I finished Illbleed last night. It’s an interesting game for sure: the content is weird, the premise is unique, and its approach to horror is straight out of campy 1980s classics like Creepshow. It’s also a pretty good example of bad game design: it’s too complicated, the rules keep changing, and there are some points that rate very high on the frustration meter. You should check this review out, because I even went to the trouble of making a graph to describe one of the principle design failures of this game.
Very nice review Chris. I’ve just got hold of this, courtesy of 16bitman, and I’m looking forward to giving it a go (despite your reservations 🙂 ).
I agree 100% with Chris. The game is just TOO frustrating to be fun. It has a wonderful premise, but it gets bogged down with all the rules. This is the only translated English survival horror game I used a FAQ on.
I agree with Chris’s review for the most part.
Illbleed was one of the few post PS2 releases the DC had.
I assume Chris you didn’t get the real ending. You know the one where all your friends are dead and you basicly fight the final boss naked?
I am not making this up…
I did read about this ending, but I wasn’t about to play that thing all the way through for a final boss fight and a skin texture.
… though it is sort of funny that you have to fail your objectives (“rescue your friends”) to get the “real” ending.