Have you ever had a meal that…wasn’t something you should have? Like, on the plate, it all makes sense; you have protein, veggies, carbs, and maybe condiments or sauces. A meal you’ve had 1,000 times in your life. But there’s something else—maybe it’s the sesame oil on the wilted kale, maybe it’s the chili sauce seared on the pork belly fat, maybe it’s the hard, chewy crisp onions mixed with the soft, springy rice—that make It becomes the best meal you’ve ever had.
Otros Just like this, a sumptuous buffet has all been lovingly prepared and organized by hand into a delicious feast – more addictive, more maddening, and therefore, much more than the sum of its parts. Ultros is a game that combines action, exploration, and philosophical lectures that you can only play once for the first time. I’m already so frustrated I’ve used my first rise.
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Ultros is the best Metroidvania I’ve played since Hollow Knight. But that’s just one side of it. This psychedelic maze of interconnected tunnels and tapestries has that special catnip effect that the best games in the genre (Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Guacamelee, etc.) have achieved to perfection , while also layering a combat system that makes its peers look bland and boring by comparison.
I think it has something to do with overstimulation. Some of us masochists like our games to whack us over the head with blunt objects; skill-check bosses or assholes in platforming sections will stop us until we learn. Others prefer sluggish pathing or head-scratching puzzles. Ultros’ sadistic style is different though, relying on overstimulating you rather than physically pushing you to the edge.
Just take a look at the trailer or screen on this page. Niklas “El Huervo” Akerblad is the eyes and hands behind the art of Hotline Miami, responsible for this lengthy mushroom journey. Everything is filled with neon, everything is too bright, and even reading what is a background asset and what is a threat can be difficult – but everything is so rich. If you’ve ever taken psilocybin, you’ll immediately recognize the undulating, pulsing organs of this living spaceship. If you haven’t already, well, this is a great crash course to get before you get a stomachache.
You don’t know what El Huervo painted into a forgettable passing antique, nor what was created to portray a threat. You might think that sounds a little scary, and it is, but it’s like eating kimchi for the first time: you scoff, you hesitate, you shake your head…and then you go back for another bite. There’s something compelling about it. Something new. Something unusual. It’s great that we’re so far away from the brown-green color palette of the Xbox 360 generation.
As you parse the threats emanating from the theater, you’ll be drawn into a fluid, elegant combat designed to make you think about every input you make. More or less, everything you kill in Ultros can be eaten, and the cleaner you butcher the insectoid machines that roam the 2D halls, the higher the quality of the ingredients you’ll be able to eat. . This means that blindly spoiling something (using the same combination multiple times) will degrade the quality of the food. If you want to perfectly cut the mantis mandible, you need to use all the moves at your disposal.
This system speaks to me. I wish every game had it. I’d love to see it in Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, and Final Fantasy 17. It takes all the good elements of roguelite and metroidvania loops and distills them into roughly 10 seconds of combat; combining your ability to master the player character with a clear understanding of the world and the threats you face.
Given that you can only explore and fight a certain amount before the world resets (and only a few things persist between cycles), Ultros makes you think hard about what you’re engaging with and how you’re engaging with it. Each cycle, your mysterious protagonist (similar to Samus in her own way) is reborn. You crawl into this world naked, and no skills or levels will follow you out of the slimy womb you’ve always been in.
In order to learn (or remember) how to do things, you need to eat. If you think about it, it’s like in real life. Better quality food has better nutrition, so honing your hunting instincts with each cycle means you can level up faster and explore deeper throughout the cycle. You can “lock” some skills into place – all wall-jumping skills are worth cheering for – but largely you need to start thinking about what you need and what you don’t. When you are reborn, you shed your baggage and optimize your growth. There’s something very yogic about that, right? Something karmic, and important.
That’s the vibe of Ultros, from start to finish. Yes, the whole game may look like it’ll make your pupils dilate and your belly grow, but the promise of mind expansion and self-discovery goes further than a pair of parachute pants and a mandala on the wall. Sometimes the solution to Ultros problems is simply to wait. How many games can do this? Let’s come back later and become a real mechanic? It’s weird, it’s terrible, but it’s wonderful. Other times, you’ll need to mull over the precious seeds you’ve harvested from the secret cultivation gardens deep within the cabin – which plants you encounter will grow in just the right way to cling to those seed gears or provide you with a shield against some blazing heat, A scary dagger?
A lot of Ultros’ appeal is its organic nature; how organic its world is, how organic its pathfinding is, how organic its message is. There’s even an anti-violence thread in the game, suggesting that maybe – just maybe – if you don’t kill everything you see, something good might happen. This isn’t the first game to suggest putting down the sword and picking up the trowel by any means, but I think it’s probably the most successful at explaining why you should do so.
Ultros is out now on PS4, PS5, and PC. There is a free demo available on Steam. This article was written thanks to the PS5 code provided by the publisher.