ULTRAKILL; DOOM, but Bloodier.

~ Author: Jacob Bullard

ULTRAKILL is a single player early access “Spectacle Fighter” FPS. Using a plethora of guns and their unique abilities you battle through the layers of hell to acquire the one thing that robots run on, BLOOD. This dark future tells of a humanity that has failed and met their ultimate demise, while leaving behind a very thirsty robot. As the game says “MANKIND IS DEAD. BLOOD IS FUEL. HELL IS FULL.” and that is quite the apt description. The blood of the damned won’t be the only thing you feast upon though, as waves of various enemies will stop at nothing to see you scrapped to oblivion. Although this title isn’t even finished, from what I’ve played I can tell that it will be a must play! From the DOOM style fighting and secrets, to the playstation one styled graphics, and the almost tribes-like movement there’s enough here to keep you gripped for hours. And with the basics established, it’s time to talk about the actual gameplay.

Guns have become a staple of video games and when mishandled can be a boring and almost predictable experience of most modern shooters. ULTRAKILL still manages to make fun and interesting weapons with new and unique concepts all while keeping them reliable and efficient. Such as; a mod for your first revolver that allows you to flip a coin into the air, shoot it, and it automatically ricochets to the nearest target’s weak spot! A difficult shot for sure but every time it hits it feels AMAZING and rewarding. Speaking of rewarding, a main function of the game is your multiplier! As you shoot, punch, and fight a multiplier builds based off the amount of kills and difficulty of said kills. This ramps up the score gained and builds your letter grade for the end of the level to help track how well you did, also to brag to friends. To pair along with your armory you also get… YOUR FISTS. Equipping different arms elicits different effects to unleash on the hordes of hell who give you that sweet sweet crimson nectar. Like a force push or a strong charging attack!  Along with your fists you also have… YOUR FEET! Sliding, double jumping, and wall jumping keep action flowing and fast paced so you never feel cornered or boxed in. The arena is your bouncy castle and the damned are your goombas. Now who can stomp on goombas without some tunes to bounce to?

ULTRAKILL has one of the best soundtracks since DOOM 2016 and scales as your multiplier ramps up. The techno-electric-industrial-metal sounds it gives off puts you in the perfect mood for killing and swimming in blood. If you’re still on the fence about this game I recommend going to youtube and giving the OST a listen. The combat music is everything and more but there are dips in combat as you explore the level and search for secrets, which is where the ambient music creeps in. Once the dust settles and you’re left alone you can hear the dull echoes, metal clanging, and distant screams to remind you that you are deep in hell. Depending on the level these tracks can give you shivers up your spine and genuinely set the mood while not being too overbearing. To go along with the weapons and music there is of course, the story. Or lack thereof.

The story is simple and doesn’t pop up too often in the game. At the time of this review it isn’t even fully finished! What there is to go off of though isn’t too deep, but I would argue that it doesn’t necessarily need it. You have a motive, you need to get something, so you go on a journey to get the thing. Extremely simple, but all we need to set this brave little murder bot on it’s rampage. As of right now, when you draw near the end of the game some actual story starts to develop and a rivalry is sparked! I’ll keep that part a secret, but to see more plot points coming is extremely exciting. With how polished the guns, levels, art, and music are I have no doubt that Arsi “Hakita” Patala knows exactly what he’s doing. The small amount of story that is there had me entirely grabbed and I can’t wait for the final release to take in the full story. Now it seems a bit odd to review a game that isn’t even finished but let me tell you why.

As an early access game that immediately puts a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths. I also tend to stay away from these titles thinking “If it’s so good I’ll just wait for it to come out”. ULTRAKILL is a different story for me though and with good reason. To find such an interesting, fun, and replayable game that still has a majority of the game to be developed I was astonished by how much was already there. From the time I started playing Hakita already added an endless mode that allows you to customize the arena with your own custom images you can load in. Along with more levels and more guns. If the game released as is I would say that it was well worth my twenty bucks and is definitely worth grabbing. Once it is finished I won’t be surprised if I find it fighting for the game of the year in 2021. If you like DOOM, Spectacle Fighters, or FPS’s in general I would absolutely pick up ULTRAKILL on Steam.