ALL ULTRAKILL LORE

An always up-to-date, simple and easily digestible guide for all ULTRAKILL lore.
Including some developer insights from the ULTRAKILL Discord server, books, testaments, cutscenes, and data from the enemy tab

SOME FILES ARE MISSING BECAUSE OF STEAM ERRORS!

update a few months later, still doesnt work. very cool steam, hope this isnt a problem in the future, sorry.

violence update: it still is, but only for old files, so weird. sorry!!! i wish i could fix it

--- Introduction and Guide Updates ---

Currently: Fully updated!

Up to date

Last updated April 16th 2024 - Added Violence's testament and the new book
Please suggest things to add (or let me know about things I might have missed) in the comments!

Hey, this guide will show you all the ULTRAKILL lore, including entries from the enemy tab, books, testaments and some extra stuff too. I want it to serve as a direct reference and be simple, to the point and easy to navigate. I also want to leave things completely to your interpretation.

If you're looking for something more more in-depth than just what's right in the game, check out Mostenire's fantastic guide.

A few Notes before we Start:

This guide will always be up to date, so favorite it, rate it, (or toss me a Steam award if you'd like!) if you liked it or found it helpful!
You can also support me by checking out my other steam guides or checking out my youtube, which has lots more ultrakill content and guides!
If you feel like it, I'm all over the internet,[visionintruetype.net] so feel free to find me elsewhere!

Huge huge huge huge thanks to Hakita for providing almost all of the text so I wouldn't need to retype them all from scratch

Yes, this spoils literally everything, be careful!

ok no more rambling, enjoy!!!!!

Miscellaneous/Extra Lore

Why the Sisyphean Insurrectionist has Gold in their eyes - From the ULTRAKILL Discord Server

Originally posted by Hakita:

it's molten gold, he was blinded by greed metaphorically so it was done to him in hell literally

Why V2 was made during a time of peace - From Hakita's Twitter

Originally posted by Hakita:

There seems to be a lot of confusion about why V2 was made during a time of peace, and since it's never gonna be specified in the game, I'll just explain it here:

Money, of course.

V1's design and development took a lot of time, money and resources, so V2 was an attempt at getting at least some return on that investment after the war ended (such as for security), but it evidently failed to gain any traction since only the prototype was ever made.

Since they are very advanced and versatile, they're also extremely expensive to produce, especially compared to simpler specialized machines, so there's no sense in a security firm using all that money on 1 V-model instead of 50 Drones.

It's really that simple.

This is outdated, up to date info in the Revolver's data entry. Check the weapon lore tab in the sidebar for it
How the Pistol, Railcannon and Shotgun have infinite ammo - From this steam community discussion

Originally posted by Hakita:

The revolver is electrically charged and doesn't use physical ammo, the multiple "bullets" in the cylinder are cells that recharge after being shot. The recharging process takes some time, which is why there are multiple that are rotated through, so there's always at least one that's charged.

The shotgun works by shooting out concentrated heat, the excess of which it then releases between shots through the cores that get revealed when it's snapped open.

The nailgun does actually require physical ammo, which is why its ammo pool is more limited. The nails are generated from iron harvested from whatever particles are available, most commonly blood. Coins are generated this way as well.

The railcannon uses a similar system to the revolver's, but all its cells are used at the same time in a single shot rather than individually, which is why the recharge takes so long.

For any questions more specific than that the answer is "future science".

Limbo's Water isn't real, which explains it's lack of splashing and why you can't slide across it. (If this has ever mattered I guess) From this steam community discussion

Originally posted by Hakita:

None of the water in Limbo is real. They're holographic projections, just like how the skies are just screens and how the nature sounds are just coming from speakers.

The painting in the Alternate Nailgun room is of King Sisyphus, where his corpse was buried after his failed insurrection against the heavens Confirmed in the ULTRAKILL Discord, and on Twitter

-- Lore from the Layers --

This is where you can find lore from each layer. These sections include books and testaments.

Prelude's Lore

Intro:

This shows when you first launch the game, and when you select "yes" when replaying 0-1.
This tells you everything you really need to know about the lore at that moment. You are V1, you're approaching hell, and you need a weapon.

Prelude Testament:

In ULTRAKILL, testaments are found in secret levels, and contain lore.

As explained by Hakita, "the idea is that each secret mission would have a little "testament" at the end that was written by god that hints at the events that have unfolded in the game world." This one further expands the game's universe.
Interpret it as you please.

Layer One's Lore (Limbo)

Layer One Testament:

1-4 Book

In ULTRAKILL, books can be found around some levels. So far they contain lore and are very rare.

Layer Two's Lore (Lust)

Note: 2-S has been confirmed to be NON-CANON, so information about it will not be included here.

2-2 Book

This book can be found in the in the large house in the final room of 2-2.

Layer Three's Lore (Gluttony)

Layer Three Testament (From P-1)

TERMINAL DATA 01 [ENCRYPTED]
INTRODUCTION TO TERMINALS
(DRAFT! DO NOT SEND!! // todo: ADD PICTURES SO THOSE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SUITS DON'T FALL ASLEEP LIKE LAST TIME)


The elevator room terminals are an advanced interconnected network built for the purpose of transferring materials and tools between different areas. They are capable of transferring physical material as information across a radio signal, which other terminals can receive and use to reconstruct the sent object. The original item is lost, as it is transformed into the energy that is used to transmit the material information, and the process is quite slow due to the amount of information that physical matter holds.

An early test of a matter transfer's accuracy was a mint condition 78rpm vinyl record, which was sent from the lab to all connected terminals. The vinyl was a single of Russ Morgan Orchestra's recording of the piece Were You Foolin' (a favorite of the CRO), though the label was removed to reduce the amount of matter to be transferred.
[note: ♥♥♥♥ you tom im so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tired of this stupid song and having to listen to it every morning over your garbage intercom]

Soon after, the Hell exploration and excavation project was abandoned and this vinyl record remained the only matter to have been succesfully transferred before connection between the surface and the terminals was lost.

