Ultros is a type of video games that is born to stay within the reminiscence. Not solely is it one of the vital visually vibrant video games of the yr thus far with its neon color palette that is an instant-KO-to-my-eyeballs, however the best way it twists and rewires core tenets of the Metroidvania rulebook additionally make it one of many boldest and most daring examples of its style. I am going to say it now: it does not at all times stick the touchdown. But when there’s one factor Ultros does consistently all through its 15-odd hour runtime, it is that it is at all times, at all times attention-grabbing. And for that, it has my respect – even when by the point the (first) finish credit rolled, I used to be able to by no means contact it ever once more.
To start with, Ultros is a feast for the senses. As our caped, nearly insectoid-like heroine awakens from her slumber in a discipline of mad, inconceivable plants, we step by step be taught that we’re trapped in a timeloop on board what’s clearly some form of ship within the vastness of area, but additionally a spot that is intermittently known as each a sarcophagus and cosmic womb. It is a premise that is nearly as baffling to wrap your head spherical as its visible frenzy. No matter this place is, it is considerable with multi-coloured timber, vines and fungi, and the creatures feasting off its riches really feel like they have been pulled straight out of some multi-dimensional fever dream.
All the pieces about your predicament feels consistently on the verge of being too overwhelming to proceed, and I think there will probably be loads of people who really feel that Ultros is finally somewhat excessive by itself provide. However regardless of its busy visuals and surreal setup, Ultros is a remarkably straightforward sport to learn and navigate thanks the stark black silhouettes outlining its eye-popping backdrops. Shifting via Ultros is a breeze in that respect, no matter whether or not you are totally tooled up together with your unlockable Cortex talents, and it grounds the sport in a means that make its moment-to-moment platforming really feel strong and tangible – even when its plot feels prefer it’s about to drift out the window in a haze of cosmic nonsense.
On the coronary heart of this timeloop is the eponymous demon Ultros, a raging three-eyed purple orb whose true nature and goal isn’t totally explored or defined, however is just merely hinted at through the enigmatic encounters you might have with the ship’s handful of remaining residents. Some have develop into extra deranged than others due to this endless time jail, they usually’re useful and violent in equal measure, performing as each bosses who stand in the best way of your purpose, and guiding palms who sometimes fill your pockets with helpful seeds and instruments.
Let’s first dissect its fight, which begins as a easy hack and slash affair, however step by step evolves right into a cleaner, extra exact faculty of swordplay strategies as you unlock new talents. It is by no means so meticulous that it crosses over into Soulslike territory, but it surely does actively encourage you to range your assault strikes and transfer combos to be able to reap higher spoils out of your foes. These monster gibs do not simply provide higher therapeutic bonuses when your well being is low, although. In addition they feed into 4 colored bars that unlock new strikes. For instance, mashing your primary assault again and again will solely reward you with a ‘bloody pulp’ that has minimal dietary profit, however take down an enemy with three distinct strikes, say, and also you may get a ‘good’ pattern that offers you a a lot greater increase. Totally different talents require completely different quantities of those 4 colored bars to be crammed in (I hesitate to make use of the phrase stat bars, as your base stats stay the identical all through), so you will must actually feed your thoughts so you’ll be able to develop as a warrior.
To start with, this pressure between therapeutic and private progress provides Ultros a luminous lick of strategic pondering. Do I energy up now, however depart myself with no restoration objects? Or do I maintain again on the expense of its superb drop-kick, further combo strikes and sneak assaults? It is a knotty dichotomy to ponder, particularly when every new timeloop places you again at sq. one on the outdated potential chart. Alas, that edge turns into dulled over time. The extra timeloops you undergo, the decrease every potential’s necessities develop into, thus requiring fewer nutritious noshes to realize again, and enemies are sometimes such pushovers that you will be swimming in limbs and bloodied torsos very quickly. Add to this collectible mycelium nodes that allow you to bear in mind talents between timeloops, and your incentive to have interaction with its fight exterior boss battles quickly diminishes.
Even when she’s totally tooled up, although, our heroine can nonetheless really feel fairly stilted and irritating to manage. Wall jumps are fussy to execute with any diploma of ability or accuracy, and even her double jumps by no means really feel like they attain as excessive as they need to. Let’s put it this fashion: she’s a far cry from Ori and Sargon, and feels extra akin to Staff Cherry’s equally mysterious Knight. However the chief offender in Ultros’ fussy division is certainly your tethered extractor instrument. Like your sword, that is an object you will must manually acquire each time you start a brand new timeloop, and one whose features are restored with each new boss you’re taking down. Fortunately, these do persist via every loop, but it surely’s this – not your Cortex talents – that makes it attainable to succeed in the farthest corners of the ship. Actually, your Cortex talents aren’t essential in any respect within the grand scheme of issues. They merely provide you with extra choices and make issues simpler relating to fights.
