Ill director says the game isn't 'gore porn' — it's inspired by Half-Life 2's Ravenholm

Max Verehin, CEO of Team Clout, is pushing back against the obvious read of Ill's latest story trailer — the one featuring zombie baby skull-crushing and eye-scooping — insisting the game isn't gore for gore's sake. The studio's goal, he says, is to scare and entertain, not just shock.

Verehin told PC Gamer that the team has deep roots across horror games, film, and concept art, and that they've collectively reached the point where almost nothing in the genre surprises them anymore. That's what drove the early brainstorming sessions: let the madness run wild first, then pull back to find the line between unique and gratuitous. The story trailer frames Ill around a hospital setting where the player character wakes from a coma and gets drafted into dealing with whatever nightmare has taken over — not the most original setup, Verehin admits, but the game isn't a straight survival horror experience. It mixes horror and action, and because you're fighting monsters rather than humans, the studio wants tearing through them to feel fun against an oppressive backdrop.

The clearest reference point Verehin offers is Half-Life 2's We Don't Go to Ravenholm chapter — a grim, zombie-filled level that works not just because of atmosphere but because of the gravity gun's slice-and-dice potential with conveniently placed buzzsaw blades. It's visceral without being conventionally gory, and that combination of creative combat and dread is what Team Clout is chasing with modern hardware. The story trailer that dropped earlier this month is actually toned down compared to Ill's debut at Summer Game Fest 2025, which was itself apparently milder than what the studio originally had on the table.

No release date has been confirmed for Ill, but the studio is clearly in active promotion mode. Whether the horror community buys the "not gore porn" framing after watching that trailer is, to put it gently, an open question.