For more information about other missions, see Levels
Homing projectiles may be more difficult to dodge, but their tracking and slower speed make them much easier to parry.
- The Tip of the Day.
GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS is the first mission of the VIOLENCE layer, and the first mission of Act III. It takes place in a giant marble labyrinth fencing the inner circles of the Violence layer, filled with a new threat, Mannequins.
Major Areas[]
Labyrinth[]
A walkway with pale white grass and trees on either side leads up to a big marble building at the end, with the entrance bearing the cross of the Tree of Life at its sides. The entrance itself splits off in three different paths; when approaching the left door, it shuts itself before the room can be entered, forcing the player to move on through the front door, leading to the Mannequin Display.
The door on the right leads up a ledge to a Blue Pedestal and a button, where a faint roar can be heard when approaching the button. Pressing the button which opens the left door back at the crossroads, where a Checkpoint is now placed. The interior is filled with many Mannequins in various poses, and a Red Skull replacing the head of a praying Mannequin behind bars ahead. After taking the skull and turning around, the player will be met with every Mannequin in the room moving up-close and facing their way. These Mannequins in this area thankfully do not attack and allow the player to proceed through the level further.
A readable book is also included along the right door path, after jumping up the ledge and turning to the left, transcribed below:
Resident's Diary[]
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 .
Mannequin Display[]
A room lit by white windows lining the walls on either side, with six Mannequins resting idle atop platforms, striking various poses. When moving far enough down the middle of the room, a Red Pedestal will rise up from the floor, also causing the right door back in the Labyrinth to open. Upon returning to the Mannequin Display with the Red Skull acquired, all six Mannequins in the room will suddenly awaken, crawling incredibly quickly towards the player before commencing their attack. Killing all Mannequins opens the door ahead, leading to a downward staircase to the next arena with a Checkpoint at the end.
Triple Stairwell[]
The previously locked door reveals a stairwell connecting to a smaller hallway at the end, containing another stairwell with an elevated bridge running across the middle. In this second stairwell, two Mannequins are positioned on each side of both the exit and entrance to the room, though they do not move. Instead, four Mannequins standing under the bridge become active, quickly sprinting up the stairs on either side for a surprise attack.
Once the four Mannequins have been disposed of, a third, much larger stairwell lies ahead, this time consisting of a long spiral staircase and a Blue Skull placed upon a pedestal straight ahead of the entrance. A Blue Hookpoint is also present, floating in the center of the staircase. Entering this room activates three Mannequins climbing the walls and spawns a Virtue at the top of the stairs in front of the exit. The stairway leads back to the area containing the button, where the Blue Skull can be placed on its pedestal to open the next door.
Pillar Hall[]
A previously closed hallway that leads to a lobby with a doorway on each side, decorated with many pillars with a third Blue Pedestal in front of the door ahead and featuring four posing Mannequins displayed in the center of the lobby. When approaching the Mannequins, the Minotaur will burst out of the right-side doorway and run into the left-side entrance, decimating the Mannequins and breaking down the doors in its path. The center now also becomes a Reusable Checkpoint, reactivating upon reacquiring the Blue Skull.
Following the Minotaur's rampage, a room similar to the second stairwell earlier in the level can be entered, this time also featuring two Cerberus statues and a small pool under the bridge. Upon entry, two Mannequins and a Malicious Face spawn. One Cerberus becomes active after either the Malicious Face or the two Mannequins are killed, and the other alongside two Mannequins after any two enemies, except the first Cerberus, are killed.
Killing all the enemies in this room opens up a way back to the tall stairwell, allowing the Blue Skull used earlier to be taken and backtracked to the pedestal in the Pillar Hall, opening the way forward.
Layered Stairway[]
A spiral staircase past the Blue Pedestal leads downwards, causing two Streetcleaners and a Mannequin to spawn on the way.
The staircase terminates in the largest stairwell of the level yet, consisting of three open floors with a Blue Hookpoint in the middle, and featuring a pool of water and a door, locked behind another Blue Pedestal at the very bottom. Entering this room causes three Mannequins to spawn with a Virtue on the lower floor. Upon the first enemy being killed, two Drones will spawn alongside a second Virtue at the upper floor, followed by a Mindflayer spawning when either the second Virtue or two Mannequins are killed.
Once the room has been cleared, the door on the top floor opens, leading back to the Pillar Hall and allowing the Blue Skull to be taken once again, requiring it to be placed in the previous stairwell via backtracking. The door contains a thin stairway downwards, with a hole at the end that must be entered.
Tram Arena[]
After jumping into the hole, a winding, dark hallway follows which ends in another hole. This time, the second hole leads to a railway containing a Checkpoint, a Terminal, and a tram already on the tracks, waiting for activation. Interacting with the screen on the tram causes it to start moving on the rails.
After a few seconds, the railway opens up to three sets of tracks, and moments after that, a second tram carrying three Strays arrives from the front and stops adjacent to the left of the main tram. After killing the Strays, a third tram arrives from behind and carrying three Soldiers and stopping on the right side of the main tram.
