I have to admit, I knew a lot about this game going in. I've seen the deviousness of the first level, I understood the main mechanic and how to apply it, I even knew that Eriko was pretty much the only character worth playing. However, I don't think any prep short of being completely spoiled would adequately set you up. Because once you're past the Banballows? You couldn't predict a single move Illbleed pulls if you had a gun to your head.
Game development doesn't really work like this, I know, but never before has a game felt so driven by whimsy alone. Drifting from one idea in this completely free-wheeling state of mind where the connection between a talking cake and a grill that turns meat hostile makes sense together simply because they were thought in close enough proximity. Or maybe it just feels that way because the ideas never go above or below wouldn't-it-be-funny-if levels of consideration. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way!
Unfortunately, even with its lean 6-ish hours of runtime (add a few for the true ending, and a couple more if you're really struggling), a chunk of that effort will be spent rationing the most rancid salads ever digitized and ambling from point A to B to reduce bleeding. I can absolutely respect conflict in my game design, and I do admire how Illbleed's survival-isms are ridiculously complex and overlapping for a game about a spooky theme park, but ultimately, the drive of this game doesn't lie here, and the insistence of being a part of the game so often only chafed against me. This extends to the level design and encounters, too. I played this with a friend and we both made a comment at some point about how annoyed I sounded every time I looked at the map and got nauseated by what's ahead.
(It makes sense, then, that this game has been mostly preserved in the form of Let's Plays where this sorta thing can be defanged for the audience.)
As noted in other reviews here, this game really does feel self-prophesizing in who it attracts. If you're capable of getting past Level 1, you're probably there until the end. Hell, even if you're not, just look it all up or something. Illbleed doesn't strike me as a game concerned with the means. Much like its B-horror roots, it's about having a good time on both sides of the screen.
Game development doesn't really work like this, I know, but never before has a game felt so driven by whimsy alone. Drifting from one idea in this completely free-wheeling state of mind where the connection between a talking cake and a grill that turns meat hostile makes sense together simply because they were thought in close enough proximity. Or maybe it just feels that way because the ideas never go above or below wouldn't-it-be-funny-if levels of consideration. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way!
Unfortunately, even with its lean 6-ish hours of runtime (add a few for the true ending, and a couple more if you're really struggling), a chunk of that effort will be spent rationing the most rancid salads ever digitized and ambling from point A to B to reduce bleeding. I can absolutely respect conflict in my game design, and I do admire how Illbleed's survival-isms are ridiculously complex and overlapping for a game about a spooky theme park, but ultimately, the drive of this game doesn't lie here, and the insistence of being a part of the game so often only chafed against me. This extends to the level design and encounters, too. I played this with a friend and we both made a comment at some point about how annoyed I sounded every time I looked at the map and got nauseated by what's ahead.
(It makes sense, then, that this game has been mostly preserved in the form of Let's Plays where this sorta thing can be defanged for the audience.)
As noted in other reviews here, this game really does feel self-prophesizing in who it attracts. If you're capable of getting past Level 1, you're probably there until the end. Hell, even if you're not, just look it all up or something. Illbleed doesn't strike me as a game concerned with the means. Much like its B-horror roots, it's about having a good time on both sides of the screen.