Ultreia

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

.

Review:

Ultreia, sometimes stylized as Ultreïa (because umlauts make everything more interesting!) is a Graphic Adventure first released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game has players taking the role of a robot, Nymo, going on a journey to the planet of Ultreia, perhaps to get revenge on someone who killed a friend… or perhaps to find their own peace of mind. A part of this game’s story is finding out which path Nymo ultimately takes.

Unfortunately, much of this isn’t exactly clear in the story itself, at least at first. You’re not given any introduction to Nymo, his deceased friend, the circumstances of the death, or the supposed villain responsible. You only know that Nymo has a vendetta and is apparently having some sort of A.I. internal debate about it, and the early parts of the game are largely just about completing tasks to secure passage to Ultreia. It’s not much to get invested in the characters.

At the very least, this game does a decent job building up this world and making it an interesting place, which is done partly with this game’s blend of 3D characters and pre-rendered graphics. It honestly feels a bit old-school, and to its credit this comes across as an homage to some classic entries in the genre, something that seems intended since this game makes other references to genre classics. The music at least is actually pretty good here, with subdued, atmospheric tunes that do a good job setting the murky tone of the game.

As for the gameplay, this is pretty standard Graphic Adventure fare. There’s nothing that seems outright genius here, but neither did I see any of that “Sierra logic” that requires players to make inexplicable leaps of logic to complete tasks.

When it comes to the controls, this is a game that doesn’t quite feel comfortable in docked mode with a traditional controller, which has players controlling a slow-moving cursor for everything. Even your character movement requires you to “click” places on the screen rather than moving your character directly. On the other hand, the touchscreen works mostly fine here, with players simply touching what they want to interact with. There is a bit of frustration caused by the “look at” and “interact” icons being dark, small, hard to see, and obscured by both your cursor and possibly your finger. However, for the most part this seems like a good way to control the game.

Mostly, I would say that Ultreia is a decent nostalgic entry in its genre, but not a standout one. You can feel the respect this game has for the classics of the genre, but it doesn’t seem to have quite the same respect for its own story and characters, and players may feel detached from the protagonist and his task. Still, if you’re looking to expand your Graphic Adventure library on the Nintendo Switch, you may find Ultreia worth looking into.

tl;dr – Ultreia is a Graphic Adventure about a robot going on a journey, possibly to seek revenge or possibly to find peace. While it’s a good premise, and this game clearly respects the legacy of the genre, it doesn’t do a good enough job introducing its characters, making it harder to feel attached to their struggles. The result is a game that’s not a terrible entry in the genre, but far from an outstanding one.

Grade: C

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