Demo

The ULTRAKILL Demo, also known as ULTRAKILL Prelude or the Prelude Demo, is a free version of ULTRAKILL comprising of the Prelude levels, 1-1: Heart Of The Sunrise, and the first two secret levels 0-S: Something Wicked and 1-S: The Witless. The Demo is based off of a much older version of the game compared to the current early access release, featuring old models and levels, missing features, and cut content. The Demo can be played on Steam and itch.io.

Overview

The ULTRAKILL Demo was first released on August 28th 2019, comprising of early versions of the Prelude levels, 1-1, 0-S, and 1-S. The demo only has access to the Standard and Violent difficulties, with Accessible^[?] and Very Hard^[?] difficulties being unavailable.

In the demo the player has access to the Feedbacker, the Piercer and Marksman Revolvers, the Core Eject and Pump Charge Shotguns, and an early version of the Attractor Nailgun. Excluded variants and weapons are either unavailable to access in the demo or were created after its last update.

Other modes such as The Cyber Grind, Cheats, Sandbox, and the Developer Museum are inaccessible and unavailable.

Differences

Due to the Demo being based off a much older version of the game, various differences can be found in it compared to the base game. This list however is not completely all encompassing due to the sheer amount of changes the game has received over the years.

Mechanics

MOVEMENT

• Jump height is slightly lowered.
  
• Sliding does not maintain momentum.
  
• While sliding the player is unable to adjust the direction by strafing.
  
• Wall Sliding does not exist.
• Diving is less lenient in its inputs.
  
• Dash Storage lasts indefinitely compared to the base game's one second of invulnerability.
  
• Sliding particles do not change color when Dash Storage is active.
  
• Power Slams consume 2 stamina bars to perform.

PARRYING

• Parrying is much tighter in its timing.
• Parrying does not regenerate Stamina.

STYLE
The current Weapon Freshness system is not present in the Demo, with it being filled by a "Fresh Weapon Bonus" that grants bonus Style to recently swapped weapons. Unlike the current system, the Fresh Weapon Bonus does not penalize using the same weapon consistently, as nothing is lost or decreased. This makes it fairly easy to gain style while continually using powerful techniques such as Projectile Boosting and Ricoshots that the base game would otherwise penalize with decreased style gains and subsequent Hard Damage buildup.

Weapons

• All Weapons use older models compared to the base game.
• Weapon colors are unable to be changed.
• Unreleased Gold variants are still present on Terminal menus, originally planned as another set of Weapon Variants before being cut due to concerns of arsenal bloat.
• Weapons do not create environmental hit particles when shot at a surface.

PIERCER REVOLVER

• The base state of the Piercer's battery UI is colored green instead of blue.
• The Piercer Revolver's charge effect has a solid outline and a different texture.

MARKSMAN REVOLVER

• Coins appear brighter.
• Coins are unable to be split.
• Coins are unable to be punched using the Feedbacker.
• Coins do not target active Core Ejects.
• Coins cannot + CHARGEBACK enemies such as Malicious Face.

CORE EJECT SHOTGUN

• The Core Eject Shotgun's meter starts off green when charging a core.
• The flash of a thrown core eject does not follow the core itself and renders in front of objects, presumably due to a bug.
• Cores cannot be sniped via hitscan attacks.

ATTRACTOR NAILGUN
The Attractor Nailgun works significantly different than the base game's version. The version present in the demo has unlimited ammo, and requires its fire to be held to reach its full firing speed, represented by a meter on its HUD.

• The Attractor Nailgun's pullout speed is slightly slower than the current Attractor.
• The Attractor Nailgun can fire an infinite amount of magnets vs the current Attractor's 3.
• The Attractor Nailgun cannot launch a magnet while firing.
• Enemies are pulled less by magnets while magnetized.

Enemies

• Swordsmachine, Malicious Face, Cerberus, Hideous Mass and Something Wicked use older models.
• Strays cannot be melee parried during their windup.
• Schisms fire regular Hell Orbs instead of their unique Linked Hell Orbs.
• Schisms are not instantly killed by a melee parry.
• Schisms can only be interrupted by a Ricoshot.
• Hell Energy Orbs have a solid outline.
• Drones do not grant the + HOMERUN style bonus when punched.
• Coins target divebombing Drones.
• The Malicious Face's beam has a solid outline.
• Malicious Face corpses cannot crush enemies while falling.
• Something Wicked does not emit a static noise overlay when in close proximity to the player.

Levels

Levels appear generally less detailed and/or polished with the demo's earlier artstyle.

• Soul Orbs have a different texture for their outer edges.
• Collected Blood Orbs are greyed out like normal Soul Orbs rather than having a unique texture.
• Non-lethal environmental hazards such as pits, fans and grinders instantly kill the player rather than teleporting the player back with half of their health.
• Skull Keys and Skull Pedestals use older models that lack distinction between different color types.

