After V1 defeats Gabriel for the first time, Gabe has God's light ripped out of his body and he has 24 hours to defeat V1 in turn or else he'll die. The paintings of him in the Greed Layer
◊ are vandalized and have "TRAITOR" scrawled on them with his face crossed out. Off-screen, Gabe was exiled from the council, so the removal of God's light is a moot point for him since he essentially doesn't need it anymore. When Gabriel eventually fights V1 again (and inevitably loses), he stops floating and doubles over in pain... only to get up again, in his new, more powerful, and more wrathful fallen angel form. At that point onwards, Fallen Angel Gabriel becomes a Recurring Boss, V1's "rival".
- Confirmed. Sort of. Gabriel survives his rematch with V1, but he still only has hours left to live. As for the fallen angel part, he does turn against Heaven... by murdering the rest of the Council and running his own crusade into Hell for his last stand against V1.
Think about it. This is a dying world, robots are unstoppable and literally bloodthirsty, and they're slaughtering everything for the precious yet limited resource that is blood, including their fellow machines. By the time V1 defeated Treachery's boss, they will be the last living robot and the last living being. Then the game cuts to V1 Dying Alone as they slowly lose whatever fuel they have left, leaving Earth and the afterlife as husks of their former selves.
The Ferryman is unlike any other enemy we've encountered before, being almost fully skeletal yet dressed in holy garb. Lore from the Virtue's database entry mentions that Greater and above Angels have the ability to manifest as humanoids. The Ferryman also has a very clear halo motif in his back decoration, which resembles a broken halo. He also appears to have authority in Wrath, with a portrait of him and captaining the Ship of Fools.
What rules him out being a husk is that he is bigger than most other husks, yet is only skeletal. However, husks around his size at least have some flesh; the Ferryman has none. He is also significantly more competent than husks, with intelligent and practiced fighting style using his oar.
- Jossed. The Ferryman is a Husk, albeit one of Supreme rank and granted holy power through devotion to God.
Why else would they be so determined to reach the bottom? Either that or there's a source of blood they know that's down there that's either infinite, or near-infinite. It's entirely self-serving either way; they killed all life on Earth, but they need life on Earth to live. So, to fix their major fuck-up of destroying their only sustainable source of fuel, they'd need to go to the afterlife and bring back said life, and maybe hopefully not drive it extinct this time.
This would also explain why soul orbs unlock things in the terminals; after all, it's not like V1 has one of their own to sell.
- Probably Jossed as of P-2. The reason the terminals do what they do (play music, give better weapons in exchange for points, why points exist to begin with) is entirely because they're 'bored', and in exchange for entertaining combat data (RE: The kind of stunts an ULTRAKILL player will do) will provide upgrades to capable machines. As for the soul orbs, they could just be deriving entertainment from watching V1 find them.
- Regarding knowledge from the ARG, the terminals could still be influenced by Hell itself since it also has similar goals: entertainment, albeit Hell has a mile-long streak of sadism.
Although the Prime Sanctums aren't canon to the story mode continuity, they demonstrate that V1's strength is comparable to a Prime Soul, while no other Machine could even make it past Gabriel. Furthermore, V1 is rapidly collecting Soul Orbs.
It makes sense from a consistency perspective.
- Seemingly Confirmed by the title of P-2, Wait of the World.
- Confirmed. Prepare to Die.
- 0-S: A horror game that ties into the fear of the unknown, and could possibly parallel the Vestibule from the The Divine Comedy.
- 1-S: A puzzle game akin to The Witness, playing into the eventual boredom amongst the fake serenity of Limbo.
- 2-S: A Dating Sim game that makes a major shout-out to the genre and its infamy for Fanservice with an anti-nihilist message that plays into King Minos's lore and the renaissance period for Lust.
- 4-S: A major shout-out to Crash Bandicoot, a game that awards greedy gameplay and has collectibles that play into Greed's themes.
- 5-S: A Fishing Minigame that plays into the massive watery environment of Wrath.
That leaves us the first two layers of Godfist Suicide: Violence and Fraud. This makes me wonder what exactly we'll be in for.
