Ultros Assessment (PS5) | Push Sq.

That is already turning right into a bumper 12 months for Metroidvania followers. With the superb Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown having kicked issues off fantastically, Ultros now arrives from a smaller writer however with no small hype of its personal. With a gob-smackingly distinctive artwork model and a fungal, miasmic tone, it actually seems to be like nothing else on the market proper now, with a much more obscure and player-led story than you would possibly anticipate.

The sport sees gamers awake on a mysterious spaceship, which appears to be enjoying host to the space-birth of a large being referred to as Ultros — a kind of Lovecraftian cosmic horror that instinctively seems to be like a nasty factor for the universe.

The primary hour or so of Ultros is fairly conventional, as you discover a side-scrolling chunk of map, discover a quick sword to combat with, and meet a few quirky, odd characters who offer you some enigmatic data to digest. You begin to determine a talent tree, and are instructed you may solely be capable of earmark a couple of of those abilities for retention between “loops”, with out realizing fairly what which means.

Then, after making it previous the sport’s first squelching boss, you may have that thriller solved as you sever the connection of a sleeping monk from Ultros’ delivery course of (you learn that proper) and get sucked right into a space-time vortex to awake again the place you began. You will solely have no matter abilities you managed to mark for cover, and that monk will keep severed, however from there you may have to begin over, making your method by means of to a central chamber to gather a power-up once more and heading off to seek out no matter new route you can also make it by means of with mentioned instrument to seek out your subsequent monk.

That is Ultros’ loop, a curious fusing of Metroidvania traditions with the lightest of roguelite trappings. It is a loop that does not really reset you too harshly, however thematically resonates as you begin to uncover extra particulars concerning the ship you are on (most of these particulars aren’t precisely definitive, nonetheless).

Your two important instruments are that quick sword for fight and slightly floating robotic referred to as an Extractor, which homes the navigation upgrades you may acquire step-by-step as you progress by means of the sport. Fight is straightforward, largely centred round a dodge system that leaves opponents open after a well-timed button press, and whereas it is pretty good and responsive, you may quickly realise that enemy selection is sorely missing. The sport additionally has little to no problem curve; bosses are persistently actually easy and enemies simply overcome, with the one actual obstacles we ever encountered proving way more usually to be navigational ones.

As you kill buzzing beasties, you may decide up physique components from them that can be utilized for therapeutic and to fill up your shops of 4 levelling-up assets, a system that sounds extra complicated than it’s in apply. This looting brings into play one closing gameplay twist, considered one of Ultros’ most authentic. You may also discover and decide up seeds as you progress across the ship, and plant these at designated spots to sprout a wide range of plant sorts, a few of which supply up bounties of therapeutic berries whereas others provide new motion choices, from climbing spots to momentum-building pace boosts.

The place you select to plant which sorts of plant can have a very personalising impact on the sprawling map by the point you are in your final couple of loops, though the sport has clearly been fastidiously designed to not make these decisions lock you out of areas it’s worthwhile to entry until actually clearly signposted. Better of all, the vegetation develop additional after a accomplished loop, and the ship quickly begins to change into way more fertile and stuffed with flora, resonating with some story beats.

This bulging, pulsating sense of fecund life is in lockstep with Ultros’ beautiful artwork model, by far its largest and most distinctive success. It is a neon-soaked, hand-drawn slam-dunk of a visible experiment, in some methods easy due to its primary 2D design however persistently throwing pretty designs and backgrounds your approach to actually promote its inventive imaginative and prescient. Hole Knight is a transparent touchstone for the sport, and that sport’s quiet, sombre tone is in some methods echoed right here, however visually Ultros feels just like the acid-spiked model of that subterranean world, in a very memorable method.

Nonetheless, in the identical vein because the underwhelming fight, the pure platforming of Ultros can also be not fairly on the elite degree that has followers slavering in anticipation of the long-awaited Silksong. Whereas shifting round feels easy sufficient, jumps are simply the slightest bit imprecise, and your motion set is simply the tiniest bit restricted in a method that may make the prospect of shifting from one aspect of the big map to the opposite slightly daunting and draining.

Equally, close to its ending the sport provides you the prospect to take a brand new strategy story-wise by hooking up the entire ship to a kind of intravenous community — one which requires you to maneuver by means of its corridors fastidiously linking up nodes to one another.

This course of is fascinating and enjoyable in small doses, however locking fast-travel behind it’s greater than slightly harsh, and it did not take us lengthy to surrender on the concept in favour of a speedier decision. It is just a bit too janky to keep away from comparatively frequent moments of mild frustration.

Conclusion

Ultros boasts a visible identification that deserves actual recognition, a surprising imaginative and prescient of alien color with design concepts that stay lengthy within the reminiscence. Its platforming and fight cannot fairly match that vigorous success, sadly. Nonetheless, in the event you’re on the hunt for a unique-looking Metroidvania sport that comes bursting with concepts and a modest 10-hour runtime with the choice of extra in the event you like it, few video games can match it for model.