Ultraviolent FPS Game is Blowing Up on Steam

ULTRAKILL just broke its concurrent player count record on Steam after launching the long-awaited Fraud update, which is earning rave reviews from thousands of players. The last major content update for ULTRAKILL to add a new Layer arrived in 2023, though the game has continued rolling out patches and new features since day one. In February 2025, for example, it released the ULTRA_REVAMP update, improving the game both visually and technically.

That said, the Fraud Layer has been the most anticipated update over the past two years. And now that it’s finally live, players are rushing in to check it out, filling the servers with thousands at once. Interest in New Blood Interactive’s gory first-person shooter has been so intense that ULTRAKILL‘s secret room in the Fraud Layer was uncovered just hours after launch, with spoilers quickly spreading across the internet right now.

ULTRAKILL Breaks All-Time Player Count Record with the Latest Update

Shortly after the Fraud Layer update went live, ULTRAKILL‘s concurrent player count on Steam surged, shattering its previous record by nearly 157%. According to SteamDB data, on February 25, the beloved horror-themed boomer shooter peaked at over 71,000 concurrent players, a huge jump from its previous high of 28,000 in 2023. The spike in players also translated into stronger sales, with ULTRAKILL ranking among the top 40 bestsellers on Steam at the time of writing.

The Fraud Layer introduces ULTRAKILL‘s eighth main biome, sending players to a strange floor of Hell where “nothing can be trusted.” Like the previous Layers, Fraud draws inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, but this time it leans into visual trickery as its defining twist. The update features Inception-style rotating rooms, forcing players to walk along walls and even ceilings to progress. Without spoiling too much, many areas also play out like elaborate illusion chambers.

Image via New Blood Interactive

In terms of gameplay, ULTRAKILL‘s February update does not change much. The revamped level design, however, adds an extra layer of challenge and makes progression more complex overall, which should not come as a surprise to fans of the ultraviolent FPS. In a 2024 interview, developer Hakita explained that each new Layer tends to become progressively more complicated. He said it is not a deliberate attempt to outdo previous stages, but something that happens naturally. “It’s not like a conscious choice, like, oh, we are going to make this level more complex and intricate than the previous levels. But it happens naturally,” he noted.

Fans Seem to Love the Fraud Layer

Image via New Blood Interactive

“Absolutely love this masterpiece of a game,” one Steam user wrote about the new ULTRAKILL update. Another commented, “ULTRAKILL was one of the best FPS games I played, now it’s the best FPS I have ever played.” These are just a few examples of the many rave reviews the Steam indie title has received since the February update.

In less than 24 hours after the Fraud Layer’s launch, ULTRAKILL gained over 1,800 new reviews on Steam, averaging 96% positive. And both the recent and all-time review sections now show overwhelmingly positive ratings, a notable achievement.

Now the ULTRAKILL Fandom Is Waiting for the Treachery Layer

Image via New Blood Interactive

Following the success of the Fraud update, attention is already shifting to ULTRAKILL‘s next major content release, Layer 9, which will focus on treachery. Fans have shared countless theories about what this new biome might look like. But based on the Fraud update, two things seem likely: development will take time, and the depiction of Hell’s final floor will be difficult to predict before launch.

Systems

Released

September 3, 2020

Developer(s)

Arsi “Hakita” Patala

Publisher(s)

New Blood Interactive

Engine

Unity

Number of Players

Single-player

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