Ultra Age is easily one of the best games on show at EGX 2019. I found plenty of amazing upcoming indies such as Bookbound Brigade and Inertial Drift but Ultra Age blew my mind!
Ultra age is developed by Next Stage a 5 man team of Korean students with graphics provided by Visual Dart the team behind the graphics for the massive titles such as Uncharted 4, The Last of Us and Overwatch. Which explains why Ultra Age looks so god damn amazing.
It is also worth pointing out that Ultra Age will launch for the Playstation 4 only in Q3 of 2020 but isn’t exactly a PlayStation 4 exclusive. When asked why Ultra Age was PS4 only I was told it is quite simply because Playstation is extremley popular in Asian countries.
Hopefully, Ultra Age will be a smash hit and the plan is to use the profit from sales to port Ultra Age to other platforms.
Story
Mankind created a perfect utopia thanks to the miniaturization of plasma fusion reactors and the development of A.I. Thanks to self-learning A.I the world knows no conflict or famine.
This utopia comes to an abrupt end when a meteor strike hits the earth and causes the plasma fusion reactors to explode. This catastrophic event causes the ecosystem to collapse and throw the Earth into desolation.
Thus, a group of scientists called the Frontier commenced the Earth Purification Project to preserve humanity, and the survivors were dispersed into earth’s shelter and cosmic orbital arc. As time flew by the earth resources were lacking making the Frontier decide to stop all supplies to the Orbital Arc. They commence an experiment to give the last hope of humanity…
1086 years later A person called ‘Age’ falls to earth from the Universe. On his arrival to earth begins an adventure to find something indispensable for the survival of mankind. But what is waiting ahead of him was a threat by the mutant creatures, organisms and specimens left on the desolate earth, and machines that became aggressive due to programming errors attacking him. Will age find what he wants and return to where he should be?
Gameplay
Ultra Age is a single-player offline high-speed action rogue-like game and has a wonderful combat system. Not only is combat fast-flowing and based on building up combos to expose your enemies weak spot but also is highly dependent on the sword you use.
There are many types of enemies in Ultra Age but all of them fall into two main categories. Biological and Mechanical. Using the correct sword for the fight will drastically increase the damage you deal.
Whilst you have two swords in each category and can switch between them with a single button press it isn’t as simple as select your sword and swing away like a mad man. Swords have durability and will in time break.
Defeating enemies and collecting resources will enable you to craft and even upgrade swords to ensure you can still deliver swift steel death upon creatures and robots alike.
Combat is extremley fast, smooth and free-flowing. Switching between weapons, building combos and using abilities are seamless. In just a few short fights you will be linking some epic moves together and slaying mutants and robots alike in seconds.
Ultra Age also includes a plethora of abilities such as heal, resource gather, threat warning robot and even a kick-ass electric wire. Linking all these abilities together makes for incredibly smooth and enjoyable gameplay experience.
Final Thoughts
Ultra Age was one of if not the best game I saw at EGX 2019. It is impossible to get across in a written review just how fast, smooth and enjoyable a gameplaying experience it is.
As with all Expo games, the hands-on demo was only around 10 mins long so it will be interesting to see how the story holds up over a full campaign. My thoughts may change after getting some serious time with Ultra Age.
Right now I genuinely think that not only will Ultra Age be a massive hit next summer but could well set the bar for future indie releases. I am not being hyperbolic, Ultra Age genuinely looks and plays like a AAA title.
Even if Ultra Age doesn’t achieve the sales and recognition it deserves I will definitely be keeping a close eye on Next Stage. This is a development studio that is going to produce some industry-changing games in the future.
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