illWill – Spotlight
IllWill throws you into the shoes of a nameless hero who is thrust into a twisted nightmare world full of hideous beings including acid-spitting monsters and fake Mr. Meeseks from Rick and Morty who carry shotguns and appear to be the local ruling class or deity. There’s no knowing how or why you ended up there; you have no idea who you are or what’s going on, and the only thing you’re certain of is that you must murder.
Even though the lack of lore and context fits the surreal setting, making the whole thing pass as a bad trip, it still feels like a missed opportunity to not have elaborated more upon this nightmarish world, as even the most minimalist old-school FPSs usually had some form of storyline in some way.
However, for such a small studio, the visual aesthetic and worldbuilding are outstanding. The smart use of light and dark contrasts, a considerable degree of detail in most locations, and vast view distances, together with eerie sound effects and a sombre soundtrack, create an atmosphere that isn’t at all generic, which is a welcome change of pace. An added bonus is that you’ll probably cover most of these places with the multicoloured blood of your opponents.
Multilayered, or horizontal and vertical, level development is common. Several locations will be inaccessible unless you find the key to unlock them, which is typically concealed in an arena-style battle that activates after you have the key. Backtracking for resources / secrets isn’t too laborious because there is no map and no fall damage, and because your character can double-jump and constantly runs at a fast pacing. You can save at any moment, including during battle, but doing so in a terrible location or while supplies are low could force you to retry the entire level owing to running out of ammo or getting stuck in a death loop.
The three white violins buried in each level serve as collectibles and grant a 10% damage bonus for the duration of that stage; this bonus can be stacked up to a total of +30%. Aside from that, there are special events and the usual hidden caches of resources that might offer you an edge in terms of defences and offensive capabilities. They’re interesting to discover, helpful, and frequently bizarre in unexpected ways.
Fights unfold in a traditional first-person shooter style, so do not hesitate to use tactics like circle strafing and jumping to your advantage. The arsenal includes both traditional killing implements like the super shotgun and rocket launcher, and more cutting-edge tools like the leech gun, which shoots dark creatures that slowly drain health (or armour, if they’re machines) from your enemies and drop it as a pickup.
In order to survive the adversaries on Hard mode, you’ll need to be on the lookout for hitscan weapons and use cover effectively. It will mostly just be you and your firearms doing all the work, with the occasional help from things like explosives in the surroundings.
The bosses are disappointing because, with the exception of the final boss, they all look and act the same as the normal enemies you’ve fought dozens of times before and spawn absurd numbers of trash mobs to distract you while you chip away at their enormous health bar. There must have been a way to make these battles more interesting and memorable.
New game modes become accessible when the main campaign has been completed. One of them will make twice as many enemies appear, while the other will turn them all become suicide bombers. It doesn’t really impact the gameplay THAT much, but it’s better than nothing, and completionists will likely bash their heads against it for a long, thus completing the game with these weird modifiers is related to achievements.
