IllBleed: The Sega Dreamcast's Insane B-Movie Horror Masterpiece

You've been issued a challenge with a reward of 1 Million Dollars, all you have to do is make it out of the latest horror theme park, Illbleed... Alive.

Welcome to one of the most absurdly unhinged survival horror games ever to release. Featuring shocks, surprises, and downright uncanny abominations, all tied together in a B-movie horror motif... this is Illbleed!

In the final days of Sega's swan song console, a number of titles would see a release to little fanfare at the time. But most would later be seen as some of the console's most underrated and iconic games, including a little horror game called Illbleed, which was created by a developer named Crazy Games... how fitting.

Who was Crazy Games? Well, it's actually pretty interesting. Originally formed in 1996 by Shinya Nishigaki as Climax Graphics Inc. as an independent spin-off of Climax Entertainment (not to be confused with Climax Studios), featuring a number staff members who previously worked on the CGI elements of the 1996 Sega Saturn game Dark Savior. The team would begin work on their first title which would end up becoming the 1999 Sega Dreamcast classic Blue Stinger, which despite its flaws would go on to be a decent success for the team. Notable borrowing influences from other survival horror games, like Resident Evil and Enemy Zero. Although what made the game stick out was its somewhat quirky, outlandish feel and tone, taking a ton of inspiration from western action films. Something that Nishigaki would lean even further into with his next title.

Beginning work in 1999, the game that would eventually become Illbleed would continue in the survival horror direction that its spiritual predecessor started, although this time going in a much different direction - taking much of its influence this time from classic B-movie horror. The team also wanted to put an emphasis on jump scares, attempting to recreate the same experience as haunted house attractions often found at amusement parks. Work on the game come to an end around 2000, with an eventual release in 2001, despite some trouble finding a publisher in both Japan and North America.

What kind of game is Illbleed exactly? The easiest way to describe it is a survival horror experience set in the fictional titular named theme park, where players take control of Eriko Christy, a high school student and horror aficionado, who needs to travel through the park to rescue her friend who have gone missing in the park. The game itself is broken up into six different levels connected by a central hub, with each level being based off of a different fictional horror film. Although unlike traditional survival horror games, Illbleed forgoes heavy combat and is instead designed around searching for and disabling different traps found around the game, which when triggered cause a jump scare to appear and will effect the players stamina, heart rate, or bleeding rate. All of which will lead to the player's death if thrown out of wack, encouraging players to play smart and avoid setting off too many traps. While all of the traps are randomized between different playthroughs, the player is able to find them using their senses, allowing them to mark and dismantle them without consequences.

So why has Illbleed become such a cult classic among horror fans and Sega Dreamcast enthusiasts? Well, there's potentially a lot of reasons, as the game's late release on the system has caused it to become a very rare and sought after experience. Aside from that, the game is also distinct for its unique concept for the time, along with extreme violence and shock value, including a number of hilarious parodies of horror tropes. There's even a horrific rip-off of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog known as "Zodick the Hellhog". Sega was not amused by this. While I love the game for its quirks, I wont lie when I say the game is very rough around the edges. It clearly shows its age compared to modern games, particularly regarding its somewhat confusing gameplay, which takes a bit of time to truly get the hang of. Regardless, Illbleed is such a uniquely fascinating experience that I highly recommend to anyone who has the chance to play it.

In the end, Illbleed would be the final major game created by Crazy Games, with the studio shutting down in 2002 and much of the team moving on to work at Cavia. While remastered ports of both Blue Stinger and Illbleed were planned for the original Xbox at one point, the sudden death of Shinya Nishigaki in 2004 would put an end to that project, leaving the game as one of the rarer games for the Dreamcast - these days often going for high prices in the collectors market.