ILYAD is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up featuring large sprites. You control a spaceship, and your goal is to defeat all the enemies. Oliver Régis developed the game (code and concept) together with Marc Albinet (graphics), Pierre Adane (code) and Frederic Hahn (music) in Lausanne in 1989.

A sinister villain named Baron Arkhon has thrown the galaxy's balance out of kilter. You must destroy enemy bases and restore equilibrium in four different time periods: The Creation, Prehistory, Antiquity, and the Middle Ages.

At the end, you must enter Arkhon's fortress and destroy the generator of an infernal time machine. En route, you have the opportunity to obtain 14 power-ups, such as Speed Down/Up, as well as several types of improvements for your shot. The most effective of these are the triple triggers Bustar, Doolyx, Jaxtorys, Leitun and Kyus. At the end of each stage, you will encounter gigantic final bosses with enormous sprites that require many shots to defeat. Ilyad has a great soundtrack that is very effective.

It is not clear when it was initially released. Ubi Soft planned the release in France and Germany for 1989. Reviews for the game appeared in the summer 1990. There is an Ubisoft box with the game and a German manual from 1990. Later, in 1991, the ILYAD was published commercially in English-speaking countries. This happened at approximately the same time as the full game cover disk release by Amiga Action, issue 20, May 1991.

The reviews are quite good. It's not easy to defeat the final bosses. The game itself is divided into six areas or levels, but the levels are very large and extremely difficult to complete. The magazine ASM said the levels are solidly made, and the sound, scrolling, and controls are appealing. However, due to the high level of difficulty, the game is only suitable for pros. Sarah Kreuz comments on Kultboy: “I think Ilyad is above average. I just like the level design and the controls, which are somehow not as vague as in Projekt X. I like it.”