A 3.5 year old shooter suddenly has thousands of players on Steam, but how does the high number of players come about? We’ll show you what’s behind it.
What game is it about? Ultrakill is a retro shooter or “boomer shooter” on Steam that went into early access in September 2020 and was developed by solo developer Arsi “Hakita” Patala. As part of the “Festival of First Person Shooters” on Steam, the game was able to massively increase its number of players.
In March, an average of 2,125 players played Ultrakill on Steam and the shooter only reached a peak of 3,892 concurrent active users. On the night of April 16th, the number of players rose to 19,550 players (via SteamCharts).
What is the game about? In Ultrakill you play brutal machines powered by blood. But as people die out on the surface of the earth, you are also running out of blood. So that you can continue to supply yourself with the red fuel, you descend into hell and hunt demons there – in order to harvest their blood.
Since Ultrakill is a so-called retro shooter, you shouldn’t expect nice graphics and modern effects. The game is openly based on titles like Quake and Doom. Devil May Cry was also a role model.
Ultrakill is ultra brutal and ultra fast
What sets Ultrakill apart? The retro graphics are a special feature of the shooter, but Ultrakill is primarily characterized by its extremely fast and brutal gameplay.
Every time you take out an enemy, you unleash a massive fountain of blood that fills your tank. That’s why you have various weapons and movement skills at your disposal, with which you want to get as close as possible to your opponents.
It’s not just part of the lore that the machines you control need blood to fill their tanks. You must actively collect the blood of your downed enemies to regenerate your health bar.
Here you can see the launch trailer for Ultrakill:
Ultrakill presents itself in the early access trailer
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Why is Ultrakill suddenly so popular? On the one hand, the first-person shooter festival is currently running on Steam, as part of which Ultrakill is reduced by 25% and only costs 18.37 euros until April 22nd. Ultrakill normally costs 24.50 euros. There are also various bundles with the shooter on offer, for example with Trepang² and Turbo Overkill.
On the other hand, on April 15th, shortly before the player boom, a new update for the bloody shooter was released, which added new weapons and now completed the players’ arsenal.
The previous and still unmatched peak in Ultrakill’s number of players dates back to December 2023. There was a big update for the shooter that month.
Fans of fast-paced shooters love Ultrakill
How is Ultrakill received by players? Ultra good. With a total of 95,435 reviews, the shooter is a strong 98% positive on Steam (as of April 16, 2024) – however, many reviews are of little help if you are looking for correct information about the gameplay.
Overall, however, Ultrakill’s gameplay is praised. It’s simple, the game isn’t pretty and there are definitely bugs, but fans of fast shooters will still get their money’s worth:
Overall, Ultrakill is really popular with fans of fast-paced shooters and might appeal to you if you like games like Quake and Doom.
However, if Ultrakill is too wild for you and you’re more into realistic shooters, there’s a demo on Steam that you should definitely test out:
Road to Vostok promises a realistic battle of survival for shooter fans on Steam