Developer Arsi “Hakita” Patal has finally shown off some of New Blood shooter Ultrakill’s final act with a brief, unnerving peek at “The Garden of Forking Paths,” the first of its final sequence of 10 levels.
Ultrakill is a darkly humorous and absurdly violent retelling of Dante’s Inferno centered on the mute, omnicidal murder bot V1. It takes most of its gameplay cues from the acrobatic, wave/arena focused action of Doom 2016 while also building in a parry system and character action-esque style rankings. So far we’ve brutalized our way through Hell’s layers of Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, and Heresy. Act 3: “Godfist Suicide” promises a final slice of action in Violence, Fraud, and Treachery.
Level 7-1, The Garden of Forking Paths, is our first look at Violence, and the vibe so far is less violent, more creepy. Think the surreal white cityscapes of NieR Automata and its vaunted secret church and you’re like 70% of the way there. The Garden is all stark white and features a vaguely Hellenic temple adorned with crucifixes and this creepy music box tune playing in the background.
Everything’s quiet and empty, with the exception of some quite unsettling bloody mannequins who keep changing their poses when you’re not looking—classic mannequin behavior. It’s all well and good until V1 finally finds one of Ultrakill’s requisite retro shooter color-coded keys, turns around, and finds a room full of the creeps staring back at it.
I’ve got high hopes for Ultrakill Act 3 after its knockout second episode, my favorite level of which had you exploring a swanky yacht on the infinite ocean of Wrath. The shooter also recently got a surprise musical contribution from LA-based noise rock band HEALTH, who you may know for Max Payne 3’s sick soundtrack.