New Horror Game ILL Sounds Like a Throwback to the Classics, But With Photorealistic Graphics

The developers behind new horror game ILL talk about some of the game's classic inspirations, its visceral photorealistic visuals, and more in a recent interview. ILL is the debut game from Team Clout, which released the game's initial concept trailer back in 2021. The trailer wowed horror game fans with its striking realistic visuals and intense gore, but years of near radio silence had caused many gamers to doubt whether it'd ever see the light of day.

Thankfully, ILL showed back up in a big way during last month's Summer Game Fest showcase with a new gameplay trailer. First revealing that Team Clout is partnering with Mundfish's Powerhouse label, the trailer went on to show off ILL's wildly impressive photorealistic visuals, crisp audio design, and horrific enemy dismemberment in what many called one of the best-looking game trailers of SGF. It's quickly become one of the most sought after upcoming horror games next to the likes of Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem and Konami's Silent Hill f.

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In a new PlayStation Blog interview, Team Clout's Maxim Verehin and Oleg Vdovenko talked more about ILL's visuals as well as some of the inspirations behind the game. Verehin mentioned classic FPS and horror titles like Half-Life 2 and the early Silent Hill and Resident Evil franchises, which served as the team's biggest muses, "titles where the world felt alive and dangerous, where the horror wasn’t just visual but systemic." While no specific films, directors, or movements were expressly named, Vdovenko mentioned that horror cinema of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s helped inspire the designs of ILL's gross menacing monsters.

Half-Life, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill Inspired Team Clout's ILL

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It's safe to say that there hasn't really been a horror game with quite ILL's level of detail in its enemy animation and dismemberment. Verehin spoke about this, saying "The main thing that sets us apart is how we combine hyperrealistic body horror with a reactive, tactile world. Enemies don’t just die – they suffer, adapt, mutate. Your actions leave a mark, and the world responds." While gore and dismemberment were one of the early hooks that got horror gamers interested in ILL after its 2021 concept trailer, Verehin explained that ILL's gameplay will offer a number of trademark survival horror mechanics such as inventory management as well as environmental puzzles.

The main thing that sets us apart is how we combine hyperrealistic body horror with a reactive, tactile world.

Despite showing up this past Summer Game Fest with new gameplay trailers, Team Clout still hasn't put any sort of release window on ILL just yet. However, with how much coverage the game has been receiving, it seems certain that ILL's development may be nearing the finish line, and that a release date reveal could be right around the corner later this year, possibly at Gamescom next month or The Game Awards in December. The game is already confirmed to be coming to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. It's just a matter of waiting for word from Team Clout about when horror fans will be able to go hands-on.