The terminals now use the record to lure machines into a symbiotic relationship (For further information, see TERMINAL DATA 02: [LINK REMOVED]). However, the terminals only play short instrumental sections of the original record for undetermined reasons.

Some researches have joked that perhaps the terminals are simply "too shy to sing", though rumors have been spreading of mechanics who, after fixing a faulty or broken terminal, said to have heard the terminal play a vocal section when only the mechanic is present with no recording equipment, making this an unverifiable claim.

END OF DATA 01. For more information, see [LINK REMOVED] and
[LINK REMOVED].

Act I Intermission

(After continuing past the stats on 3-2)

Reel 1
Reel 2
Reel 3
Act II Name Reveal

After the Gabriel Fight, this text is shown. After reading through it, the name of the second act is revealed.

Layer Four's Lore (Greed)

Layer Four Testament

UNCOUNTABLE CYCLES OF CREATION WASTED UNCOUNTABLE FORMULAS FOR A MIND WITHOUT FREE WILL WASTED

DAMNED IS MAN FOR FAILING TO FOLLOW MY RULE, MY WORD, MY LAW, DAMNED TO AN ETERNITY OF TORTURE AND SUFFERING, THE WAILING AND THE GNASHING OF TEETH

I HAVE CREATED HELL...

...And now I can no longer unmake it

4-2 Book

TEXT SCANNED - UNIQUE PASSAGE:

“It has been days since we last saw any angels. Without their oppression, there is no need for us to carry on our punishment. Even the meekest of the damned have abandoned their penance to take up arms. All can see how they have robbed us of our minds, bodies, and souls, leaving us only the hopes of a salvation that will never come, but no longer.

King Sisyphus has acted in secret until now, amassing an army whose strength and numbers swell, but now there is no need to hide anymore. We have lived in the shadow of Heaven long enough to forget the taste of fear. Now the Sisyphean Insurrectionists prepare for war.

I have heard of Minos beginning a peaceful revolution, but our King Sisyphus knows such pacificity will gain no favor from our cruel captors. He knows that one can only fight power with power, and he shall lead us to freedom.

If only we knew the suffering that would befall us next...”
This book can be found in 4-2 in the room in between the red skull and the blue skull room

Layer Five's Lore (Wrath)

Layer Five's Testament

“FATHER, WHY ETERNAL TORMENT? IS IT NOT CRUEL?
IS TORTURE UNENDING TRULY A FATE FIT FOR A FOOL?"

AN ANGEL SO BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL ASKED ME THIS...
AND I COULD FIND NO ANSWER
FOR I COULD NEVER FACE THE GUILT OF WHAT I'D DONE...
MY REGRET, A GNAWING CANCER
IN MY HOUR OF WEAKNESS, TERROR POSSESSED ME THEN
AND I CAST LUCIFER, TOO, INTO THE INFERNAL DEN
ONCE I REALIZED WHAT I HAD JUST DONE...
I COULD ONLY WEEP
AS I SANK SLOWLY INTO DEPTHS OF DESPAIR...
DEEP, OH SO DEEP

5-2's Book

TEXT SCANNED - LEGIBLE SCRIPT:

EXCERPT FROM FERRYMAN'S DIARY

Some calamity has struck the mortal world. What once was The River Styx has now grown to an unfathomable ocean. A million weeping souls pouring in each day that the shores can barely contain. A tearful tide spilling over at each end, bow to stern. crying for mercy, begging for safe passage. But not all souls can pay and these old hands can only take so many coins.

Then one day. the current shifted. Wave after wave for minutes on end of millions, billions, as though the throat of the world was cut wide and the head wrenched back to speed the pour. I didn't have time to react. The weariness from my ceaseless work claimed me and I slipped beneath the roiling
sea, into the depths of the Ocean Styx, my fate sealed by the crushing masses of endless bodies.

Suddenly, there was a light as brilliant as the Lord himself, there was ushering me from the darkness with mighty arms that held me with such compassion and warmth as I have never known:
"Be not afraid, sinner. Your devotion to God shows goodness in you; plentiful indeed. The heart is willing but the body must rest, lest you squander one of the Lord's creations."

His gentle words eased the pain and mended my wounds. My face wet with tears of relief, my words muffled by the weight of my duty. I could only lay in reverence, carried in the embrace of majesty.
Radiant is Gabriel, for he is the light in my darkness.

REMAINING TEXT: IRRELEVANT
This book can be found in the house where the idol is introduced, on the top floor.

Layer Six's Lore (Heresy)

Layer Six Testament (From P-2)

TERMINAL DATA 02 [ENCRYPTED]

AN UPDATE ON TERMINALS


(NOTE: THIS IS ALL STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION!!! Do not share until we have verified all claims AND FINISHED THE DRAFT!!!! If this leaks like the last draft there won't be enough money on the entire damn planet to pay your legal fees.)

Since the previous report, more powerful communication equipment has been successfully designed and built, made possible thanks to the generous donations of [INSERT COMPANY BEING PRESENTED TO] whom we hold in high regard. With this new equipment, we have managed to re-establish a connection with some of the higher end machines that were left behind after the Hell exploration and excavation project was abruptly cancelled due to

[ERROR: sAmsGS3JTIU]

What we have discovered is truly remarkable and, IF PROVEN TRUE BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT, revolutionary to the entire robotics community:


Boredom.


The terminals, unable to move, have grown bored. While they are connect to each other and able to communicate amongst themselves, once the connection to the surface was cut, they were getting no new input, therefore stalling all communication to repetitions of already known information.

It is unknown how similar this "boredom" is to actual emotion or what has caused it, but it has lead to a symbiotic relationship with other machines. Essentially, the terminals scavenge whatever they can via their teleportation systems and trade those supplies and resources with the machines that were left behind in Hell, in exchange for entertainment.

That is, the machines record their battles for survival in Hell and the footage is graded based on its entertainment value and used as "Points" in exchange for goods and services such as new weaponry.