The extractor, then, is actually what makes this a Metroidvania, however at occasions it feels so totally busted that you just wish to throw it again into the void from whence it got here. If it is not the marginally dodgy airborne path-finding of its jet-pack-like Thruster mod, you will be pulling your hair out over the tempermental Returner add-on that ‘holds troublesome feelings’ (aka: destroys very particular obstacles, however solely after you’ve got defeated a boss and by no means ever earlier than), or the totally infuriating Sprayer instrument that is meant to allow you to manipulate the expansion of sure vegetation, however which finally ends up feeling such as you’re making an attempt to tie a pair of shoelaces that magnetically repel one another. It may be maddening to make use of at occasions, and it is finally a part of what made me crave the top of Ultros as I reached its last moments.
The most important purpose why I fell of the Ultros wagon, although, was the second I realised what it might take to succeed in the sport’s precise conclusion. Your purpose is to kill off eight Shaman figures who’re locked away in a state of deep meditation protecting Ultros at bay, and thus preserving the timeloop for all eternity. Destroying their extravagant sleep pods will due to this fact break the timeloop and allow you to escape, albeit at the price of unleashing this unknowable demon into the world – although as a result of imprecise nature of what Ultros represents, the consequential menace of your actions finally ends up falling flat. However this, in fact, is the violent means of doing issues. And actually, Ultros is a sport about progress, kindness, and tending to at least one’s religious growth – a theme that is hammered house again and again with the seeds you’ll be able to plant throughout the ship in patches of glittering soil.
As every loop advances, these vegetation will develop and morph over time. Some shoot up tall and straight, with boughs that ultimately allow you to leap as much as beforehand inaccessible ledges. Others allow you to velocity via its lengthy, orange grasses, and the extra it spreads, the sooner you’ll be able to steam via its corridors. Extra nonetheless will twist and switch to interrupt down clockwork-like obstacles, or develop vines that allow you to swing throughout massive gaps, and understanding which seeds to plant the place is all a part of Ultros’ wider puzzle. You needn’t sweat it an excessive amount of if you find yourself planting the incorrect seed within the incorrect place, although. Ultimately, your extractor will allow you to dig out seeds to reuse and plant elsewhere, whereas chunks of compost can velocity up progress cycles with out having to undergo one other timeloop. And I need to say, the Digger is without doubt one of the extractor’s few delights, as diving into its pulsing, bokeh-flecked soil to search out the supply of a plant’s roots by no means fails to entertain.
However your seed depend is one other factor that resets on the start of every new loop, and when later areas of the ship demand very particular placement of sure seeds to be able to progress, I ended up spending a whole lot of time merely schlepping about looking for the precise seeds for the job. It is backtracking at its very worst, and it is made extra tedious by a map that by no means actually makes clear what’s and is not a viable pathway. Truthfully, I feel Prince Of Persia: The Misplaced Crown’s screenshot perform might have ruined each future Metroidvania for me on this entrance, no two methods about it. Did I point out that you need to develop your personal quick journey community as effectively? Oh sure. That is a complete factor that I am positive yer ‘video games which have quick journey merely haven’t got attention-grabbing sufficient journey strategies within the first place’ heads will sink their enamel into right here. Drawback is, Ultros’ journey is fairly boring when you do not have that many causes to combat anymore, and I am going to admit that connecting all of it up requires a stage of endurance with its finicky extractor instrument and seed planning that I merely don’t possess – and it is these processes that lies on the coronary heart of unlocking its true ending as effectively.
I can see and respect what it is making an attempt to do, completely. However the methods underpinning Ultros’ ambitions merely aren’t as much as snuff to ship them in a means that feels satisfying to play. Unravelling its secrets and techniques by no means fairly reaches the identical form of ‘ah ha’ moments as Tunic, for instance, nor does its wider machinations really feel as brain-meltingly revelatory as Outer Wilds, and I am not ashamed to confess that I tapped out after seeing simply the primary model of Ultros’ finish credit. Significantly, should you handle to wrangle these connections up its tower of orange Fanta vats, you are clearly a more proficient and affected person individual than I. It is such a disgrace, as essentially I do kinda love what Ultros is asking its gamers to do right here. To actually see and interact with its surroundings in such a means that you find yourself leaving a constructive, lasting impact in your environment moderately than a damaging one, in addition to type a relationship with it that makes an attempt to actually repair its issues moderately than bludgeoning them into submission. That is why it’ll at all times be attention-grabbing to me, even when its execution leaves one thing to be desired. It is not simply its wild, dreamlike seems that make it memorable, however what it tries to attain in bringing this unusual, cosmic world to life within the first place.
This assessment is predicated on a retail construct of the sport, offered by publishers Kepler Interactive.