ELEVATOR AND TERMINALS

• The Elevator Entrance is significantly less detailed than in the base game, comprising of a basic square box connecting to the Elevator Shaft and level entrance. Details such as wall trimming, emissive lighting, and the platform underneath the elevator shaft are absent compared to the base game.
• Terminals use a model close to their original models prior to the ULTRA_REVAMP update, however with a metal plate backing on their monitors rather than a screen texture.
  • Terminal UI uses a bare bones look consisting of holographic black panels rather than the Windows XP styled Smile_OS 2 UI.
• Enemy and Cyber Grind tabs in the Terminal are inaccessible. The Sandbox tab present in the base game is absent.
• Weapon Info and Color tabs in the Weapons menu are replaced by the unused Gold Variants.
• The ability to zoom on Terminal screens with Secondary Fire is missing.
• Arms cannot be unequipped in the Shop Terminal.

INTRO AND TUTORIAL

• The Intro boot-up sequence cannot be skipped.
• The electric field obstacle found in the Tutorial's Dash segment is absent.
• The 3 Filth present in the Tutorial stand in the middle of the room rather than them being tied to the ceiling by rope.

0-1

• The shortcut used to bypass the starting door in 0-1 without picking up the Revolver is not present.
• The hidden message found by performing the Pipe Clip is absent.

0-2

• The hidden message found by performing the Updoor clip is absent.

0-3

• 0-3 has two less Soul Orbs than in the base game, with Soul Orbs #1 and #4 being absent.
• The large laser hazard in the Wind Tunnel is replaced by two Crushers.

0-4

• 0-4 has two less Soul Orbs than in the base game, with Soul Orbs #3 and #5 being absent.
• The cooling chambers present in between arenas are absent.

0-S

• Taking out the Sulfur Skull from its pedestal in the Skull Hub does not force Something Wicked to chase after the player.
• The lights in the level do not turn on when the player places the Sulfur Skull into the pedestal in the Pillar Hall.

1-1

• Limbo screen walls lack a screen overlay and do not warp when approached.
• Limbo door opening animations are set at a fixed speed. In the base game, Limbo doors open faster proportional to the player's speed to avoid accidental collision.
• The right door is missing in the first room of 1-1.
• 1-1 houses an extra Malicious Face in its final combat arena.
• The slab used to unlock the Alternate Revolver is replaced with placeholder text reading "this will do something later :)".
• The final combat arena in 1-1 leads to the Hideous Mass boss arena found in 1-3 rather than the exit elevator. Approaching the Hideous Mass in the center causes it to start its boss introduction before the player is frozen and the end of demo screen appears.

1-S

• Puzzle Screens use a bare bones interface with holographic black panels versus the current Windows 98 inspired Smile_OS 1 UI.
• The hidden message found by going out of bounds through the top of 1-S's exit elevator is absent.

Menus

• 'Play' in the start menu is replaced by 'Continue', presumably when a pre-existing save exists.
• Credits/Museum button is missing in the demo.
• The Options menu lacks various settings present in the base game, most notably missing the Saves and Color tabs. The demo also hosts a vastly simplified Bindings menu, lacking features such as multi-bind support, Variant binds and Arm binds.
• Selected UI checkboxes use a grey checkmark rather than a white X.
• The secrets section in the level tab menu is displayed with "X/X" rather than individual checkboxes for each secret.
• The locked Gluttony levels in Act I are displayed to the left rather than being centered.

Miscellaneous

• Fire sprites have a lower resolution.
• Explosions are less detailed.
• Every material uses the same walking and sliding sound.
• The Death sequence only consists of the camera fading into the laughing Skull/restart screen, lacking the distorting camera feed and the death sequence text.
• Orange colored text in places such as Terminal entries and in tutorial prompts use a lighter golden color.

Development

See: Changelogs from Ultrakill Prelude V1.01 to Ultrakill Prelude V1.05B.

Gallery

• 

  The demo's Steam box art.
• The early version of the game's intro video featuring a Drone.
• 

  The early version of the Elevator Hub.
• 

  The old version of the Shop Terminal, featuring a metal plate backing.
• 

  The placeholder for the first Slab in 1-1.
• 

  The Hideous Mass arena from 1-3 transplanted into 1-1.
• 

  The demo end screen that appears after the Hideous Mass teaser in 1-1.
• 

  The early version of the Secret Elevator Hub.
• 

  The early version of the Secret Terminal.

Trivia

• Following the New Blood format of giving their published games movie poster-style box arts, the demo's box art is a reference to the company Blockbuster and the placeholder covers they used for their rental DVD cases.