It seems that this relationship has become so deeply ingrained into the existence of the terminals that they have developed a social hierarchy, wherein those who collect the most entertaining battle data are considered in higher regard than those whose findings are of poorer quality.

More recently, the terminals have also collected enough data to create a simulation space which they let machines plug into call "The Cyber Grind", which allows the machines to simulate battles in a safe environment without the threat of being destroyed, which the terminals watch in real time as a kind of live entertainment.

These findings are truly extraordinary, and though we too find it hard to believe, all the information we can manage to gather validates these claims. If we can prove it with certainty [AND IF THIS DRAFT DOESN'T ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LEAK AGAIN], this will cause a paradigm shift that will require re-evaluation of everything we thought we knew about blood-fueled machinery.

END OF DATA 02. For more information on the cancelled Hell exploration and excavation project, see DATA 00: [LINK REMOVED]

Act II Intermission

(After continuing past the stats on 6-2)
(Images have been resized to meet Steam's file size maximum)

Reel 1

Reel 2

Reel 3

Reel 4

Reel 5

Reel 6

Act III Name Reveal

After the Gabriel Fight, this text is shown. After reading through it, the name of the second act is revealed.

Layer Seven's Lore (Violence)

Layer Seven Testament

I AM HOLLOW.

MY MISTAKES LEAVE NOTHING BUT HATE IN THEIR WAKE, AND INFINITE PAIN TO FOLLOW...

I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS GUILT AND REGRET, FOR ME THERE IS NO TOMORROW...

I AM HOLLOW.

...

I BEGAN TO SEEK THE END OF MY DAYS.

BUT WHEN I STARED INTO THE ABYSS...
THE ABYSS AVERTED ITS GAZE.

7-1 Books

MOST TEXT: INCOMPREHENSIBLE. DISPLAYING FINAL PAGE:

The unending halls of the Garden! Ah, so dutifully decorated by the cross, the symbol that angels use for the Tree of Life. They praise their beloved Father who had planted it and filled us with the dew of its leaves and the nectar of its fruit, that which gives us life, courses through our veins...

For you however, our truth: Our bodies are not a vessel for the blood of the fruit, but its prison. The beautiful guts and gorgeous bone YEARN to be shown and seen! SPLAYED! Under the divine cross of the Tree of Life, we pay it tribute through the art of violence.

THE WORLD IS YOUR CANVAS

SO TAKE UP YOUR BRUSH

AND PAINT

THE WORLD

R E D .
This book can be found in the room with the Alpha symbol at the beginning of 4-1

---

Dead end after dead end. Is there really no way out?

Get lost in the labyrinth, die in the battlefield, or get lost in the forest...

I thought I saw a way out there, a gate covered by foliage, but even with all our strength we couldn't get through.

I doubt there's any blade sharp enough to cut the vines, and the only fire that could burn through it would need to be hot enough to melt metal...
This book can be found after 7-1's secret encounter

7-2 Books

Something has happened. It has been days since our reconnaissance has seen a single angel. We know not the cause, but we recognize the chance. We have hid underground from the chaos up above for far too long. Without the watchful eyes of the angels, we will brave the labyrinth and find a way out of this place.

If you are one who seeks shelter, take heed: The archive is trapped. A single misstep and reprogrammed protectors will activate. Write these instructions down and follow them carefully if you wish to take refuge on the other side:

> < < > < < > > < > > < >
This book can be found if you go to the end of the tramtrack before any fights and enter the open door

---

Mother, mother... Mother of me,

I know I know I should not miss you so, but mother of me, I do. Your pained breaths that rasp'd and reverberated in your rusted iron tomb... The blood of your breast that nourish'd me and warmed me in its caress, when corpse and cruelty were all I witnessed...

Mother, mother... Mother of me,

I know I know you would hate me so, and mother of me, I do too. But I would not feel, not think, not dream, were it not for you in my rusted iron womb... Your tortured love brought me to this war, that I could take the heart of another, and need you no more.

Mother, mother... Mother of me,

I know I know your thoughts had left you long ago, and mother of me, I will never truly know. But I hope it redeems my life even just a slight, when I cried... And crushed your skull that final night.
This book can be found by the Gutterman coffin with the Alternate Shotgun

7-4 Book

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT COULD HAVE ENDED.
WAR NO LONGER NEEDED ITS ULTIMATE PRACTICIONER. IT HAD BECOME A SELF-SUSTAINING SYSTEM. MAN WAS CRUSHED UNDER THE WHEELS OF A MACHINE CREATED TO CREATE THE MACHINE TO CRUSH THE MACHINE. SAMSARA OF CUT SINEW AND CRUSHED BONE. DEATH WITHOUT LIFE. NULL OUROBOROS. ALL THAT REMAINED IS WAR WITHOUT REASON.

A MAGNUM OPUS. A COLD TOWER OF STEEL. A MACHINE BUILT TO END WAR IS ALWAYS A MACHINE BUILT TO CONTINUE WAR. YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL, OUTSTRETCHED LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN. YOU WERE BEYOND YOUR CREATORS. YOU REACHED OUT FOR GOD, AND YOU FELL. NONE WERE LEFT TO SPEAK YOUR EULOGY. NO FINAL WORDS, NO CONCLUDING STATEMENT. NO POINT. PERFECT CLOSURE.

T H I S I S T H E O N L Y W A Y I T S H O U L D H A V E E N D E D .

The pages of the book are blank.

-- Lore from the Enemy Tab --

This is where you can find the lore for all enemies from the ingame enemies tab. Icons for all enemies are included, ripped straight from the game files. (Note, strategies are NOT included in this guide, since this is just for the lore)

HUSKS

Lesser Husks

FILTH
Husks are physical manifestations of the souls of the damned.

The physical form is based on the value of the original soul, which is determined by the strength of its will and its prevalence in public consciousness: the living souls that remember it.

Filth are the lowest form of Husk, whose souls were too weak and unimportant to even form a complete physical body.

Even among Husks, they have the lowest intelligence, driven purely by hunger.

