ULTRAKILL

ULTRAKILL is a fast, single-player first-person shooter about V1, a machine descending into Hell after humanity’s extinction leaves blood as its dwindling fuel. Fight the dead, demons and rival machines across Dante-inspired campaign layers, using agile movement, varied weapons and enemy blood to survive. The Steam Early Access build currently includes Prelude, Acts I–II, and layers 7 and 8.

Humanity is gone, and the machines left on Earth depend on blood to keep running. As that supply dries up on the surface, V1 plunges into Hell in search of more. That premise makes survival inseparable from aggression: enemies are both immediate threats and the source of the resource that restores health. The setting draws on Dante’s Inferno without following it as a literal retelling: themed layers form the route down, while the dead, demons and rival machines populate the descent with combat encounters. The tone combines a bleak afterlife with the deliberately exaggerated violence of an old-school shooter, while V1’s movement and the style scoring give each fight a performance dimension.

The campaign is arranged as a descent through themed layers of Hell, grouped into acts and introduced by a Prelude. Levels move between combat spaces and routes that ask the player to find a way forward through the environment; the old-school structure also uses recognizable shooter signposting such as keys and locked passages. Each area brings its own visual identity and enemy mix, so the campaign changes its combat context as V1 goes deeper. The Steam Early Access build currently contains the complete Prelude and Acts I and II, along with the seventh and eighth layers of the nine-layer setting. The store lists 33 campaign levels, seven secret levels, two Prime Sanctums and two Encore levels as available. The planned third act and final layer are not presented as finished content, so this describes the playable build rather than a completed story or ending.

Staying alive depends on movement as much as aim. V1 can run, jump, wall-climb and slide, and the game encourages crossing a fight vertically instead of holding one position. Those options help avoid incoming attacks, close distance or change the angle on a target, while enemy attacks make standing still dangerous. Some movement choices also carry an offensive use: a leap can become a forceful ground impact, and the player can punch certain projectiles back toward their source. Together, these actions make arenas into spaces to traverse at speed. A route over an enemy, a quick slide underneath danger or a midair change of direction can preserve momentum while creating a fresh firing angle. Movement is therefore part of the combat loop, not a separate traversal phase between encounters.

V1’s health system turns proximity to enemies into a calculated risk. Damage can be recovered by getting close enough to be splashed with their blood, so a distant kill may leave the machine in danger while a close-range finish can replenish it. This changes the usual shooter instinct to retreat when health is low: the player may instead need to move toward a weakened target without losing awareness of the surrounding threats. Since enemies attack quickly and from different positions, reaching that blood safely depends on dodging, jumping, sliding and choosing when to engage. The system links survival to combat tempo. Avoiding every enemy at a distance does not provide the same recovery opportunity, while moving into a crowd without managing its attacks can cost the health the player was trying to regain.

V1’s arsenal is built around weapons with multiple variations, and each tool gives the player another way to handle the fight. The central task is to switch between those options as enemies move, attacks arrive and opportunities open; the game rewards varied, forceful play rather than treating every target as a simple aim-and-fire problem. The punch also gives V1 a close-range response, including the ability to knock some projectiles back. That interaction can turn an incoming attack into a counter, but it still depends on timing and awareness of which threats are approaching. The timing requirement rewards close attention to enemy attacks even during a crowded fight. Weapons and movement overlap: V1 can reposition to keep enemies in range, take a close shot to access blood recovery, or use a deflected projectile to answer pressure from elsewhere in the arena. The result is a combat loop that joins spacing, weapon choice and risk management.

Each level tracks performance through style, combos, score and a final rank. The Steam description connects fast, stylish kills with points that can be spent on weapon variations between missions, while high ranks and optional challenges give completed levels goals beyond reaching the exit. This makes replay a built-in part of progression: a player can return to a familiar level to improve a rank, pursue a challenge or try a different set of weapon options. Hidden secrets add another reason to look beyond the most direct route, and the listed secret levels sit alongside the main campaign rather than replacing it. ULTRAKILL remains in Early Access while its third act and final features are unfinished; its currently available campaign and optional content are substantial, but they do not amount to the announced full three-act plan.