This is the first concept trailer disease It really sticks to the heart. All 60 seconds long – and, by chance, it’s set in a completely different location from the real game, but nevertheless covers the vision of influence of the developer team. The battle is slow and heavy. The enemy is controlled by strange, terrifying, complex physical systems. There are a lot of gore. In the four years since Ill first appeared, we’ve seen dozens of short concept videos and gameplay tips, but for the most part, hybrid horror FPS has been a mystery. There’s a steam page and some social channels, but I really don’t know what it is, how it works, who’s making it, how it’s going to play. Finally, along with its release on SGF, Ill’s Director will talk to PCGamesn about the history and inspiration of the game. From what we have seen and heard, illness is partly a combination of fear, half-life 2, and lucky soldiers, but still, there is more than just eye-opening.
So its first trailer arrived in 2021. What’s been happening with illness ever since? It started as a passion project for four core developers. Between 2021 and 2023, this first basic version of Team Clout created and released a series of concept videos rather than actual full gameplay. Tackling the illness full-time has always been a goal, but the influence of the team also required paying the bill. This means taking on freelance jobs, often providing the visual effects of horror films. It wasn’t until 2023 that disease production gained real momentum.
“We have four founders of Team Clout,” says Max Verehin, Ill’s game director and studio co-founder. “We had the idea of making a brutal horror game in physics and decided to make some videos that could represent our vision. It was a small development from the start. The roads were bumpy. There were a lot of issues with the location, the team, things like that.
“And we sat down and thought, ‘Hey, we should really be serious, starting development full time.’ In the summer of 2023, we joined Mundfish Powerhouse.
You may recognize the Mundfish by that name – it is the studio that developed the atomic heart. Powerhouse is a spinoff, boutique label built to find, publish and co-create “next generation games” in studio’s own words. With the support of Powerhouse, Team Clout has grown into a studio of around 50 full-time developers, allowing them to work in earnest at ILL. It’s no longer a concept video, everything you’ve seen since 2023 is captured in the game.
“Ill is something all four founders wanted to play in the future,” continues Verehin. “We’re a bit of inspiration for Half-Life 2, specifically the way we tell the pacing and story. We feel the whole journey is here, and we need to start here and get there. The room has changed as things aren’t glued to the floor.
“We’re also trying to push our enemies and physics. I’m not saying that the enemy is procedural, but we’re pushing our emotions. When we shoot our enemies, we feel that it’s based on physics.
Illness is a survival horror game. In the sense that ammunition is partially restricted and you can’t kill anything that attacks you. He is also a shooter. It is driven not by ghosts or demons, but by oozing, grotesque, material mutants. However, the game’s premise and setting have changed over the past four years. The oldest version of Ill seen in these first videos was set in a small American town. Now it takes place around an isolated fortress somewhere in the East Block (although Verehin suggests that some of these original locations could still appear in the final game).
Similarly, they have worked to create illness and scary things in terms of influence rather than bloody sights or gore in visual sense.
“Gore is really important,” explains Welehin. “You may remember a lucky soldier who just wanted to see how Gore works when they killed an enemy. I hope players are excited to explore this system.
“But it’s not just the visuals. I want them to feel the sound. When you shoot a revolver in the hallway, you feel it is. In the hallway. The sound of the shot itself is cruel and shocking. And our enemies are not regular monsters like zombies. They do things that are truly sadistic. This demolition system also changes them. If they lose their limbs, another enemy can be born from that limb. ”
Verehin also explains the level design of Ill, explaining that the stage is divided into larger, open areas, which are divided into tighter corridor sections. There is another pass and I recommend looking around, but that is definitely not in a free form. “We want to create a scary, isolated atmosphere for our players,” the director says. “Whether it’s condensed, a small, dark hallway, or an open area with empty space above us, we want to feel frightening everywhere.”
Not long ago, you could have been allowed to watch a trailer due to illness and assume it was a solid concept that never came down from the ground and never saw the light of reality. But it’s real, and it’s happening, and the real game appears to capture all the elements that made its first trailer so harsh.
