I found my time withUltrosto be a lot like my time in life in general. Not in any particularly deep philosophical way - thoughUltrosis a game rich in meaning - but because I very rarely had any idea what was going on, but found myself sailing through on vibes alone. That’s basically how I made it to 30, and it’s how I fell madly in love with the kaleidoscopic charms of developer Hadoque’s psychedelic metroidvania.
Hadoque
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The first thing to note aboutUltrosis that it is utterly and completely gorgeous. It’s as if someone fedHollow Knightinto a blender with The Beatles’Revolverand a few kilograms of military-grade LSD. The world your characters wakes up in - referred to as The Sarcophagus - is a biomechanical wonderland of colour and sheer, undiluted imagination.
Alien plants writhe and squirm underfoot as impossible, otherworldly architecture looms in the background. If you showedUltrosto a friend who had just smoked a little too much of the devil’s lettuce without warning, I suspect they might need to lie down on the bathroom floor to cry and catch their breath. It is equal parts far out, groovy, and outta sight.
I won’t say much aboutUltros’ story, mostly because it’s a game that’s best experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible, but also because I’m still not 100 percent sure I understand it all myself. You wake up in The Sarcophagus with no memory, before making your way through what feels like a very traditional metroidvania. You explore a small portion of the map, find a weapon, fight a boss, then… something happens, and you’re right back where you were at the start of the game.
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Hadoque
Combat sits somewhere betweenMetroid DreadandHollow Knight, offering crunchy melee combat and lots of options to parry and dodge enemies. The more efficiently you slay monsters, the more viable their organs are in giving you stats which can be exchanged for upgrades. However, whileUltros’combatcertainly invites comparisons toMetroid DreadandHollow Knight, it isn’t quite as successful as either of those, with encounters often feeling sluggish and imprecise. The same can be said of movement which, in a genre that puts such a heavy emphasis on backtracking, is less than ideal.
Ultrosis a game that, I suspect, not everyone will “get”. It’s unashamedly bizarre, and isn’t afraid to make players work to dig through its squelchy layers to find its shimmering, beating heart. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort,Ultrosis a breath of fresh air for an increasingly crowded genre, and one of 2024’s strangest surprises.
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Pros:Gorgeous visuals, top-notch sound design, great original ideas
Cons:Sluggish combat, won’t be everyone’s cup of tea
For fans of:Metroid, Hollow Knight, Outer Wilds
8/10: Excellent
Topics:Indie Games
