ILL made fairly the splash — or moderately, splatter — when the trailer dropped at Summer season Sport Fest 2025. We noticed a first-person horror recreation filled with guts, frenetic fight, and some heinously grotesque creatures — and we cherished each disturbing little element.
So what sort of twisted minds could make a recreation 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 they’re desperate to carry 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 recreation with visceral visuals, grotesque moments, fascinating inspiration, exploration, and wild concepts — a superb mixture of survival horror parts and first-person 3D motion. We’re working to steadiness 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 extreme motion, taking pictures mechanics, and dismemberment.”
A lot of the main points across the recreation’s story — which includes a mysterious fort in an Jap European-like setting overrun by monstrosities — have been saved secret thus far. Whereas Verehin intends to maintain it that method, he does share some data after we ask. “ILL’s focus is on the private story of the principle protagonist. His story is deeply interconnected with what is occurring on the earth. 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 principle character and his private motivations.”
“We would like ILL to make you are feeling just like the horror is bodily occurring to you. Not simply psychological rigidity or scripted scares, however a sort 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 endure, adapt, mutate. Your actions go away a mark, and the world responds.”
– Max Verehin, Sport Director & Co-founder, Staff Clout
Why the title “ILL?”
Clearly, numerous 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 title? “We actually needed a brief, placing title that if you write it, it seems like a brand. 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 title 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 recreation stuffed with nightmarish encounters.
What’s the inspiration behind the creatures of ILL? “Principally previous horror movies from the Seventies to the Nineties,” says Oleg. “All the things was completed with sensible results and high quality animatronics. The imperfections have been hidden with good lighting and robust path.”
“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 have been particularly drawn to that feeling of being trapped someplace actual, reacting second to second with restricted sources. From the start, we needed 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 might have an idea drawing and say, ‘how can I make this idea artwork a playable character within the recreation?’ Typically you see a video on-line that includes a scary idea. ‘Can I make a monster like that?’ It sounds ridiculous, however typically it really works. It’s inspiration that you just obtained out of your life expertise.”
“You even have to contemplate the monsters from a gameplay standpoint. They should be enjoyable to combat. There’s a trial and error course of. Some designs have been rejected as a result of they didn’t work within the recreation.”
The various nasties of ILL are more than simply ugly faces, nonetheless — their uncanny animation provides to the visceral discomfort of them.
“We’ve had huge assist from the staff of Mundfish in organising our animation division.Now we have numerous expertise doing animation, like making our personal brief horror animations that taught us how motion ought to work so as to scare you,” Verehin explains. “We’ll have, for instance, a monster that strikes usually at first, however we’ll strive and tweak it in methods to make it more distinctive and horrifying.”
He shared a humorous improvement story for example. “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 periods. The staff discovered it actually creepy, and they determined to incorporate it within the recreation!”
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 really 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 utilize your sources to craft and replace weapons. You’ll have to handle your stock, in fact, as a result of sources are restricted. There can be intense encounters — typically with single enemies, typically a small group, and cool moments if you combat waves of enemies and bosses.”
There will even be environmental puzzles and interactions. “For instance, in case you repair the electrical energy within the space, the surroundings modifications — issues would possibly turn into darkish someplace else. We would like the setting to really feel plausible and lifelike.”
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 can be enjoyable, artful weapons — and numerous 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 recreation? This loopy factor occurred!’ The opposite individual would say, “Okay, however this occurred in my playthrough!’ We’re making our recreation pleasant for various folks–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 data to observe.