Ultrakill

Ultrakill
Developer(s)	Arsi "Hakita" Patala
Publisher(s)	New Blood Interactive
Programmer(s)	Arsi "Hakita" Patala PITR Action Dawg
Artist(s)	Andrei Mishchenko (JerichoRUS) BigRock(Imp) PITR Sam Bryan Action Dawg Francis Xie Mako
Composer(s)	Arsi "Hakita" Patala meganeko Keygen Church
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	September 3, 2020 (early access)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, Platformer
Mode(s)	Single-player

Ultrakill (stylized in all caps as ULTRAKILL) is a first-person shooter platformer video game developed by Arsi "Hakita" Patala and published by New Blood Interactive. It was released through Early Access on Steam for Microsoft Windows on September 3, 2020. The game uses retro-style graphics and movement capabilities similar to those of 1990s first-person shooters such as Quake and Doom.

Plot

In Ultrakill, the player controls V1, a machine that uses blood as a fuel source. After the extinction of humanity, the player descends through the layers of Hell in order to harvest the blood of the various creatures living there. Along the way V1 encounters demons, undead creatures, rival machines also looking for blood, and angels. V1 also fights a multitude of bosses, including V2, which is a later created, alternate version of V1; King Minos (and Minos Prime), a defeated king of the Lust layer; Gabriel (named for the Abrahamic archangel), a supreme angel sent to stop V1; and a large serpent-like "Leviathan" in the ocean of Styx.

Gameplay

Ultrakill is a first-person shooter which takes place in a series of levels based on Dante's layers of Hell. The game is divided into a prelude and three acts, with the prelude containing one area (called a layer) with four levels and a major boss level, each proceeding act containing three layers with the first two having three levels and one major boss level, and the third having only one level and a major boss level. The game also includes a "Cybergrind" where the player fights increasingly difficult waves of enemies until failure.

The player has access to 6 weapons: a futuristic revolver, shotgun, nailgun, railcannon, rocket launcher and fist, with each weapon receiving multiple variants, and some receiving alternates, such as the sawlauncher for the nailgun. The player can perform combos or do other stylish actions in order to build a style meter through eight ranks from Destructive to ULTRAKILL and earn style points, similar to games such as Devil May Cry.

A key game mechanic in Ultrakill is the ability for the player to gain health by absorbing the fresh blood of damaged enemies, done by damaging or killing enemies while near them or performing a parry on certain enemy attacks. However, certain other mechanics can prevent or disrupt this, such as enemies covered in sand not dropping blood for the player to absorb, or water diluting blood when an enemy is killed underwater, making said blood easier to pick up, but reduces the amount healed. The recovery of health can also be diminished by taking too much of what is known was "hard damage", temporarily reducing the maximum amount of health the player can recover.

At the end of each level the player will earn a letter grade rank from D to S in time, enemies killed, and total style points, which are then averaged to give an overall level rank. Completing a level without dying or reloading to a checkpoint, and with an S rank in all 3 categories, will award the player with a P (for perfect) rank. This is the highest possible rank that can be achieved.

Each level of Ultrakill contains hidden collectibles in the form of soul orbs and includes a challenge. Completing the challenge, finding all soul orbs, and getting the highest rank (P), will reward the player by making the level appear gold in the level select menu. Upon completing an entire Act to 100%, the Act screen and icon will all become gold as well.

Ultrakill also has secret levels. These levels can be found on certain layers through secret doors. These levels deviate from the traditional Ultrakill gameplay and opt for a spin or rift on other video games and video game genres.

Getting a P rank on every level within an act and locating a secret entrance will allow the player to enter the act's Prime Sanctum, with the next sequential Prime Sanctum needing the previous one to be cleared beforehand. You do not have to get a P rank on the Prime Sanctums to progress to the next. Prime Sanctums contain one or more bosses that are a drastic step up in difficulty compared to the other levels within the act, with the second Prime Sanctum additionally containing a gauntlet of enemies before the main boss.

Ultrakill also features an endless mode called "The Cyber Grind", where the player fights random waves of enemies over a floating arena which transforms after each wave. This mode awards the player with points upon completion, which can be used to purchase weapon mods at yellow terminals. The Cyber Grind can be visually altered by the player to display different textures inside the Cyber Grind arena. After clearing a set amount of waves, you can set the Cyber Grind to begin at a designated wave instead of starting over from the beginning (Ex. Clearing wave 20 allows the player to start at wave 10).

Reception

As of 29 October 2022, Ultrakill had received over 35,000 Steam reviews, with a score of 98%, making it the 11th highest-rated game on Steam. The game was praised for its movement mechanics and authenticity towards earlier arena shooters and first-person shooters. Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer described Ultrakill as faster and "even more metal than Doom Eternal" and commended the game for its verticality.

On December 8, 2022, Ultrakill added official sex toy support. Its developer released an official mod called UKbutt, adding support for a plugin called buttplug.io. The mod was created by Ultrakill programmer PITR and buttplug.io lead Kyle "qDot" Machulis. New Blood CEO Dave Oshry remarked that "at no point when originally testing or discussing the game with Hakita or anyone at [New Blood] were any of us like 'they're gonna want sex.'" The update, dubbed the "sex update", was met with a new wave of positive reviews.