- 7-S: One of the most prominent environments in Violence is a forest where those who committed suicide are turned into trees. This could possibly be:
- An Assassin's Creed-style stealth level where you try to kill a target without getting caught.
- A shout-out to Undertale that plays into or against the themes of violence in the circle depending on your choice.
- A Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up in the likes of Donpachi that shows the horrors of war and human nature, assuming the layer is military-themed.
- A painting minigame based on the nature of Violence proper in the game.
- All jossed. The secret minigame is a Powerwash Simulator shout-out.
- 8-S: A large part of Fraud is that it takes place in what appears to be an underground amphitheater made of stone. Perhaps this one could be a rhythm game akin to DanceDanceRevolution?
- Lucifer Prime: The first being to betray God in the Divine Comedy, and is mentioned in Testament IV.
- Brutus Prime: One of the three greatest betrayers in the Divine Comedy, giving the highest (dis)honor of being tortured by Lucifer himself.
- Medusa Prime: Playing on the Greek roots of the previous bosses, P-3 will be Medusa Prime.
- Cain Prime: The Biblical first murderer, possibly having achieved a position of authority within Violence.
- Leonidas Prime: Continuing the tradition of Greek kings with the previous bosses, Leonidas would be fought in the secret room in Treachery, considering Leonidas died from a betrayal of one of his own men.
- Agamemnon Prime: One of the most horrific non-deity figures from Greek history, Agamemnon was known for doing particularly awful things during his reign. Perhaps he'll be made somehow even worse in this game.
- Adam Prime: The Biblical first man, who had betrayed God's trust with his consumption of the forbidden fruit. If Minos was furious at V1 for its role in humanity's extinction, imagine how the father of mankind must feel. He could also be a Dual Boss alongside Eve.
- Prometheus Prime: A third Greek mythological figure, Prometheus had betrayed the gods by stealing their fire and giving it to humanity. Maybe the "fire" in the context of ULTRAKILL could be something that would've won Sisyphus' war against Heaven, although whatever it was (intelligence on Heaven's weaknesses, a divine superweapon, or something else entirely) has likely been rendered necessary with Gabriel killing the Council.
- Nimrod Prime: The Biblical king of Shinar
, he was the first (and likely only) human to directly rebel against God Himself through constructing the Tower of Babel to reach Heaven. He also has a presence in the Divine Comedy, as a giant chained to the outer edge of the Treachery circle. The level leading up to his boss fight could also involve ascending the ruins of his tower. - Judas Prime: The quintessential icon of betrayal, Judas sold out Jesus to the Romans for thirty pieces of silver. Since he had done this by kissing him on the cheek and that he hanged himself after realizing what he had done, his actions fall under Violence, Fraud (the second Bolgia of Fraud in the Divine Comedy is reserved for flatterers), and Treachery.
- Odysseus Prime: Another Greek king, and one that's actually in the original Inferno. And, even more than Minos or even Sisyphus, Odysseus has well over a book's worth of iconography and legends to draw from, so he wouldn't be hard to re-interpret.
- "CHAOS" is already taken by Flesh Prison. "Heaven Pierce Her" isn't part of the title, it's the pseudonym of the musician.
- Outcast of Heaven
- Heretic of Treachery
- Smouldering Warrior
- Soul of Cinders
This brings into focus just how utterly terrible it is that these machines run on blood. Humanity, in their hubris, made machines of war to kill each other, and used what makes up their own soul to fuel them. This was the final straw for God, what made Him abandon Heaven, and truly give up on His creations. The machines are blasphemous abominations, a theological threat to God and His kingdom, zombified war machines running on the spark of divinity to mindlessly and gluttonously devour any being they can get their hands on. God is disgusted, ashamed, and perhaps even fearful for this devouring swarm that resulted from His experiment of free will. It's why Gabriel views V1 and the machines as so deeply blasphemous, lowly, and despicable. "Your crime is existence" indeed.
- Blood is not a combustible after all.
But in the Ultrakill universe, it's easy to tell that God very much does not love humanity just from the terminal entries alone, so the circle reserved for the traitorous...might have been shaped differently since it's no longer symbolically tied to being the furthest zone from God.