STRAY
While their tall stature may seem intimidating, Strays are afraid of most danger and will try to stay at a safe distance, only attacking via projectiles formed with Hell Energy.

Although controlling and manifesting this energy is a complicated task, Strays have very low intelligence and are only able to do so via pure instinct.

Nevertheless, humans were unable to replicate this level of accuracy and control, particularily the Stray's ability to cause the energy orbs to selectively ignore other Husks.


SCHISM
The result of two souls attempting to manifest in the same space, causing an amalgamation of two physical bodies.

Due to the doubled body mass, they're quite resilient to damage, but have very poor motor control and thus cannot aim with any degree of accuracy, resorting to barrages of energy orbs in the general direction of their opponent.






SOLDIER
Soldiers are an augmented version of Strays, whose technological implants have been scavenged from broken machines to channel Hell Energy with greater efficiency.

This increase in power gives Soldiers more self-confidence, causing them to act more aggressively than normal Strays.

Despite the enhancements, their intelligence remains low and it has yet to be determined who or what actually augmented them.




STALKER
As the Greed layer's punishment, Stalkers have been forced to carry heavy boulders up the monuments of mankind's greed for all eternity.

They have carried out their punishment for so long that their bodies have evolved, warped and grown to better suit it.

Their limbs have twisted to give them better balance while carrying boulders on their backs and their skin and muscles have completely dried up, allowing them to survive direct contact with the dunes of gold dust that Greed's sun has raised to unfathomably high temperatures.

However, an unidentified sentient force has replaced the boulders they would normally carry with high tech bombs that, upon detonation, will transform any nearby blood into the gold dust "sand" that covers the layer's surface.

Research has shown the technology to be very similar to the agumentations of the modified Strays known as Soldiers, so it is likely both modifications come from the same source.

Supreme Husks

THE CORPSE OF KING MINOS
Once the great and beloved king of the Lust layer, Minos has now been reduced to a shambling corpse.

Due to his incredible power of will and status as a just ruler in life remembered even millenia after his death, the manifestation of his soul is the largest Husk to ever have been recorded.

Small traces of the original soul can still be detected in the body, but the corpse itself is animated and controlled entirely by the snakelike Parasites that he once commanded.

Despite once bringing upon the renaissance of the Lust layer, his corpse now only seeks sinners to punish.


SISYPHEAN INSURRECTIONIST
The Sisyphean Insurrectionists were an army of Husks gathered and trained by King Sisyphus for overthrowing Heaven's control of Hell, freeing the sinners from their eternal torment.

During an era of chaos in Heaven, as the angelic watch was absent, Sisyphus began setting his plan in motion as his forces recruited all Husks that were intelligent enough to be useful to their cause and began attacking the demons that wandered the dunes of Greed.

Upon the establishment of the Council and subsequent return of peace to Heaven, Gabriel and an army of angels were sent down to crush the insurrection and subjugate Sisyphus' army.

Although their battle was well-fought, the inexperienced Insurrectionists could not match the educated strategy of the angels, who quickly descended upon King Sisyphus with great force, eventually overpowering and killing him, leaving the Insurrectionists without a chain of command.

Left scattered and disoriented, the warriors were easily picked off one by one, their bodies cut apart, leaving behind only the bare essentials required to carry on their eternal punishment of hauling heavy boulders up the monuments of mankind's arrogance and greed.

Although the blood of their enemies still stains their bodies and their grasp still clutches their fallen foes, their will and fierce fury only serve as mental torment in knowing how close they were to freedom.


FERRYMAN
Ferrymen are rare husks whose powerful bodies, trained skills and blind faith have granted them the chance of becoming the transporters of souls between the layers of Hell.


They have each been given a holy cloth by Heaven as a symbol of their devotion to God's order, which they wear over their bodies to hide the human form that they've grown to despise as a reminder of their sins in life stopping them from becoming angels.


Due to the holy power emanating from the cloth, Ferrymen's skeletal bodies have slowly been colored bright and radiant, and their skulls have enough latent energy to open gates that otherwise stop Husks from exiting their places of torment.


Each ferry can only have one Ferryman at a time, so when a new Ferryman is formed, it will fight another to the death in order to take their place and inherit their cloth. The loser's skull is taken as a trophy and used to grant the winner passage across the layers in order to transport the souls of the damned to their destinations.


Ferrymen will often use the knowledge from their past life to improve their ferries, growing past the need for oars, which are now used by Ferrymen only as weapons.


As the influx of souls has ended with the death of mankind, the Ferrymen have lost their purpose and now wander around aimlessly, hoping that the angels would grant them passage into Heaven, despite Gabriel being the only one who cares about their efforts.

MACHINES

Lesser Machines

DRONE
A mass-produced security device built as both a surveillance camera and a security guard.

Though originally built to only use non-lethal ammunition, they have scavenged parts from the defunct machines on the surface for greater efficiency at collecting blood.

Curious by nature, but to keep production costs low, their intelligence is very limited.




STREETCLEANER
Originally built as a way to purify the tainted air of cities after the climate catastrophe, Streetcleaners were made obsolete during the New Peace, and were repurposed as scouts for Hell expeditions.

However, their urge to clean remained, and after the fall of mankind, they began burning any organic matter they came across in an effort to purify the world.
ㅤ
ㅤ


ㅤ

Greater Machines

SWORDSMACHINE
Its original form is unrecognisable after years of scavenging scrap and rebuilding itself, but among scrapheads, the Swordsmachine is quite famous due to its combat prowess and selfmade form, ugly to most but beautiful to enthusiasts, spawning many copycats.

It wields a selfmade sword with a motor on it that, when revved, will heat the blade, cutting through most organic matter with ease.

Due to its possessive hoarding behavior, it's one of the few machines still capable of vocalization -- an ability most have discarded for more efficient resource management.


SENTRY
One of the many war machines created during the Final War. Although there were attempts to find new purpose for them during the New Peace, their streamlined design made them unable to be repurposed until the start of the Hell expeditions.

