressure or scripted scares, however a form of grounded, body-level discomfort. The principle factor that units us aside is how we mix hyperrealistic physique horror with a reactive, tactile world. Enemies don’t simply die – they undergo, adapt, mutate. Your actions go away a mark, and the world responds.”
– Max Verehin, Recreation Director & Co-founder, Staff Clout
Why the identify “ILL?”
Clearly, plenty of thought and care has gone into the sport’s particulars, and the staff desires to maintain secrets and techniques to intensify the participant expertise. However we needed to know: what’s behind the sport’s identify? “We actually wished a brief, placing identify that if you write it, it appears like a emblem. The phrase represents one thing horrible, one thing sick, one thing cursed. Additionally, it displays the monsters — I’m not gonna spoil our monsters’ origins, however there’s going to be a cool interconnection between the identify and the story of the sport.”
Designing the monsters of ILL
The creature designs by Oleg and Verehin have been getting loads of consideration. The pair have a shared background in idea artwork, and their twisted inventive sensibility has created a sport full of nightmarish encounters.
What’s the inspiration behind the creatures of ILL? “Principally previous horror movies from the Nineteen Seventies to the Nineteen Nineties,” says Oleg. “Every thing was achieved with sensible results and high quality animatronics. The imperfections had been hidden with good lighting and powerful route.”
“In video games,” says Verehin relating to early ILL inspirations, “it’s Half-Life 2, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil collection – titles the place the world felt alive and harmful, the place the horror wasn’t simply visible however systemic. We had been particularly drawn to that feeling of being trapped someplace actual, reacting second to second with restricted sources. From the start, we wished to construct one thing that felt grounded however deeply disturbing, an expertise that doesn’t simply scare you, however unsettles you lengthy after you’ve put the controller down.
Verehin elaborated on the monster design course of. “We don’t have a set course of for creating a brand new monster. Typically you’ve an idea drawing and say, ‘how can I make this idea artwork a playable character within the sport?’ Typically you see a video on-line that includes a scary idea. ‘Can I make a monster like that?’ It sounds ridiculous, however generally it really works. It’s inspiration that you simply obtained out of your life expertise.”
“You even have to think about the monsters from a gameplay standpoint. They need to be enjoyable to battle. There’s a trial and error course of. Some designs had been rejected as a result of they didn’t work within the sport.”
The various nasties of ILL are extra than simply ugly faces, nevertheless — their uncanny animation provides to the visceral discomfort of taking a look at them.
“We’ve had large assist from the staff of Mundfish in establishing our animation division.We’ve plenty of expertise doing animation, like making our personal quick horror animations that taught us how motion ought to work with the intention to scare you,” Verehin explains. “We’ll have, for instance, a monster that strikes usually at first, however we’ll attempt to tweak it in methods to make it extra distinctive and horrifying.”
He shared a humorous improvement story as an instance. “28 seconds into the Official Trailer, this monster bends over. That is how Staff Clout’s Artwork Director, Alexey Mikhailov, bent over for enjoyable at one of many mockup classes. The staff discovered it actually creepy, and so they determined to incorporate it within the sport!”
Oleg mentions that the animation was difficult at first, “particularly when working at 60 frames per second. In comparison with 30 FPS, animations can really feel much less cinematic. However over time, I obtained used to it—and now I truly like the texture of it.”
What to anticipate from ILL gameplay
How concerning the gameplay? Verehin explains: “You discover, you employ sources, you discover and improve weapons. You should use your sources to craft and replace weapons. You’ll must handle your stock, after all, as a result of sources are restricted. There might be intense encounters — generally with single enemies, generally a small group, and funky moments if you battle waves of enemies and managers.”
There will even be environmental puzzles and interactions. “For instance, in case you repair the electrical energy within the space, the setting adjustments — issues may turn into darkish some place else. We would like the setting to really feel plausible and life like.”
What are a number of the weapons we’ll be utilizing? “A shotgun, an AK- 47–there was like this revolver gun, a sniper rifle, all the usual issues — and, to not spoil, however there might be enjoyable, artful weapons — and plenty of melee weapons as properly.”
Total, what do the builders at Staff Clout hope gamers take away from ILL? “We would like gamers to inform one another, ‘Are you aware about this sport? This loopy factor occurred!’ The opposite particular person would say, “Okay, however this occurred in my playthrough!’ We’re making our sport satisfying for various individuals–not solely horror followers, but additionally gamers who wish to expertise good storytelling and cool motion.”
ILL is in improvement for PlayStation 5, with launch info to observe.
