Greetings readers. I’m Mårten, the Game Design Director at Hadoque, a collective of creatives in Sweden. I co-created the core idea of the sport and oversee the sport design. We’ve been engaged on Ultros – our first sport collectively – for the previous few years, and at the moment, we’re thrilled to indicate you the core gameplay and a brand new boss.
To recap from our reveal on the PlayStation Showcase earlier within the 12 months, Ultros is a mystical and poetic journey the place you combat harmful house bugs and plant seeds to create an alien backyard. Our protagonist, Ouji, wakes up stranded on an overgrown sarcophagus in house. She has no reminiscence of who she is and the way she acquired right here. But the world feels acquainted, and it appears to react to her – like she has some kind of connection to it. Naturally, that is whenever you begin to discover the depths of the sarcophagus.
As a part of this exploration, platforming turns into important. Ouji is nimble, swift, and may construct momentum to create a pure feeling circulation of motion. You’ll must do your justifiable share of leaping, climbing, crawling, and breaking surfaces to disclose secret areas.
Revealing the Ultros gameplay loop
Not so lengthy into your enterprise, you’ll uncover insect-like aliens which are typically very territorial and may get agitated if you happen to get too shut. They’re all a part of the sport’s cryptic ecosystem that you simply’ll participate in as you progress. The first ones seen in our gameplay first-look trailer are among the weaker enemies referred to as Puppaluppas. When you defeat them along with your sword, they drop physique elements or totally different organs. Ultros has a reward system for ending off enemies with finesse – the extra selection in my assaults, the higher the creature elements. As you accumulate these, you’ll enter a extra detailed inspection view of the elements, accompanied by a little bit of lore behind the a part of the creature. You can then devour these elements to extend your variation vitamin ranges.
Also revealed in our gameplay is a pleasant, whimsical character named Gärdner, and as you would possibly guess from his identify, he teaches us about among the planting mechanics within the sport. These crops normally produce some kind of fruit. There are many kinds of seeds to search out and plant within the sport. Fruits can be eaten to realize well being and vitamin. Different creature elements and fruits have totally different dietary advantages – it’s good to regulate this element, as there’s a method for locating the meals with the right vitamin you want.
When you attain a relaxation level, you may unlock new talents on a talent tree (or cortex, as we name it) relying in your dietary necessities and what you devour. This will get used on one other enemy species, PomPoms. They can have shields that you could break with a charged assault. You may also juggle smaller enemies after a combo and hit them into the surroundings or different enemies, which feels virtually too satisfying.
Ouji collects The Extractor within the latter half of the gameplay. The Shamans used this instrument of their ritual on this house station. So, it’s essential for the primary plot of the sport. But it additionally gives some cool power-ups. This first one grants us a double soar. We additionally encounter one other main character, Qualia, a mysterious determine you’ll be taught extra about whenever you play the sport. Still, she has some type of hyperlink to and affect on the ecosystem within the sport.
This leads us to observe Qualia, chasing her into the brand new boss combat we’re revealing at the moment. It’s an enormous, grotesque, worm-like creature. Like most bosses within the sport, the secret is to keep away from getting harm whereas studying patterns of their assaults, discovering their weak factors, and placing again when the time is true.
Following this, Ouji kills a Shaman in a chamber, revealing many extra Shamans to search out to interrupt the seal that has trapped Ouji on this world. Tracking down these Shamans will now function the primary goal within the sport. This disturbance awakens Ultros, a demonic being, which successfully restarts the loop of Ouji’s journey as she awakes in a well-known place once more. This would be the principal thriller to resolve all through the sport – you could discover totally different instructions as you strive to determine how you can break the cycle.
We hoped you loved this new have a look at the sport. Ultros will launch in 2024 for PlayStation 5 & PlayStation 4 and is accessible to wishlist now.
