Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Horror has been done before in video games with varying results. From the passive-aggressive, puzzle-based pacing of psychological horror to the action-packed, tension-filled madness of action games, games have found multitudes of methods to frighten gamers. However, there are titles that come along every once in a blue moon to break the mold and establish themselves as a genre in their own right. Illbleed is one example of a game filled with unique ideas gone right.

The story of Illbleed centers around a group of high school students in a horror club who are invited to stay at a horror legend's theme park for the night for a chance to win a massive cash prize. Seeing this as an opportunity to make big money, every one of the characters (with the exception of the main heroine) gleefully make haste to the horror land. However, the dangers in the park are real, leaving each one of the students in serious danger. The progression of the story is done via levels which are all centered around spooky campfire stories and, to the game's credit, each one of them present their own special kind of personality.

The game play in Illbleed is truly something else. Instead of what traditionally encompasses the horror games (i.e. having weapons, enemies that are foreseeable from a visual perspective), the lion's share of the game play is done through trial-and-error. Using the five basic senses (as well as a sixth sense), the player character is able to slightly foresee dangerous obstacles. However, the problem is that a special item called the "Horror Viewer" is needed to be able to disarm each trap which quickly elevates the value of such an item to a necessity. Even though the horror viewer adjusts to potential spots automatically, the largest issue is that items will also trigger the senses, making it unclear whether a marked spot is either a trap or a harmless item. Such an issue is slightly worsened by the fact that the amount of spots that can be marked are limited due to the adrenaline gauge, which only replenishes when a trap is correctly marked. Such a feature hints to a trial-and-error-styIe presentation which isn't all that frustrating if enough patience is allowed and the scares given off by the traps are surprisingly effective. Along with the syIe, the manner in which player characters take damage is also unique.

In Illbleed there are three ways to die: complete loss of health, bleeding out (as the title lightly implies), or a heart attack. Every instance in which damage is taken decreases the health bar while also increasing both the character's heart rate and degree of bleeding. Of course, an increased heart rate allows for the bleeding bar to fill up faster but there are items for each stat that can makes matters better. However, there is nitpick I would like to address: some of the instances which cause more bleeding are flat-out silly. It may be strange to say, but how can I bleed more from an annoying bell ringing for two seconds? It may seem trite to complain about such occurrences but there are so many strange things that make the bleeding bar increase. In any case, combat is not nearly as pleasantly interesting as the rest of the experience.

Combat, sadly, is the lowest point of the game. Each fight (save for the bosses) has a random encounter feel to them since the spots in which they take place are not clearly defined. Not being able to see the places in which fights take place is a major issue given the trial-and-error pacing and the enemies, for the lack of a better word, are punishingly difficult. Each one takes quite a few hits to kill since the attacks are so weak (with the exception of one character) and the enemies are able to deal quite a bit of damage. To make matters worse, items are unusable in a fight, meaning that entering a battle with low health is grounds for reloading the last save since there are no checkpoints to speak of. Such features undoubtedly increase the overall difficulty but not being able to predict the random battles, especially when they are difficult and clunky, comes off as unfair.

In the end, Illbleed is an interesting experiment with the horror genre that's worth checking out if you have a Dreamcast. With its unique pacing, surprisingly effective scares, and creative use of character statistics, Illbleed is certainly worth at least one playthrough. Be warned, though: combat in Illbleed demands patience.