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Ultros is the debut game from indie game developer Hadoque, and it is quickly becoming one of the best of its genre. Since the 2010s, the Metroidvania craze has grown exponentially, and thanks to games like Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and Axiom Verge, the genre continues to develop.
With a darker undertone for the story's main protagonist, Ultros features colorful artwork with a grim tale, welcoming the player base into the underbelly world of Sarcophagus. Despite its haunting name, the world is quite lively and players will be seeking every small space and hidden area to battle enemies, plant gardens, and grow their character to be a more prolific warrior. As strong as one may become, the creatures roaming this world are no walk in the park.
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Growing the character's strengths and unlocking abilities are essential to survival, and Ultros introduces a spin on character growth and development. Hacking and slashing through waves of enemies won't gain experience, but it's what they drop along the way that makes the player stronger.
Destroy Everything In Sight
In most platformer titles, destroying enemies will offer players rewards that go towards granting temporary abilities or instant stat boosts. In Ultros, the world of Sarcophagus is packed with creatures, and players will need to sweep through them to reach new areas. Fortunately, most of them only take a few swipes of the blade, but parrying and dodging will be key to gaining the upper hand. Once an enemy is defeated, they will drop a part of them for consuming purposes.
Learning Ultros' combat mechanics will have players focusing on three main functions: attacking, dodging, and parrying. While some enemies have slower reaction times and can be defeated before launching an attack, others will begin their counter the moment they spot the player. This makes the dodging and parrying system important to master early, as maintaining as much health as possible goes a long way to one's survival.
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Consuming Parts To Unlock Skills
Players will increase the four stats in Ultros through the consumption of each part, some granting larger boosts than others, while also replenishing some lost health. It is important to note that the amount of health regained from eating each part is indicated in the player's health bar. Keeping the parts that regain the most health should be saved for more difficult areas, including those with boss fights. Some examples of commonly found food are:
- Boom Gland – Juicy with a sharp aftertaste.
- Diptera Cerebrum – A milky and nutty flavor once you bite through.
- Puppaluppa Limbs – Like an elastic paste of flour and ginger.
- Scuttler Scalp – Chewy on the outside, soft on the inside.
- Skellek Tentacle – A firm and lukewarm part of a severed sensory organ.
Increasing The Quality Of Drops
It's also worth noting that landing a variety of different attacks can affect the quality of the drops. For example, landing three of the same strikes on one enemy will produce a lower-quality part that will grant minimal boosts to stats, while landing three different types of attacks will land the player with a significantly more potent limb. Parrying and dodging don't appear to have any effect on the quality, but utilizing them during combat is still useful for staying as healthy as possible.
A Healthy Diet Unlocks New Skills
Regaining health and boosting stats isn't all Ultros has to offer when wolfing down the various limbs in Sarcophagus. Additionally, players can also unlock different skills through the Cortex system. Opening up the menu, a section is available to unlock various abilities and combat skills, strengthening the character and providing them with new attacks. Before taking on the first boss of Ultros, players should consider having at least the following attacks:
- Drop Kick – performs a kicking attack while in midair, and can be performed multiple times in one jump.
- Double Jump – allows the player to perform a secondary jump while in midair, pairs well with Drop Kick.
- Air Tesseract – performs a kicking attack that can juggle certain enemies, launching them into a desired direction to cause additional damage.
- Combo – allows the player to perform a third attack in a combo, landing three hits in quick succession.
There are other skills that enhance the Ultros experience, such as Track Gardens, which pinpoints each garden location on the map once they are unlocked, and Green Thumb, which grants the player the ability to plant food into the soil, turning it into compost. It's recommended to unlock the attacking skills sooner rather than later, as attacking a boss with a few simple attacks won't be enough to take it down. Adding more variety to the character's arsenal will bring down anything standing in its way.
