ULTRAKILL

Review In Progress April 24, 2026

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha."

Another game that has been in wishlist hell for the entirety of it's early access period, ULTRAKILL is truly something special.

The game starts like any other boomer shooter of similar caliber, get a gun. The only difference is the late title drop of ULTRAKILL as soon as you get it. Once you get your first weapon, the nonstop onslaught begins and never stops until you beat the game. A quality mix of old and new ideas, calling ULTRAKILL a boomer shooter really only scratches the surface of the game. Yes, it is a retro stylized, movement based, high skill ceiling, deeply integrated mechanics shooter - but its really HOW all those pieces fit together that make the game special.

For other true boomer shooters, the deep mechanics and high skill ceiling kinda came as an aftershock. When the game has been out for 30 years, the communities around them find ways to "break" the game, to make the gameplay loop more interesting. Techs come along, and speedrunners expose more movement than originally thought possible. ULTRAKILL throws that out the fucking window, and just has the game be broken from the start. The tech exists already, and its up to your creativity to find it. Want to punch 3 coins into the air, stacking their damage to one shot bosses? Want to deflect your own grenades into groups of enemies? Want to boost yourself across the map in 0.1 seconds using the power of some ungodly explosive chain? All of this is possible and more, all depending on your creativity.

By no means am I actually good at this game, my first playthrough I simply played like a traditional boomer shooter. Switch weapons, combo, dodge, pretty standard stuff. It wasn't until I revisited the first view layers did something really click about how the game was meant to be played. Your first play through, all your weapons are gated. As you learn the game, you collect more and more items for disposing enemies. When you go back to play chapters you've beaten already, guess what? You keep everything you've unlocked. Suddenly a world of possibility is open. Instead of walking through the levels, I was flying through them. Grenade jumping, enemy stomping, sliding, ricocheting bullets, grappling baddies. Everything flowed so well, and I already thought everything flowed well without all this new tech. You mean to tell me this was here the entire time? ULTRAKILL truly exposes itself on the 2nd or 3rd playthrough. At first I kinda didn't get it, I wasn't underwhelmed per se, but I didn't quite see what the hype was about. Once you unlock the sandbox, the hype is truly worth talking about - and that isn't even all the game has to offer.

Outside of stellar mechanics, the art and music direction is phenomenal. If you like insane "Gen Z" type breakbeat, jungle, DnB music, you will love the soundtrack for this game. It perfectly emulates the nonsense you find yourself in, and gives you a adrenaline injection straight into your ears. From the deep guitar sting of the title shot, to the light piano accompanied by up tempo breakbeats, ULTRAKILLs music fits exactly in its place. The moments of silence cutting through the noise makes the music even more impactful. Pair the ins and outs of the music with the ins and outs of the art direction, and suddenly the full package becomes realized. You go from murky depths of hell, to pristine art museums, to underwater gallies, to fallen cities, to whatever the fuck is going on in layer 8, it just made the game such a joy to play. Nothing was stale throughout its roughly 6 hour playtime. Everything about this game was meticulously crafted, and everything feels like it has intention, and that is something that stands the test of time.

ULTRAKILL has everything that makes gaming great (well almost everything, the story is kinda nonsense, but that is for the people who truly love lore exploration) - from great gameplay mechanics, fun fights, well designed arenas, fun (and fair, albeit hard) bosses, great music, great sound design, amazing pacing, to never stale world locations and art. You get the some of the best of indie gaming, all wrapped up in what seems like your run of the mill retro shooter. Playing boomer shooters can often feel like a fine steak dinner to me. Other games give you the steak, and often times its great on it own - but ULTRAKILL pairs your meal with aperitifs, and fine wines.

A