Team Clout’s photorealistic horror game, ILL, was first teased back in September 2021 via a series of short concept trailers. Lasting just 30 seconds or so, these initial trailers showed off some incredibly realistic environments and some wonderfully disgusting monsters, but it was clear that ILL was far from being a finished product. Though ILL quickly gained an avid fan base, that excitement soon turned to cautious optimism, and over several years, that optimism eventually faded away, leaving only caution.
For the last year or so, ILL has been the subject of some intense speculation. While some believe that developer Team Clout has been quietly working on the horror game, others believe that ILL isn’t in development at all. This latter group has often thrown the word “scam” around in reference to ILL. Game Rant recently spoke with Team Clout co-founder Maxim Verehin, who was happy to address these concerns head-on.
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Team Clout’s Maxim Verehin Clears Up Questions Surrounding ILL’s Crowdfunding
A few years ago, Team Clout established a Patreon page where fans could sign up to support ILL. This Patreon page has become a key point of contention among some fans. Some are worried that Team Clout is taking donations for ILL without producing any meaningful content, but Team Clout’s Maxim Verehin wants to make a clear distinction between ILL and other indie games out there:
“I would put it that ILL was supported financially in some way. Crowdfunding is when you receive money to actually develop the game, but we never pushed that part of our business. We only had this Patreon page where people were free to support us. We didn’t do many campaigns to develop our Patreon and earn more money. It was more like a bonus. For example, we recently released a small video clip and the Patreons actually funded this clip.”
How Partnering with Mundfish Has Affected ILL’s Development
While Team Clout’s Patreon has helped to keep ILL alive over the last few years, the studio needed a little more help to get the project properly off the ground. For this, Team Clout turned to Mundfish Powerhouse, a brand-new publishing arm of the company behind 2023’s Atomic Heart. Naturally, this new partnership between Team Clout and Mundfish has changed the course of ILL‘s development journey quite drastically:
“When we partnered with Mundfish, it was kind of a launch of full production, where we started to build a strong foundation for the team. Mundfish helps us to understand things we don’t know ourselves because this is our first project. We have a lot of questions. Mundfish usually has the answers.”
While ILL is Team Clout’s first project, it seems the studio is in safe hands. With Mundfish’s help, it’s now confirmed that ILL is officially in full production, with a team of around 50 people working on it.
Team Clout’s Maxim Verehin Assures Fans ILL is Not a ‘Scam’
With a shiny new trailer and all this information now available, it seems safe to say that ILL is a real game that’s currently in active development. While that might be enough for skeptics to lower their hackles a little, Team Clout is fully aware that its journey is just beginning, and that it’s going to need to keep convincing fans every step of the way:
“People will see more announcements, they’ll see that development is going well and that the game is happening. There’s still a lot to do, and it’s hard to make, but we are fully committed to that. There will always be people, and they have a full right to be concerned. We have a lot of examples of games that promised a lot and didn’t deliver. I understand that we haven’t shared for a long time, but hopefully soon we’ll change some minds into a more positive way of thinking.”
ILL is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.