In their second battle in 4-4, V2 adds Green weapon variants (here, being the Marksman Revolver and the Overheat Nailgun). By this pattern, it's likely that whoever will take their place in 7-4 (since they're presumed dead until otherwise) will use Red weapon variants...which could lead to a gameplay form of Fridge Horror, given that the only Red weapon variants available as of the Back to the Cyber Grind update is the Sharpshooter Revolver (a downright game-breaking ricochet-centered weapon, especially in enclosed spaces) and the Malicious Railcannon (which deals POWERFUL splash damage on its own, and can even be combined with the Core Eject to downright double the hurt), Oh no...
- Seemingly Jossed. The colossal Centaur-like robots first seen in 7-2 seem to be the layer bosses of Violence, possibly as a Wolfpack Boss.
- Jossed. Violence's layer boss is one of the Centaur-like robots, the Earthmover.
- Big Johninator, a Joke Boss whose AI is based on V2, does use the Malicious Face's explosive laser, the same attack as the Red Railcannon, though.
- Jossed. Violence's layer boss is one of the Centaur-like robots, the Earthmover.
- Ring 1: Violence against neighbors
- Ring 2: Violence against the self (more commonly known as suicide)
- Ring 3: Violence against God, Art and Nature
Fraud is divided into ten Bolgias:
- Bolgia 1: Panderers and seducers
- Bolgia 2: Flatterers
- Bolgia 3: Simoniacs
- Bolgia 4: Sorcerers
- Bolgia 5: Barrators
- Bolgia 6: Hypocrites
- Bolgia 7: Thieves
- Bolgia 8: Counsellors of Fraud
- Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord
- Bolgia 10: Falsifiers
And lastly, Treachery is divided into four rounds:
- Round 1: Caina
- Round 2: Antenora
- Round 3: Ptolemaea
- Round 4: Judecca
With all this in the last three circles, it would make sense for V1 to go through 5 Acts (Possibly more considering the sheer number of Fraud's Bolgias) instead of Act 3 just consisting of three Circles of Hell like the last two.
- Jossed. A shot from the 7-1 preview shows Violence and Fraud having 4 levels and Treachery having 2 levels, just like all the other layers from the previous Acts. Plus, it's very unlikely for a mostly solo developer. Instead, it might be one chapter of Epilogue, mirroring the Prelude and showcasing what happens after descending down (and getting through?) Hell.
- 0-S: A Survival Horror level, with a Beast in the Maze said to have no survivors from, which unfortunately fails given that V1 can keep it at bay long enough to escape.
- 1-S: A Breather Level primarily starring a bunch of puzzles to solve, but unfortunately the low puzzle count that would make the sinners inside go mad makes the whole thing a walk in the park for V1.
- 2-S: A Visual Novel that features a Distaff Counterpart to V1 themself, which starts diving into Existential Horror territory seemingly to make V1 stop dead on an emotional level. Unfortunately, somehow, V1 makes it out.
- 4-S: A platformer level with freak Fake Difficulty in play (in how V1's airy mobility becomes a hindrance in this level) and V1 being reduced to being a One-Hit-Point Wonder. V1 gets away like how it would normally would, through slaughter and movement, only in a different way.
- 5-S: A serene Fishing Minigame that's more extensive than 1-S, both to lull V1 into a sense of calm, and a set of fishing quests that veer increasingly into Guide Dang It! territory, to keep V1 from getting out of the level. But...V1 somehow figures out stuff like fishing in oil and finding a pool of blood under another pool of blood, and so that's rendered moot.
, the song teaser for one 7-1. Both songs sound eerily somber for a level supposedly implied to take place in a level that punishes the violent. Given the wasteland-like vibes of some of the previous layers (Particularly for Lust, where the Lust Renaissance led to the formation of an actual city before the angels put a stop to it), this heavily implies that whatever will be in the Violence layer, it'll be riddled with what'll probably look like what remains of Earth itself after the robots wiped out all life on it.In addition to that, the mentions of a Final War in the various descriptions the Terminals provide could also preclude that we could get a glimpse of what the Final War was like in the Violence layer itself.
- Seemingly Jossed, as the 7-1 sneak-peek reveals it to be a barren, white graveyard with a giant mausoleum.
