Diluvian Ultra Review

Diluvian Ultra, developed by Crest Helm Studios is a game that is reminiscent of other titles like QUAKE, Doom, or the more recent Prodeus. This is a fast-paced single-player, first-person shooter that, instead of being dark and gritty like other games of this type, is colourful, making it feel like the cover of a pulp sci-fi novel. Punches of bright purple and pink, with blue alien fauna, are a great addition to a game that is amazingly bloody and violent at times. You play as Atilla — a skeleton covered in muscles who is the immortal prince of a race of alien-like creatures that look like bugs.

Diluvian Ultra combines a 3D 8-bit aesthetic with some gory and nightmarish creatures, giving this game a unique art style that you don’t usually see. Accompanying it is a soundtrack with a retro-style dark synth feel to it. The sound effects are kind of hit-and-miss as sometimes they don’t play or they aren’t timed with the action that you are doing.

  
The game's save system is set up so that when you come back from the dead, all the enemies you managed to kill before dying are still gone. They don’t respawn, making you have to fight them all again. The catch is, if you happen to die before saving, you will go back as “those without saved DNA will not be resurrected”. So, if you are just starting to play, chances are you will be starting from the very beginning at least a few times before you locate the first save location. 

The story seemed interesting, well, at least the parts that I managed to catch, as the text came on and off the screen so fast I missed a good chunk of what was said. Fortunately, in the menu, you have the ability to look at conversations that you were in before, but I would rather have it slowed down in the first place. I consider myself a fast reader, but that speed is ridiculous. 

Diluvian Ultra’s levels look cool and are well designed with multiple levels to explore, though it is very easy to get turned around with no map to guide you through the area. I found a couple of bugs while I was trying to explore, like getting stuck between a staircase and the wall. I tried to jump and dash my way out with no success, so fortunately, I wasn’t too far into my run when I had to restart the game. 

Once you find the Blood Sword, you are able to break through the purple and pink walls to access new areas. You are also able to slice the blue and white plants that are growing around the area to collect items like Bio Ammo. There are crates that seem to have been left behind by someone that allows you to upgrade your armour (only to the level that your health is at), and these are usually located by spots where you will have to fight enemies. To kill an enemy, the first thing you need to do is get through their armour; once you have done that, they are exposed and can be killed. This can leave you exposed to being attacked so be sure you dodge shots coming from them or use your sword to deflect the attacks. To upgrade your sword, you have to collect and consume the blood of your enemies. This will strengthen the weapons in your arsenal and give you a better chance at defeating the foes that you face.

I was very confused by the way that the armour system worked. You are only able to carry the amount of armour that matches the current level of health that you have. So you are pretty screwed if you pick some up when you only have 20% health, as you can only have 20% extra defence. This makes it hard to make progress when you are already near death. There were a few things that Diluvian Ultra did differently from other titles in the genre, and some attributes that were cool, but others weren’t great and not a great addition like this defence system. 

You control the immortal prince Atilla using the keyboard and mouse. As someone who usually plays games with a controller, it took me a while to get used to this control scheme. This became readily apparent in situations where you are trying to move forward with W, jump using the spacebar, and then dash using the Left Shift key. It is fair to say it took quite a few attempts to execute some of the moves properly! You can perform a quick attack with whichever weapon you have equipped using the F key, or you are able to use the mouse to perform stronger attacks by holding down the left mouse button or deflect attacks using the right. Since I am such a fan of playing with a controller, I would love if support for that would come in the later chapters, but for now, the more I play, the more I get accustomed to playing with the keyboard, plus using the mouse for aiming definitely makes things easier!

The first chapter of Diluvian Ultra contains 10 different levels and a main hub. There are six different weapons to collect with a variety of different upgrades and 13 different types of enemies to face. When the later chapters are released as paid DLC you will learn more about Atilla’s story and stand up against new enemies with a variety of new weapons to collect. For now, I would say the first chapter is worth checking out if you are a fan of games like Quake and Prodeus, but keep in mind if you aren’t used to playing games with a keyboard and mouse, it will take a bit of time to get accustomed to the new controls. I am hoping that by the time the next chapter is released, the developer will be able to fix the issues with text speed, bugs, and the issues with the sound effects not lining up with the game’s actions.