[PC] Ultros review: "A drop-dead gorgeous head trip of a Metroidvania game set in a cosmic uterus sarcophagus"

[Aronus]

I'm a couple of hours into Ultros and I'm facing my biggest challenge yet. This won't be easy, but let me try to illustrate the scene. I'm trapped somewhere in the bowels of the Metroidvania's colorful labyrinthian sprawl, a setting named The Sarcophagus that's described as a "cosmic uterus holding an ancient, demonic being". I'm staring down a hulking lump of a beast –  a bruised and battered oversized fly who's equipped with impenetrable armor and is tearing stalactites from the roof to be used as projectile weapons. Its punctured wings, glowing bright neon green, struggle to lift its body from the ground; and its eyes, beady and fiery orange, shoot devastating purple laser balls that chase me around the battle arena.

Pint-sized in comparison, I use the floating 'Extractor' that's tethered to my cherry red duster like a pet on a leash to activate a genre-staple double-jump. I hoist myself onto the boss' back, hammer the attack button, and drain the insect's health by slashing at the pink power source fused to its spine. Filling the high-top sneakers of protagonist Ouji, I think I might be a bug myself – I have elongated features hidden inside a green mask from which antenna protrude – and in order to restore vitality, I munch on things like Pompom Larvae, a resource harvested from enemies felled elsewhere in the wild. Sound weird? Of course it does. But even stranger still, even in the throes of such unhinged and inexplicable chaos, Ultros is always, somehow, super chill.  

 

Ultros review: "A drop-dead gorgeous head trip of a Metroidvania game set in a cosmic uterus sarcophagus" | GamesRadar+