- Confirmed: Reveal of 7-2 shows machines embroiled in war over the Phlegethon River. The twitter post informs that Garden of Forking Paths isn't even part of the circle of Violence proper.
- Confirmed.
- Confirmed. The sneak peeks for 7-2 and especially 7-3 show red. For example, 7-2 has the blood river Phlegethon flowing through the Hellish Warzone of the first ring, while 7-3 has glowing red trees born from those who committed suicide. 7-4 goes all the way bearing a crimson sky lit up by the meteors designed for those who blasphemed, along with the innards of the Earthmover you invade.
- Jossed, sorta. The Earthmover (official name of the War Machines) has Hell mass covering its legs and feet instead, though it does have a fleshy internal structure and an organic brain underneath an artificial exterior.
- Confirmed. Aside from not having a Nightmare Face for the Earthmovers, they all have some Body Horror elements to a degree, and along with the aforementioned Meat Moss covering its legs, the Earthmover's insides are covered in flesh and its core is an organic brain.
- Seemingly Confirmed, the levels of Violence (particularly 7-1 and 7-2) are a lot larger and have significantly more lenient Time requirements for a perfect rank.
- Minos and Sisyphus are kings from Greek myth. Minos was in the Divine Comedy while Sisyphus was only alluded to via the punishment within Greed. Thus it is possible that the final Prime is a Greek king not present in the Divine Comedy.
- Minos and Sisyphus were both blind, Minos alluding to the term "justice is blind" and Sisyphus being blinded with molten gold as part of his punishment.
- The Flesh bosses are simple 3D shapes with synonyms for a prison as the second half of their name (possibly a coincidence is that they also start with P). Also possibly worth noting, Sisyphus broke open the Panopticon from the inside while Minos didn't, meaning the third boss may be strong enough to even skip the Flesh boss.
- Minos was dealt with by Heaven only by sending Gabriel to kill him, while Sisyphus' insurrection warranted Heaven's armies to fight back, even if they were always going to win. The third boss may have warranted a greater deal of attention from Heaven to stop. In a similar tone, Minos had light containment procedures (just the Flesh Prison) while Sisyphus had the Panopticon and part of Dis between him and the rest of Hell. It is thus likely that the third boss has even tougher containment measures.
- Minos and Sisyphus both had their backstories explained in their respective layers, with both having their corpse appear at some point.
- Minos was rather peaceful and remade Lust into a utopia because he truly loves his people, while Sisyphus waged a hopeless war against Heaven while bringing unaware men with him into the slaughterhouse. This pattern would suggest the third Prime boss cared even less for their subjects, possibly being actively cruel to them.
- P-1 takes place in Gluttony, which can only be accessed via the mouth of Minos' corpse, while P-2's placement in Heresy ties to Sisyphus directly for his war against Heaven. Since P-3 will be in Treachery, it's possible that the boss will tie in even more to the sin of treachery, possibly tying into the above point that assumes the third Prime will be a cruel leader.
- Minos is a Tragic Hero because he feels sorrow upon his death for failing to avenge humanity and his beloved people, while Sisyphus is a Graceful Loser because he proudly laughs in the face of death in spite of his insurrection's failure. Going by this pattern, the third Prime Soul might be a Sore Loser on top of being a cruel villain, whether they beg for undeserved mercy, or throw a hissy fit and curse at V1 for defeating them.
- The path leading up to Minos Prime was a journey down a large spine in the darkness to the boss's location, alluding to the more peaceful nature of Minos, whereas Sisyphus Prime's level had a Harder Than Hard enemy gauntlet that V1 had to fight through to get to his containment, alluding to his lust for war. Building on some of the above statements such as the Flesh bosses and his demeanor, the third Prime Soul's level may possibly be covered with the corpses of every non-boss enemy fought in the game, making for an eerie middle ground between Minos and Sisyphus.
