It takes a lot for a game's art to live up to the promise of "a multifaceted realm" anchored in "a cosmic uterus holding an ancient, demonic being," but Ultros pulls it off and then some. It doesn't quite cover it to call developer Hadoque's upcoming 2D Metroidvania – coming up fast, with a February 13 release date on PC and PlayStation – psychedelic, though it most certainly is. Ultros is transportive, and handily the coolest game I've tried this Steam Next Fest, which is saying a lot because there are, as ever, about a billion good games out there.
This is a prismatic assault on the senses so rich with color and detail that every screenshot you could possibly take of it practically demands extended, magnified analysis. I've only played the Steam Next Fest demo and I feel like I could spend hours going over this game with a fine-toothed comb before I stopped finding new things. Ultros is a layered, utterly alien abomination; a meaty vision of bioluminescent hell, an organic museum of shambling chimerae, and a gallery of hideous beauties. It's all amped up – and given clarity – by the stark black platforms in the foreground. In under an hour it's been seared onto my corneas like a branding iron. I can't look away and I need to see more.