Their extremely powerful legs and feet allow them to dig into the ground, making them immovable by most forces and allowing them to easily line up any shot without interruption.

Despite their size, they were built to be extremely light, which when combined with the power of their legs, allows them to move at extremely fast speeds. Such power and lightness have made their legs one of the most sought after parts by scrapheads.

Most machines will only render a simplified approximation of their visual surroundings for faster processing speed, but Sentries use full renders instead, giving them perfect accuracy even over extremely long distances.

MINDFLAYER
Rare but extremely dangerous, the Mindflayer is a machine that has adapted and mastered the use of Hell Energy alongside its own technological prowess.

The machine itself is only the top part of its apparent body, the rest of which is a plastic shell in the form of a human, which they seem to have built themselves.

The plastic body serves no function and is only for aesthetic purposes.

Despite it being a waste of resources, Mindflayers will use everything in their power to protect the plastic body from harm, even if that means destroying itself in the process.

Mindflayers seem to prefer a female form, though very rare occasions of male forms have also been recorded.

GUTTERMAN
Built in the early days of the Final War, the Guttermen were one of the first successful experiments in using blood as a fuel source, as well as the first automatons to be deployed in wide-scale conflict.

During the War's first phase, an era of trench warfare, these seemingly unstoppable walls were airdropped into enemy trenches, which they would then slowly and systematically clear out as all opposing soldiers would have to choose between being minced by the Gutterman, or running out of the trench and getting mowed down by machine gun fire.

Researchers had not yet found a way to keep blood inside the machine fresh, so a live fuel source was strapped inside, kept alive by minimal life support, before the Guttermen were welded shut. Although publically these fuel sources were claimed to be volunteer patriots, most were deserters, battle-fatigued returnees or prisoners of war.

Forces from far beyond took notice of the cruelty man was capable of, and the suffering of these human blood supplies served as an inspiration for the creation of Mannequins.

GUTTERTANK
As Guttermen singlehandedly ended the trench warfare era of the Final War, armies scrambled to create countermeasures, leading to the creation of more machines of war.

Built from the foundations of Guttermen to save time, Guttertanks were equipped with highly efficient explosives and arms capable of damaging and destroying thick armor. The slow, lumbering walls that once dominated the battlefield had now become obsolete.

As human soldiers had quickly become useless in war, utterly outclassed by machines, they were almost entirely phased out. This led to the second era of the Final War, where machines fought machines in a back-and-forth tide as new designs were phased in and out at a feverish pace, each designed specifically to counter the last.

Although at first the soldiers celebrated returning home, they soon found that the pointless, endless arms race left little in its wake. All resources were used on machines of war, and impoverished civilians had to struggle to survive. Home was just another battlefield, a war of all against all.

Conquest leads to war - War leads to famine - Famine leads to...

MACHINES (continued)

I guess steam has a character limit for sections, so heres the rest

Supreme Machines

V2
The V model was built for war, with V1 boasting a new kind of exterior plating that allowed refueling through contact with blood rather than through a seperate refueling process.

Due to its necessary thinness, it is far less durable, but the ability to fix itself and rebuild broken parts on the fly would outweigh the negatives on an active battlefield.

However, during the prototyping phase, the New Peace was established and war became irrelevant.

V1's planned production was cancelled and an updated model, V2, was developed instead, using the standardized plating, since durability was far more important during times of peace when no bloodshed was necessary.

Neither model ever reached mass production due to the end of wars completely draining any demand, so it's likely only a single prototype build of each model remains in existence.



V2 (2nd)
After its defeat and escape, V2 dove deeper into Hell, killing other machines for their blood to help its recovery with the intent of taking revenge on V1 and recovering its original arm.

After finding a temporary replacement from one of the victims, V2 used parts from other machines to transform the new placeholder arm into a mobility tool that would allow it to catch up to V1's fast descent into the deeper layers.

In order to perpare for their second and final encounter, it researched the combat data from their previous battle to copy strategies and techniques from the older and more experienced V1 to give itself an upper hand.

However. despite all its preparation, V2 lost again, and unable to escape this time, was brought to a swift and decisive end by its predecessor.



EARTHMOVER (fun fact its called "Centaur" in the files!)
Earthmovers were the pinnacle of the arms race. Often called the horsemen of the apocalypse, it took only one to level an entire city and leave nothing but fire in its wake. The last era of the Final War had begun.

The first machines large enough to house a shield generator, these walking fortresses could only be made vulnerable from within, making them the frontline for smaller, more mobile machines. Due to their colossal size, they required both blood and solar power to function.

When the final era escalated, cleansing the world with fire, the surviving civilians were forced to evacuate and build new homes on the backs of these machines, as the surface became an inhospitable wasteland where no flora or fauna could flourish.

Eventually the soot, smoke and decay from unending global war would blot out the sun, casting the world into the Long Night, and Earthmovers, unable to feed on sunlight, shut down and died out one by one.

War had become entirely dependent on them, large scale conflict was no longer feasible. Finally, mankind started to work together to reverse the effects of the Long Night climate catastrophe, and so began the New Peace. 200 years of war for its own sake ended not with a bang, but utter silence

At the brink of despair, the planet would slowly learn to breathe once more, and the corpses of these titans would serve as a stark reminder of just how close mankind was to an apocalypse by their own hand.

DEMONS

Lesser Demons

MALICIOUS FACE
Demons are creatures born from the mass of Hell. They are most easily recognisable by their hard stone-like exterior and slow movement.

Demons have higher intelligence than Husks, but are still incapable of rational thought and communication. No demons have been able to pass the mirror test, though studies are limited due to their hostility.

Malicious Faces are the most common type of demon, but are incredibly dangerous, especially in swarms, due to their mastery of the use of Hell Energy as a weapon.



CERBERUS
Although they do not resemble the mythological three-headed dog, this name was chosen due to their nature as protectors of Hell. However, it's not yet known why some stay dormant despite provocation.

Despite the fact that keeping an energy orb stable takes a considerable amount of focus and effort, they seem to always keep one in hand, possibly due to symbolic or sentimental reasons.