- King Minos represents humanity's capacity for kindness and altruism, as shown by his reformation of the Lust Layer into a paradise out of compassion for Lust's sinners instead of any desire for fame or glory. King Sisyphus represents humanity's capacity for spite and ruthlessness, yet also valor, inspiration, and determination, as shown by him being willing to lie, cheat, steal, and kill if it means protecting his comrades, building an army by bringing them hope, and then fighting Heaven's forces in a futile yet valiant battle, even when he knew their insurrection will fail. The third Prime Soul might represent humanity's capacity for depravity and treachery, whether they're an abusive tyrant that exploits their people as tools, making their already Hellish punishments even more painful for the sake of it, betraying their people at some point in their life, or just being an all around horrible villain.
See, V1's recurring enemies for Acts I & II, V2 and Gabriel, contrast them in several ways: V2 is red and they generally have the same arsenal as V1 does, and has to have blood manually injected as opposed to V1 simply absorbing it. Gabriel, on the other hand, can be considered another foil to V1...or perhaps V1 is more of a perversion of Gabriel: they're both near-unstoppable Winged Humanoids that have fought off hordes of beings, and Gabriel is of living flesh while V1 is of cold steel. Now there's one particular detail that V1 has that Gabriel doesn't, something V1 has been able to do from the word go.
That detail? V1 runs on blood. As stated before, Gabriel is too proud to die before beating V1 at least once but he's got hours left to live. So what exactly would he do to extend a life that should've been snuffed out? Get blood. Lots of it. To ensure he lives long enough to finally best the machine that beat him twice he himself kills demons, husks, machines, and his fellow angels alike, and uses their blood to sustain and empower himself. And that'll be part of his boss fight: both sides desperately fighting for the other's blood and for survival.
There's a few reasons as to why this is believed:
- To start, Aegeus is - much like Minos and Sisyphus before him - a legendary king rooted deep in Ancient Greek mythology.
- In the bestiary entry for the Minotaur, it is stated that the demon was a being created by an unknown individual as a gift for Minos. The individual's name is completely blacked out, the letters of their name individually covered up by squares. The name of the individual is made up of two words; the first one being four letters long, and the second being six letters long, which perfectly matches up with "KING AEGEUS". Additionally, the entry for the Minotaur describes it as being a "personalized monument of death and despair". This may seem minor, but I believe this ties into what I believe to be a major plot point that could possibly tie into what Hell is as a living being.
- To add to this, this lore revelation acts as a mirror of events told in Greek myth, much like this game's take on the previous two kings. In the original legend, the Minotaur was said to be a creation brought about by the machinations of the god Poseidon after Minos refused to honor him by sacrificing a bull in his name, causing him to curse his wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull, eventually mating with it and giving birth to the Minotaur. The Minotaur, cast down into a Labyrinth constructed under Minos' orders, was eventually slain by the hero Theseus.
- Additionally, this interpretation of the Minotaur matches up with its depiction in The Divine Comedy, where it was cast down into the circle of Violence after it was slain by Theseus' hand. Additionally, in Greek myth, Aegeus committed suicide after believing Theseus to be dead, once again matching up with these lore revelations becoming known in the Violence layer.
- In some variations of Greek myth, Aegeus is often given the title of the "Goat-Man". This ties into the lore of Ultrakill, as well as old Christian tellings in a big way.
- The most obvious one is that "goat-man" is a common interpretation of Satan in modern media.
- In the 5-S Testament, God tells of how He cast Lucifer down into Hell for questioning His methods. I believe that Aegeus may have very well have been a name that Lucifer had taken on.
Not only does all of this point to Aegeus being the possible final Prime Soul, but also potentially an identity of Lucifer himself that he has taken on following his damnation. It could even go as far as him being an avatar of Hell itself, depending on just how long he has been down there for.
That said, due to a distinctive lack of additional references to a prime soul within the layer, along with the additional corruption of the lore text, HELL ITSELF may have created the Minotaur, and Aegeus may just end up being another instance of hasty thinking.
The Violence layer's terminal entries talk about how the Final War initially began as trench warfare, and 7-2's level design supports this. Furthermore, where do the Guttertanks come from judging by the text on their models? Germany.
V1's last firmware update is stated to have been 2112, and the Final War lasted 200 years. Doing the maths, one can assume this started around 1912, two years before the beginning of WW1 in our universe.
It's also entirely possible that the reason why the war lasted so long and became so brutal was because Hell found it amusing, and was able to seep into the world thanks to the expeditions going down there in the twilight years of the war - and thus it kept it going and borrowed elements from it for its own amusement.
