izigame.me

Ultros is one of the most intriguing games ever, not only from a narrative perspective but also in terms of gameplay and how the two are intertwined. Completing it 100% is only for the select few but in my opinion Ultros is a must play for metroidvania lovers, atleast up to the first ending. As many of the reviews point out though this may vary depending on the person. Reason being the sort of reset mechanic that happens several times throughout the game. This initially worried me greatly so i sorta rushed the start to get a feel for this mechanic within the 2 hour refund window. In hindsight it is not that bad at all, especially because by the 3rd loop you know when and more specifically where a reset happens. Basically after every bossfight you break a shaman pod and when you get back to the central location the loop resets.
The fun thing about this is that the game opens up new pathways every loop so it really doesn't feel that samey as people make it out to be. These new paths do a good job of guiding you through the game's substantial map, which features a set of varied and unique biomes. Most areas play pretty differently so there's a lot of variety in that regard. You can discover most of said biomes on your first pass through but like any good metroidvania there's some stuff for later. Level design is pretty solid in general so exploring each area is pretty fun the first time. On loop resets your map discovery is kept, but unfortunately broken barriers also reset. This is the one thing i would have loved to see handled differently as it's a bit of a headache sometimes. There are other things that do persist though mainly the things that you plant. Because other than a metroidvania with roguelite elements this game is also a farming game??!
This caught me pretty of guard initially but by the 3rd loop it became clear how much this would change the map in future loops which is super unique and also kinda fun (for the most part). It also ties into the games' narrative and symbolism super well so i must say that it worked for this game. The unfortunate thing though is that seeds get lost upon resets but luckily there's always the right ones nearby. These plants play a MUCH bigger role in the post game to get the true ending but at this point the mechanic becomes very convoluted as it's no longer as straight forward which plant to put where. There's tons of soil patches, 10 different plant types and the matter of composting it or not. To save yourself a headache i'd suggest using a guide after you get the first ending as that's still possible at this point if you're interested in getting the proper ending.
I got about halfway this true ending when i decided that i was no longer enjoying the mechanic. Even with the proper plants in place there's still some fiddling about with your gardening tools and i felt like i was fighting the controls a bit. Up till this point the controls had been super smooth though, not only for the platforming but also in combat. The platforming is a bit basic but the environments add fun obstacles like scaled that tip or jumping pads. In combat it also responds quickly and while combat as a whole is rather quite easy there's still enough going on to be engaging. Bosses were fun and unique too, although not as hard as most other MV's. You can make it easier yet by spending points in the talent tree. You unlock these by eating your enemies' remains, with cleaner kills (using different moves rather than button mashing) yielding better spoils.
These upgrades also get lost upon reset, except for when you use a special collectible item to lock these memories. These as well as lore bits are the games' true collectibles and finding enough of them to lock the whole skilltree was one of my primary motivators to progress in the game. Other than exploring the map and unveiling the story ofcourse! Said story is just impeccable. The way it ties the central mechanic into it as well as the environmental storytelling on display is just amazing. Your starting location tells something the game never explicitly mentions but which the eagle eyed players will soon pick up on. Most metroidvania's go light on story but this one i'd say it's the focussing point. And they nailed it, not only in the overal story but also the backstory of each character/zone.
Speaking of zones the visual variety is great, you have gardens, luxury districts, living quarters, temples and even a distillery. The overal game is just beautiful but that's something nearly every person agrees on and is apparant from the very first time you see a screenshot or boot up the game. What you don't see initially but will hear soon enough is just how utterly INCREDIBLE the soundtrack is. The song 'broken promise' which plays in the rotten orchard especially is just downright beautiful. I'm picking up a copy of the game's OST which i'm listening to as i'm writing this and will continue listening to for a long time. In some ways i'm even happier i played the game because it introduced me to the OST so even if you don't plan on playing this game, do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
Finally there's performance which at this point was spotless. I also had no bugs, like at all... I'm actually suprised about this given how many systems the game has to keep track off in terms of physics and all the different plants. At first i thought these were static in their growth but with the later tools you can manipulate these quite a bit so the fact that it worked as well as it did was suprising to me. I had no crashes either or any other technical hickups and loading times were super fast. So technically the game is incredibly polished. It's a super unique experience that is super enjoyable untill the first ending. After this engaging with the more finnicky gardening mechanics became more of a chore but not enough to leave a sour taste. I'm perfectly happy where i left it off and may revisit this title some day to finish it up.