Yukinori Kikuchi - Illbleed (2001)

 

Composer: Yukinori Kikuchi
Console: Dreamcast
Game Release Date: 2001-03-29 
Bootleg Release Date: 2020-10-19
Ripper: ????
Runtime: 1:21:50, 35 Tracks

Let's continue with the horror game aesthetic. Here we have Illbleed, a horror game for the Sega Dreamcast. The game was developed and published by Crazy Games.

Obviously, it's a horror game. The game sees you playing as Eriko Christy, the daughter of a horror theme park designer. She had a bit of an abusive upbringing with her father as he would try out all his props and gimmicks on her. Eventually, the mother filed divorce and she lost contact with the father. Years later, Eriko and her three friends hear of a theme park called Illbleed. A $100 million reward is out for anyone who can reach the end of the park. Eriko, uninterested declines the invitation but her friends set out instead.  After not hearing back from them in a few days she takes her ticket and sets out to find them. 

The game then has you go through each parks exhibit as your search for your friends and the meaning of the park. 

The game is played in third person as you explore the park. You have health and stamina, but you also have some extra things. You have 4 senses that can give you hints of where traps are. Sight, Hearing, Smell and the Sixth Sense. You have a BPM stat for your heart rate. If it gets too high and Eriko gets too scared, you can have a heart attack. Thankfully there are traps to lower heart rate and items you can consume. As you venture the park you need to keep a balance and not get too excited. This is the only game I have seen that uses heart rate as a gimmick. 

The park's appearance are these surrealistic and almost dark-psychedelic b-movie sets with their own stories of the levels. Many years ago, like 2009 I think, I saw gameplay footage of the Wood Puppets level on NicoVideo and it scared the shit out of me. There was something that really scared me when I saw those wooden puppets. My brother has one of those wooden puppets for his artwork and it still makes me uneasy. The level itself is a good example of what I mean by surreal. It starts off as this museum but then turns into this underground-like forest and extensive mining operation with a giant wood processing plant and just alien-like scenery. It gets weird. There are even crazier levels. 

The wooden puppet video pretty much ensured I would never do a run of it but in 2016 I watched a LP of it. I would link that LP because it was good but the LPer deleted it and his account and I don't have a backup :(. If he re-uploads it, I will link later. 

The game has multiple branching endings depending on what you do, who you save, etc. You can get other playable characters as well, each with their own endings and stories. 

In my unprofessional opinion, Illbleed is a unique and interesting horror game. It's unlike a lot of the "just run from the killer" games and has an amazing plot. I don't want to spoil much about it so I will be silent for now. The game also has a lot of secrets and Easter eggs for other Sega/Dreamcast games. I suggest you experience it yourself but if you're curious then just lookup "hedgehog" and Illbleed together and you will find it. I remember seeing that for the first time and thinking it had to be a parody and not something the devs put in the game. 

I can see how this game has a cult following. It has a lot of soul. With how Sega has been re-releasing a lot of their older games I wouldn't be surprised if they convinced Crazy Games to re-release it. 
The games soundtrack was composed by Yukinori Kikuchi. He is a composer that has been active since at least the late 90s and still works to this day. Most recently he helped with the soundtrack for 13 Sentinels. He has also done work for Final Fantasy XIII: The Zodiac Age and the Progear soundtrack. Dude gets around. 

Like most horror games the music is mostly dark ambient, but it does have many more variation than other horror OSTs I have posted. You got dark ambient like on "The Campsite", cartoony spooky music like on "Something's Funny Going On..." and my favourite, the upbeat and jazzy "The Park". The soundtrack is very dynamic. 

So, before we get to sharing let's talk about this rip. I have no idea where I downloaded this from. This rip is one of the oldest soundtracks I ever downloaded and after doing a cursory look I can't find where I got it from. I have no idea who ripped this. I found a Tumblr blog where someone posted a download link, but they didn't remember either.  I don't think I got it from there but who knows for sure. I can confirm it wasn't any of the usual suspects like KHInsider or Zophar. This came already tagged and ready to post. 

This download comes with 3 things. It contains the original m4a files that my download has in v0. It has 160kbps mp3s that I have converted for the sake of the download. And it has 3 tracks in a folder called "Illbleed Extras" composed by someone called Jeff Kern. 

Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvblZwd2pLcksjeWhlelRHdEwxYXFkczN5T2tlREhEamdubEFWalcyME0xMnE3Q2tEb3ZXRQ==
Stream: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9mEHgUJQdBFgx7fgPWWituaZvVnjhLRS
p@ss: hedgehog