- Seemingly Confirmed, Hakita hearted a YouTube comment under one of the OS Ts that stated this theory.
Going by the unhinged ranting in the book you find in 7-4, Hell outright admires the war machines not just for their destructive potential, but for monopolizing the world and resources, turning war into its own purpose: They fight the war to exist, and they exist to fight the war, neverending, slowly exterminating their makers and then each other until there's nothing else, for no reason at all but warfare in itself. Yet the way it speaks implies humanity actually died off from this, rather than managing to outlast them as the Long Night took them out. Perhaps the place found itself utterly outraged that this stage of the war was not, in fact, humanity's ending, and when the time came for it to make its move it made sure mankind ended "the only way it should have ended" and turned them back on, patching over whatever weaknesses it needed to in order to scorch the land even in the dark.
The release announcement of Violence is coincided with the phrase "Paint the world red", and while this is in reference to the layer's white color scheme being a blank canvas to highlight V1's bloodshed, it would fit this design and phrase for the secret level to literally be based around painting. More specifically, V1 could have to use blood as paint, thus necessitating the mass slaughter of enemies to complete the objective so as to retain the Violence theme. On another level, this could also take a punny spin on the term "Violence Against Art" which would originally be referring to sinners who committed usury in life, but here, it could be about sinners who treat violence itself as an act of artmaking.
In that game, you have to kill various enemies with a multitude of weaponry you find around the levels, as well as your own fists and chargeable superpowers. Killing and even hitting enemies causes them to bleed, leaving pools of blood everywhere by the time you are done. There is even infighting between enemies that begins when you kill one of them. It is very similar to what the Ultrakill is and some Violence mechanics, and having a level that keeps the game's nature, but goes from a shooter to beat-them-up would be cool.
- Both of the above are '''Jossed', the secret level is in fact the opposite of such a thing - you have to clean up the bloodstains and gibs you've left behind.
Fraud is a sin of trickery and deceit, and there's ample opportunity for Hakita to play that up hard. And because of the Ten Bolgias, it's unlikely it'll stick with a singular color like the previous layers (Limbo = Green, Lust = Purple, Gluttony = Brown, Greed = Yellow, Wrath = Blue, Heresy = Red, Violence = White) and be a fucked-up mishmash of some sort. That being said, it might even trick V1 with fake enemies, perhaps even trick V1 into thinking V2 somehow came back from its death in Greed. Perhaps it could even trick V1 into thinking it somehow ended up back on Earth as some sort of way to show players its backstory.
While Lucifer being the final boss is fitting, the story arc of Gabriel and his previous encounters as the bosses of 3-2 and 6-2 imply that he will instead be the final battle. Going off of this, it might be that the first level will involve fighting Lucifer in the icy layer of Treachery, and Gabriel's encounter will occur in the center of the universe, or perhaps even simply on Earth.
As for why specifically Splendor, is due to the color theming it would keep up. Without Splendor, Gabriel's only sword would be Justice, a blue blade contrasting his gold armor. While V1, a blue machine, would wield Splendor, a gold blade.
The Challanges and Soul Orbs are important to the level select UI in the same way P Ranking a stage is. They are the only way to give a level a gold guild. Additionally, this marking notably does not mean that everything in the level has been experienced. You don't need to touch the slabs in order to do so. The Secret Levels also exist, giving Testament lore drops while having an interesting contrast to the layer its based on.
These actually represent V1's relationship with Hell. P ranking, committing to challenges that amuse hell, and collecting souls all fit within the MO of Hell wanting entertainment. This is also the flashy stuff that gets featured on the UI. The Secret Levels, by contrast, represent a rebellion against V1's stated purpose of being a nihilistic death machine. We see V1 partake in puzzles, demonstrating genuine learning beyond committing bloodshed. We see them comfort another machine, showing genuine compassion and empathy for someone else in an existential crisis and portraying a viewpoint completely counter to Hell's thoughts. Then they get a goal beyond killing, collecting boxes and get geniunely excited about accomplishing it by doing a playful dance. We then see V1 participate in fishing, a leisurely activity that demonstrates lateral thinking and patience. Then, we see V1 clean up their giant bloody messes, showing patience over doing a long, tedious task and taking responsibility for their actions. V1 isn't here just to do Hell's bidding, leaving it a barren wasteland with no final point like it seems to want there to be, they're going to be to Hell what Mankind was to God: an agent of free will that ultimately gets their creator killed through their own actions. But where humanity did so by demonstrating their capacity for evil and ability to rebel against God, V1 will kill Hell through their capacity for good and ability to rebel against it by putting the damned souls to rest to free them from their eternal torment, causing the overthrowing of Heaven's dictatorship, and leading their fellow machines even if they only follow them inadvertently to ensure the deed is done.