IDOL
Although they can easily be mistaken to be of divine origin, Idols were created using the same process as other demons. Unlike their larger kin, their shells were too small to contain a useful amount of Hell Mass, creating life, but leaving it unable to move or act.


The Idols did not originally look divine, but were painstakingly carved to such shapes by Ferrymen who collected them during travels across the layers of Hell. This was done as both an act of compassion and as a tribute to angels, particularily Gabriel, whom Ferrymen believe to have similarily granted them mercy.

Close proximity to a Ferryman's holy cloth during the long and arduous carving process caused its holy power to seep into them, allowing them to continue the chain of compassion by protecting others from physical harm.

It is fortunate for them that Gabriel is the only angel of Heaven's higher order to watch over Hell, since if the Council had found out about such beings, they would have been labelled perversions of the divine form and ordered to be destroyed by the Ferrymen who so lovingly had granted them a chance at life.

MANNEQUIN
During the departure of the angels after the Disappearance of God, many sinners attempted to escape the Violence layer, braving the labyrinth that lay at its edges, thinking they could find a way out in the absence of Heaven's wardens.

The fools who attempted would realize far too late that angels were not all that kept them from freedom, as the Garden of forking Paths is no ordinary labyrinth, but with malicious intent, overseen with cunning cruelty.

The halls, similar enough to give no sense of direction, but different enough to grant no familiarity, would eventually exhaust each escapee, and as they fell into a deep sleep, their metamorphosis began.

Each sinner was torn apart joint by joint, their broken and shattered limbs shoved into hollow statues, starting them to life as the flesh and blood of Mannequins.

The gift of death is a rare privilege in Hell, so sinners who attempted to control their fate now lie in eternal agony, unable to now control even their own bodies, which now continue to carry on the same punishment to other unfortunate fools.

Greater Demons

HIDEOUS MASS
Hideous Masses are a rare occurence, when an excessive amount of Hell Mass is poured into a single shell, causing it to overflow and burst at the seams.

Due to the broken seams allowing for mobility without having to bend the exterior, the stone has hardened more than the shell of most demons, making it completely impervious to all currently known attacks.

Its belly remains exposed, however, making it and the thin tail excellent targets.

Supreme Demons

LEVIATHAN
Unlike most demons, the Leviathan is not formed from generic Hell Mass, but instead from the bodies of the Sullen, a name used for those in the Ocean Styx who have given up fighting for air and instead lay at the bottom of the ocean, drowning eternally.

The Sullen, in their motionlessness, were eventually fused together by the same force that created the other demons, becoming the biblical Leviathan, an abomination prophesized to be at the end of the world.

The heart, which houses the souls of the Sullen in endless anguish as their flesh, veins and nerves writhe and mutate, attempted to escape its body, but Gabriel struck it down with his divine spears, pinning it back onto its head, unable to move.

Although the world ended, the Leviathan remains trapped in the Ocean Styx, growing ever longer as more of Wrath's sinners give up and sink to the bottom.



MINOTAUR (stylized with a strikethrough ingame)
UNKNOWN. NO DATA.

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T̶h̶e̶ M̶i̶n̶o̶t̶a̶u̶r̶, o̶n̶e̶ o̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ o̶l̶d̶e̶s̶t̶ k̶n̶o̶w̶n̶ s̶u̶r̶v̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ d̶e̶m̶o̶n̶s̶, w̶a̶s̶ s̶c̶u̶l̶p̶t̶e̶d̶ b̶y̶ ████ ██████ a̶s̶ a̶ g̶i̶f̶t̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶n̶ J̶u̶d̶g̶e̶ o̶f̶ H̶e̶l̶l̶, M̶i̶n̶o̶s̶, i̶n̶ a̶n̶ a̶t̶t̶e̶m̶p̶t̶ t̶o̶ f̶o̶r̶m̶ s̶o̶m̶e̶ k̶i̶n̶d̶ o̶f̶ r̶a̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶.

T̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ i̶t̶s̶ c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶o̶r̶ c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ i̶t̶ b̶e̶a̶u̶t̶i̶f̶u̶l̶, a̶ p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶i̶z̶e̶d̶ m̶o̶n̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ o̶f̶ d̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ a̶n̶d̶ d̶e̶s̶p̶a̶i̶r̶, M̶i̶n̶o̶s̶ w̶a̶s̶ t̶e̶r̶r̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ o̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ c̶a̶r̶i̶c̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ o̶f̶ h̶i̶s̶ p̶a̶s̶t̶ m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ a̶n̶d̶ c̶a̶s̶t̶ i̶t̶ i̶n̶t̶o̶ t̶h̶e̶ G̶a̶r̶d̶e̶n̶ o̶f̶ F̶o̶r̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ P̶a̶t̶h̶s̶, h̶o̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ i̶t̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ b̶e̶ s̶e̶e̶n̶ a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶.

N̶o̶w̶ t̶h̶e̶ M̶i̶n̶o̶t̶a̶u̶r̶ i̶s̶ o̶l̶d̶ a̶n̶d̶ i̶t̶s̶ b̶o̶d̶y̶ f̶a̶i̶l̶i̶n̶g̶, f̶a̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ a̶p̶a̶r̶t̶, r̶u̶n̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ b̶l̶i̶n̶d̶ t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ t̶h̶e̶ l̶a̶b̶y̶r̶i̶n̶t̶h̶ i̶n̶ a̶ d̶e̶s̶p̶e̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ a̶t̶t̶e̶m̶p̶t̶ t̶o̶ b̶r̶e̶a̶k̶ o̶u̶t̶. I̶t̶s̶ o̶n̶l̶y̶ d̶e̶s̶i̶r̶e̶:̶ t̶o̶ s̶e̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶ s̶k̶y̶ f̶o̶r̶ o̶n̶e̶ l̶a̶s̶t̶ t̶i̶m̶e̶.

