Ultros Reviews
Singular and confident, Ultros is a startling piece of work that knows exactly what it wants to be, and hones in on that goal with laser beam focus. It depends on time-tested videogame actions and concepts not just for their comfort and retro appeal, but as a familiar foundation that can be gradually fucked with as part of the game’s greater themes. And although those themes and their presentation are intentionally confusing and obtuse, Ultros never devolves into chaos for the sake of it; there’s always a clear point of view and thought process driving the game’s design. Ultros brings mystery back to gaming in brilliant fashion, delivering us the first genuinely great game of 2024.
"Just when you thought Ultros couldn't get any more outlandish, it has its own gardening system."
Ultros is a kaleidoscope game. It takes a handful of ordinary things, shakes them up and sticks the pieces together, and then spins it all around. It's just a different version of what we've seen dozens of times before, sure. But it feels special, and it sure does look good.
Ultros respects its players enough to make them work hard for the best ending. Accordingly, it never feels like a waste of time to manually connect your save points to the overall network (so that you can fast travel between them) or to gather the right seeds, spray them into the proper orientation, and occasionally splice together parts into hybrid platforms. If anything, these deliberate actions serve to sow a deeper sense of purpose and understanding of conservation in players. In doing so, Hadoque’s marvelous creation stands leafs and branches above not only other puzzle platformers, but most other socially conscious games as well.
Ultros takes the durable, and fortunately resurgent, genre of Metroidvania and places a clever roguelike spin on it that incorporates memory and gardening, placing it all within a cosmic womb orbiting a black hole at the edge of space. It'll be El Heurvo's art that's sure to capture your attention at first, but Ultros' several wedded ideas flower into a game that does well to keep it.
A psychedelic metroidvania game with hints of time loop and roguelike mechanics, the game sees you seemingly having crash landed on a massive structure known as the Sarcophagus, which houses the ominous being known as Ultros. Making use of alien gardens and biology in order to further one's skills, players have to fight their way through to break the loop, or maybe find hidden pacifist solutions along the way instead.
Ultros major issue is that it isn’t as weird and hallucinatory as it wants to be. Sure, this space burial site that overflows with life offers an interesting setting with some impressive visual touches. The narrative is somewhat obscure, and occult tinged.
Ultros is one of those rare beasts that ticks many, many boxes for what makes a game memorable, right from the second its title screen sucker punches you with its prismatic panache.
Ultros is a psychedelic platformer that could easily belong in a modern art showcase. It has simple yet engaging combat mechanics, phenomenal art and music, and great characters. I urge you to check the game out if you’re even a little curious.
ULTROS is a masterclass in environmental storytelling combined with solid Metroidvania mechanics in a truly excellent package. Go into this one slow and ready to enjoy the journey and it will more than pay off.
Further and further in, Ultros’ world seems one of creative, chaotic malleability instead of precision, opening up to sequence-breaking and weird shortcuts through experimentation. It’s a game about amassing the tools and time to carve a connective path with nature, learning the layout of the land, and collaborating with it to continue on. Ultros takes the common ingredients of the modern metroidvania, then transplants them into an utterly original DMT-infused Metroid fever dream, in the very best way.
Ultros is a passionate and addictive Metroidvania, with excellent art design and level design, strong in impactful graphics and an art direction of absolute value. It is a long-lived and detailed video game, very original and multifaceted, with a game design that explores its every potential in a peculiar way. A must have if you are a fan of the genre, and if you are a beginner. It is also particularly suitable for beginners.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ultros is a must-have experience not only for lovers of the metroidvania genre, but for anyone looking for a work with spirit and character.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ultros is ultimately an excellent game, and I loved almost every minute I spent with it exploring what is really a giant work of art. The storytelling, the music, the art, the design and exploration are all wonderful to experience, even if its biggest puzzle mechanic is also its biggest frustration. But those frustrations don't overshadow the things that make Ultros shine, and they are all why it is a must-play game for Metroidvania fans, or anyone that just wants to be awed by what they're looking at every five minutes.
Hadoque’s debut title Ultros is a stunning, colorful Metroidvania. From its opening moments, the game draws the player in with its wondrous color palette and captivating music. Traversing its world—known as the Sarcophagus—feels familiar if not a bit uncanny for those who have played other recent genre titles, like Dead Cells or Hollow Knight. In a crowded and competitive genre, Ultros stands out as a memorizing, psychedelic adventure.
Ultros is a psychedelic cosmic loop of a metroidvania. Its combat is approachable and simple, while its gardening encourages creativity and problem-solving that is rarely seen in the metroidvania genre. I had a good time playing Ultros; it mystified me while giving me room to stress-test its cosmic universe and fully explore its boundaries. While I wanted more complex combat and intentional varieties of color, I was quite satisfied with my journey to warrant a play in the future. Ultros is a trip worth taking at least once.
Ultros is easy enough that you rarely have to fully engage with its most interesting mechanics, and its writing struggles to effectively convey its lofty ideals. But the lines still connect together at the end, turning this metroidvania into a beautiful, circular experience of presence and balance. It’s a game that wants you to see the world differently when you finish it, and the way everything is connected. If nothing else, what other game lets you take a stroll through an umbilical cord?
Psychedelic stylings accompany a game of transformation and discovery.
Ultros' experimentation with elements from both roguelites and metroidvanias creates an enthralling combination accentuated by a captivating setting.
Ultros is a true labour of love that has a lot to say about the balance between violence and peace, and exploitation and environmentalism, themes which are incredibly important and too often ignored in games. On the flipside, this theme sometimes feels at odds with the basic game mechanics and can lead to early frustration. The game is quite clear that the first ending is a bad one as it relies on violent encounters but I couldn’t justify the investment of time and energy to continue past this to complete the more acceptable approach. In a way, this feels appropriate to me as it demonstrates why true change is so difficult to achieve in wider environmental terms. So, I guess the gap between the message and the mechanics here is not as wide as I initially thought.