Given the distinctive lack of basic angelic enemies at all since Greed, it would only be smart enough for Hakita to add in a good number of angelic enemies to buff the number. In fact, the layer could also house the act's Agni and Rudra "duo" secret encounter, using a pair of greater angels at that.
In Divine Comedy, one of the punishments from sinners is to eternally boil in molten tar. In terms of gameplay, this tar could be a hazard akin to lava and acid, but possess some special trait, such as enemies emerging from it as an ambush. Alternatively, there may be enemies with the function to shoot out the tar as a damaging, slowing projectile, as well as covering enemies in tar to somehow buff them (definitely not speed, though). Or the tar may act as a hindrance to enemies, slowing them down and increasing the burning damage, but instead of being spread everywhere, V1 may have to find containers of tar and fling them at enemies to achieve this effect.
Or at the very least they are in the process of becoming one. God is thought to be abandoned but in reality He's a blood hungry machine wiping the slate clean on everyone. Keeping with the spirit of the trope being commonly considered to be hackneyed among cynical minds, it plays toward the inherent humor of the game that a silly machine is somehow capable of toppling Hell and Heaven's strongest. It would also to some extent justify the bonus level where V1 discusses the philosophy and meaning of life with their own Mirage, despite its existence hinging on being able to continually eradicate life.
- Except Hell expressly is unconcerned with V1, happily talks to it, borderline jokes with it, and goes on an unhinged rant about how all Machines ending humanity is exactly everything it's dreamed. V1 isn't even the one exterminating Hell - the rest of the Machines are, with Gabriel talking about how they've gone on to purge the upper layers at the end of Heresy. V1 is inconsequential as Hakita has confirmed multiple times, simply being the most deadly of the machines Hell has lead into its depths in its insane love for violence and slaughter. Tellingly, there are countless Earthmovers in Violence, but V1 only destroys one before heading deeper, as it is simply getting rid of everything in its way rather than having a precise, all-encompassing objective.
- Maybe V1 is actually playing low in order to not bring attention to themselves and find something to destroy Hell in a single blow. If He couldn’t destroy Hell with his powers, maybe he is trying to kill Hell from the inside as V1.
- Or maybe, as the somber tone of the later Testaments and Gabriel's speech at the end of act 2 imply, God is simply dead of despair and that, as all but stated in Hell's monologue in 7-4, Hell is using the Machines to eradicate itself and every soul in existence so as to finally fulfill its dreams of an empty, pointless world.
- Maybe V1 is actually playing low in order to not bring attention to themselves and find something to destroy Hell in a single blow. If He couldn’t destroy Hell with his powers, maybe he is trying to kill Hell from the inside as V1.
The Mindflayers share name with the Ithilids from Dungeons & Dragons and they are known for an immense Psychic Power, maybe the Mindflayers have a psychic ability of their own that lures their victims and kill them with more ease. Or maybe the Terminals lied to us and their supposedly “useless” teal-colored plastic bodies are used as a sexual attraction to lure victims and making the killing easier. Or maybe they use both things to make blood farming more easier.
And this could be used as alternative forms of killing hard-to-kill enemies or unlocking unconventional passageways.
It's likely that 9 of those Bolgias are given to the 3 regular levels (thus each of them comprises 3 bolgias each), the last one will be given to the secret level, and the central well will be given to the boss level, thus distributing the parts of the layers relatively evenly.
- Alternatively, if V1 does not somehow end up frozen, he could simply chill out in the area near the Satan, reveling in eternal existence.