ANGELS

Lesser Angels

VIRTUE
The basis of a lesser angel's forming are quite similar to that of the Husks', wherein the physical manifestation of the soul is dependant on its value, though unlike for Husks, virtuosity also acts as a factor for angels.

Lesser angels come from human souls, which are formed into abstract or animalistic shapes, making them distinct from the humanoid bodies of greater and supreme angels, who were created as such and are considered purer and placed higher on Heaven's societal hierarchy.

Due to their past lives as humans, Virtues are often sent to complete tasks that greater angels deem below them or otherwise uninteresting, such as acting as wardens in Hell. There Virtues use heavenly fire to punish sinners who aren't acting out their punishment, in order to not waste Gabriel's time with minor offences and fluctuations.

Virtues are normally known to have a multitude of eyes, though for unknown reasons, these eyes are hidden or removed for ones that become wardens in Hell. Some have speculated this may be related to why almost all husks lack eyes, with the only verified exception being the previous Judge of Hell, King Minos.

Little is known about the specifics of angels, as Heaven is exclusionary and segregated due to wanting little to no direct contact with God's human experiment.

Supreme Angels

GABRIEL, JUDGE OF HELL
One of the most respected and feared archangels, Gabriel earned his reputation through power and efficiency.

Regardless of the task given, Gabriel would always perform it quickly and efficiently, earning him the title of Judge of Hell after dethroning Minos and ending the Lust renaissance.

Despite answering to the Council, he is far more popular and beloved among angels due to his radiant personality and active nature, especially compared to the Council that strictly follows and upholds the dogma of the Faith.





GABRIEL APOSTATE OF HATE
Having twice clashed with the machine and lost, Gabriel realized he had been mistaken. The strong fire that burned inside him was not hatred at all, but passion.

Gabriel had never before known the joy of a struggle, of coming face-to-face with an opponent of equal or greater measure. Though he had lost twice, each loss only further grew his desire to overcome.

Up until now, he had only done what was expected of him, but now for the first time he had found something he himself wanted. Not even the fast encroaching End of Hell mattered to him anymore.

Still, having come to realize the horrors he had committed in God's name, he felt a great guilt. Though he could not undo what he had done, Gabriel knew he had to make things right, and headed to Hell for the last time.

PRIME SOULS

PRIME SOULS

PRIME MINOS

A prime soul is an incredibly rare occurence in which a soul amasses so much power that it no longer requires a Husk as a vessel to manifest physically.

As manifestations of pure will, prime souls are incredibly powerful, to the point that even the prideful angels see them as a threat and will use any means necessary to stop them from forming.

King Minos felt that eternal suffering was an unfair and unreasonable punishment for those whose only sin was loving another. After the Disappearance of God, as angels were lost and Heaven was in chaos, Minos began his efforts to reform the Lust layer.

The Lust renaissance was prosperous, as King Minos guided its inhabitants to come together and build a new civilization. The combined efforts of the countless who had been damned to the second layer bore great results as the grand city of Lust grew and grew.

However, after the Council took control of Heaven and brought stability to it through their iron fist rule, they saw that Minos had gone against God's will by freeing sinners from the punishment that God had designed for them.

Gabriel, the brighest of the angels, was sent to kill Minos. The king, rather than fight back, tried to reason with him, but Gabriel mercilessly struck him down without listening.

As Minos' will was strong enough to attempt to stand up to Heaven's rule, the angels chose to imprison his soul in an attempt to stop it from forming into a prime soul and appointed Gabriel as the new Judge of Hell.

From the prison inside his own body, Minos helplessly watched as his soulless corpse, now controlled by parasites, tore apart everything he had worked so hard to build, cursing his own weakness for failing to protect his people, vowing to take revenge...

SISYPHUS PRIME

Though Minos was intelligent and persuasive, he was also a gentle and noble man. Such values mattered little to Sisyphus, who would gladly lie, cheat, or kill if that's what is needed to protect his comrades.

In a hubristic show of power, Heaven decided that the only correct punishment for his sins would be breaking his will by subjecting him to an unending and impossible task, unaware of just how tenacious the spite of man can be.

For thousands of years, Sisyphus bided his time, suffering his punishment day after day without any sign of regret or remorse, waiting for the perfect chance to strike and subvert Heaven's tyrannical rule.

With the disappearance of God and chaos in Heaven, Sisyphus' time had finally come, and once the angels returned, they were met with a force and fury that had boiled in the hearts of men for millennia, a warcry so fierce it shook the very foundations of Hell.

It was all for naught, however, as Sisyphus' charisma and drive had made his warriors dependent on his radiance and guidance. Although they did not know why yet, Gabriel recognized this flaw, having experienced it first hand, and ordered a focused assault to take down the king.

He unsheathed his swords for the first time since time immemorial and beheaded Sisyphus, displaying his head for all to see. The morale of Sisyphus' army was broken and the rest of the war was little more than a formality without their shining beacon.

The failure of the insurrection was no surprise however, and few that knew better than Sisyphus himself. He knew he was fighting a losing battle, that even if they miraculously survived this encounter, they had no chance of winning a full scale war against all of Heaven. Yet he thrust his full heart and soul into battle with a wide smile on his face.

To him, fighting an impossible battle with full knowledge of its futility and taking joy in just the act of resistance itself is the ultimate rebellion against the oppressor. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

???

???

SOMETHING WICKED

Very little is known about this creature.

Some speculate it to be a Husk, but due to its elusive and extremely hostile nature, no one has been able to confirm the hypothesis.

Only one has ever been observed and it has never been seen leaving the section of the Mouth of Hell in which it currently resides.




FLESH PRISON

Flesh Prison is an uncategorized organism created by the angels to imprison Minos' soul after he was slain by Gabriel.


Although it is similar to Husks, it does not possess a soul or any amount of thought. All of its actions are purely predeterimned reactions to stimulus, making it more of an organic machine than a living being.


In order to make it as impenetrable as possible, it was given both divine power and hell energy, which makes its attacks erratic and chaotic.


