ILL made fairly the splash — or relatively, splatter — when the trailer dropped at Summer season Recreation Fest 2025. We noticed a first-person horror recreation 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 recreation like ILL? Ones well-versed within the horror style. The builders at Group 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 desirous to convey their model of terror to a brand new medium. We requested Group Clout founders and unimaginable artists Maxim Verehin and Oleg Vdovenko to allow us to decide their brains about ILL.
The distinctive horror of ILL
As Verehin tells us, ILL is “A narrative-driven action-horror recreation with visceral visuals, ugly moments, attention-grabbing inspiration, exploration, and wild concepts — a great 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 entails a mysterious fort in an Jap European-like setting overrun by monstrosities — have been stored secret up to now. Whereas Verehin intends to maintain it that approach, he does share some info once 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 pressure or scripted scares, however a sort of grounded, body-level discomfort. The primary 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 depart a mark, and the world responds.”
– Max Verehin, Recreation Director & Co-founder, Group Clout
Why the title “ILL?”
Clearly, loads of thought and care has gone into the sport’s particulars, and the crew needs to maintain secrets and techniques to intensify the participant expertise. However we needed to know: what’s behind the sport’s title? “We actually wished a brief, placing title that while you write it, it appears to be like 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 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 crammed with nightmarish encounters.
What’s the inspiration behind the creatures of ILL? “Principally previous horror movies from the Seventies to the Nineteen Nineties,” says Oleg. “The whole lot was accomplished with sensible results and high quality animatronics. The imperfections have been hidden with good lighting and robust course.”
“In video games,” says Verehin relating to early ILL inspirations, “it’s Half-Life 2, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil sequence – 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 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 got 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 received out of your life expertise.”
“You even have to contemplate the monsters from a gameplay standpoint. They must 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 extra than simply ugly faces, nevertheless — their uncanny animation provides to the visceral discomfort of them.
“We’ve had massive assist from the crew of Mundfish in establishing our animation division.We now have loads of expertise doing animation, like making our personal quick horror animations that taught us how motion ought to work with a view 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 Trailerthis monster bends over. That is how Group Clout’s Artwork Director, Alexey Mikhailov, bent over for enjoyable at one of many mockup periods. The crew discovered it actually creepy, and so 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 received used to it—and now I really like the texture of it.”
What to anticipate from ILL gameplay
How in regards to 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 shall be intense encounters — typically with single enemies, typically a small group, and funky moments while you combat waves of enemies and executives.”
There may also be environmental puzzles and interactions. “For instance, should 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 real looking.”
What are a few 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 shall be enjoyable, artful weapons — and loads of melee weapons as nicely.”
Total, what do the builders at Group 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 satisfying for various individuals–not solely horror followers, but in addition gamers who wish to expertise good storytelling and cool motion.”
ILL is in improvement for PlayStation 5, with launch info to observe.