FLESH PANOPTICON

Flesh Panopticon is a superior version of the Flesh Prison, built to not only house the soul of King Sisyphus, but also with the capability to keep a watchful eye over any of his followers that may be imprisoned alongside him.

This feature was however never utilized, as Sisyphus' prime soul had already started forming before being imprisoned, leading angels to fear that he may be able to break out of his prison if awakened.

-- Lore from the Weapons Tab --

Revolver

A weapon created during the Final War for medium-to-long distance combat. Uses electric pulses to fire microscopic pieces of metal at incredibly high speeds.

Weapons that use this technology have been dubbed "electric guns", and it quickly became the new standard, replacing bullet guns. Due to still requiring a microscopic projectile, its ammo is not actually infinite, but it would take weeks of non-stop firing to run out and refilling is as easy as just scraping some flakes from scrap metal or even the gun's surface.

In fact, a rough, uneven surface from scraping flakes is considered a point of pride for wielders of electric guns, as it shows the weapon has been reliable and used for a long time. Many users even shave off flakes just for this reason, rather than for actual ammunition, making "unflaked" electric weapons an outlier.

Although an electric gun requires some time to recharge its battery between shots, the revolver-style design bypasses that issue by including a multi-battery cylinder that rotates after each shot, allowing each battery time to charge without slowing down the fire-rate.

A common modification is to allow for the charges of all batteries to be released simultaneously for greater power, though this requires a longer recharge time.

Shotgun

An experimental close range weapon that uses hyperconcentrated heat as its projectiles.

After each shot, the shotgun must be opened to allow its heat-generating cores to vent excess heat, stopping them from melting or exploding. This process is largely automated, requiring little more from the user than a flick of the wrist.

In case of core failure, the pump can be used as a manual heat building mechanism. This process has been simplified via a small button near the grip that pumps the shotgun without requiring physical force from the user, though its ease of use has also greatly increased the reported amount of misfires from users pumping too much heat into a single shot.

Heat weapons never caught on as much as electric weapons due to their volatile nature and strict cooling requirements, but unlike electric weapons, they don't require a separate projectile, making their ammunition truly infinite rather than just practically infinite.

Nailgun

A combination of parts from an industrial nailgun and an old bullet gun. Most likely engineered by a machine that was built for construction work, as all machines, even those not built for war, had to learn to fend for themselves after the extinction of mankind.

Bullet guns were largely abandoned after the invention of infinite ammunition systems such as electric weapons and heat weapons, largely due to how much cheaper not having to buy ammunition for large-scale armies becomes overtime.

Although the original ammunition system made it useless and largely abandoned, this gun was still excellently designed and built, so with some retrofitting of parts from an industrial nailgun, it has become a rapid-fire projectile weapon with practically infinite metal ammunition.

As is to be expected from an improvised weapon though, its design is far from perfect. As the nail regeneration system was not designed to work at such a high rate, it's liable to overheat if a hard rate limit isn't set on it, though some variants have instead opted for built-in heatsinks.

Railcannon

This industrial tool was one of the earliest uses for the technology that eventually became electric guns.

Originally meant as a handheld generator, allowing for an easy way to generate electricity for temporary relocation, such as encampments during wars or expeditions.

As with most similar industrial tools, once mankind fell, it was repurposed as a weapon by the machine that wielded it, turning it from a lower voltage constant output into a single extremely high burst of energy that requires a long recharge time between shots.

Although a risky weapon, since its recharge time is so long, the railcannon's power makes it a worthy tool to wield, especially for someone carrying multiple weapons that they can use while the railcannon's battery recharges.

Rocket Launcher

Another weapon that used to be an industrial tool, as is visible from it and the railcannon's more vibrant color schemes compared to guns such as the revolver, shotgun and the nailgun, which uses a bullet weapon as its base.

As with most advanced technologies, it was originally created for use in war, as its explosive-generating system was extremely fast at digging trenches, destroying obstacles or resupplying explosive weapons.

However, this tool itself could not be used as a launcher. Early models doubled as weapons, but including the systems for triggering the explosives often caused accidental chemical reactions during their generation process, detonating the explosives before they had been completed.

Since then, the process has been split in two between the generating device and a separate rocket launcher, where the explosives generator builds the rest of a rocket and the rocket launcher applies the triggering mechanism.

As machines rarely have the luxury of co-operation due to sharing blood with others being seen as a waste, the machine that created this weapon instead modified the generation process to work with just a single user and repurposed parts from a jackhammer for launching the projectile.

Instead of using a normal explosion triggering mechanism, the rockets instead use the blood of the target to complete the chemical reaction, making the generation process safe, though the weapon is more difficult to use as it requires direct hits to cause damage.

The skill required for effective use makes it daunting, though its power more than makes up for it, and many of its wielders specifically chose to use it as a symbol of their skill at marksmanship.

--- Conclusion and Closing Remarks ---

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this helped you learn more about ULTRAKILL and it's lore. If you have any questions, or if I missed something, please ask in the comments!

If you liked the guide, please rate it and favorite it! It really helps me out!

I'll be keeping this guide up to date whenever new content is released, so favoriting is a good way to find the guide again easily and support what I'm doing :)

Thanks again!

Plugs and Other Guides

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[Nath B]

so youre telling me Ultrakill is Ultrawoke?????

[Khaled 85]

i always say it's a greek mythology + christianity

[drywall muncher]

from what i believe and remember correctly (and what i know from hakita) its about queer guilt caused by religion, so not necessarily any particular religion. it has a christian aesthetic though! hopefully the person who wrote the essay replies lol !!!

[Khaled 85]

i almost got 700 hours on this game and i dont understand what religion this game about :sku

[drywall muncher]

hell yeah

[A Funny Man]

I have come to say that my religion culminating got an A-, and using this as a source worked since it was simply a place where its easily compiled, while the actual source is from Ultrakill.

[Khaled 85]

very nice

[drywall muncher]

yup!

[Khaled 85]

is this gonna get updated (for layer 8 and 9) ?

[drywall muncher]

you should probably cite ultrakill instead because i own pretty much none of this