A fourth cart then appears, driving directly behind the player, this time carrying two Schisms and a Soldier. However soon after, the Minotaur returns, appearing behind the tram and destroying it with its hammer, initiating a chase sequence. The train tracks loop and do not reach their destination until the Minotaur is defeated.
Final Stop[]
Once the Minotaur is defeated, the trams arrive at the end of the railway, reaching a subway station. The station features another stairwell leading to the final room, a narrow hallway adorned with pillars ending with the Level Exit open ahead.
Upon reaching the midpoint of the hallway, the Minotaur bursts through the left wall, beginning the second and final phase of its boss battle and closing the Level Exit until it is killed.
Ranking Requirements[]
| Rank | Kills | Time | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 51 | 6:40 | 17,000 |
| A | 48 | 7:30 | 15,000 |
| B | 40 | 10:00 | 10,000 |
| C | 20 | 15:00 | 5,000 |
Secrets[]
| Secrets | ||
|---|---|---|
| #1 |  |
(Soul Orb) - In the room that opens after triggering the Red Skull pedestal, a slim vertical tunnel above the doorway leads to a Soul Orb. |
| #2 |  |
(Soul Orb) - In the room with the button labeled Alpha, a small gap underneath the platform can be slid through to access a Soul Orb. |
| #3 |  |
(Soul Orb) - In the room that the |
| #4 |  |
(Blood Orb) In the open area to the right of the Pillar Hall, the roof to the right hides a Blood Orb; collecting the Orb will cause the two gigantic Cerberi next to it to awaken. |
| #5 |  |
(Soul Orb) In the open area to the right of the Pillar Hall, a catwalk at the back end of the room leads to a hidden area containing a Soul Orb. |
Challenge[]
BEAT THE SECRET ENCOUNTER
After grabbing the Blue Skull, backtrack to the headless Mannequin that kept the Red Skull initially and place the Blue Skull on it. A section of the wall will open up. After going downstairs, the player will meet the one and only Big Johninator. More information can be found on their page.
After killing him, the floor will open up and reveal a slab that reads:
"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 no fire we've tried has been hot enough... It's possible that those flamethrower wielding machines might be able to burn through it, but their weapons become unusable when they die."
Trivia[]
- This level is named after "The Garden of Forking Paths", a short story by Jorge Luis Borges following a spy during the first World War as he learns about his famous ancestor's plan to construct a labyrinthine novel which covers the full range of possible branching timelines its story can go through.
- The names of the level's soundtracks, "The World Looks White" and "The World Looks Red", are a reference to the Swans song The World Looks Red / The World Looks Black.
- The crossing out of the boss name "
Minotaur", and the crossing out in red text of its terminal data, is a reference to Mark Z. Danielewski's book, House of Leaves, wherein every mention of theMinotaurin the book is crossed out. This is due to, as some interpret it, an expression of artists desiring to destroy their own work.[1] - The level seems to be inspired by the Labyrinth from Greek mythology; an elaborate, confusing structure created by the architect Daedalus to keep the Minotaur trapped, similarly to ULTRAKILL.
- Using Noclip to pass through the rummage to the right of the door the
Minotaurbroke down, the incredibly squished gigantic face of a Hakita plush with the words "LIVE HAKITA REACTION" above it can be found. If anything touches it, whether it be enemies or the player, they will instantly perish.- This is probably in reference to the "LIVE ___ REACTION" meme.
- It is implied that this level is outside the circles of Violence and is more like an event horizon into the layer.[2]
- When opening the Terminal to read info on the
Minotaur, it's stated to have no data or info on it whatsoever, implying that the encrypted and censored red text that was shown was spoken by either Hell itself or some other entity. - In an older version of the level, the Blue Skull was initially placed on the decapitated Mannequin, and the Red Skull presumably would have been used throughout the level instead. However, the skulls were swapped. Why this was changed is currently unknown. It could be that this was done to hint towards the secret challenge of the level, which is to bring the blue skull back to the Mannequin, to players who may have seen the progress videos.
- Originally, Mannequins were white. In response to concerns that they would blend too much in the level's background, they added red color to mannequins. In response to concerns that levels would turn into mixture of white and red and thus mannequins blending in to the environment again, Hakita made the level darken to grey during combat.
- The button in this level has the "α" symbol, as originally there were more buttons (such as "β") planned.
- Along with [ 7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN ], this level is one of the two with no upper limit on kills. The player can stall in the rail chase with the
Minotaurindefinitely, farming the Strays that appear on new trams. - Inactive Mannequins have a glitch that causes them to change poses when observed from an odd angle, such as getting up close at them and then looking up, roughly at their forehead. This is likely because the script, or trigger, that checks whether they're in the player's field of view or not has a blind spot, which causes the game to think they aren't being watched despite the fact they actually are.
- Once the Red Skull is obtained, the amount of Mannequins in the room reduces from 140 down to 52.
- When returning to the headless Mannequin after obtaining the Blue Skull later in the level, all the Mannequins will be gone. This is most likely because they've moved out of the room and throughout the level, or even the whole layer.
- After the
Minotaurcharges through the group of Mannequins, it is possible to enter the next arena fast enough to where theMinotaurwill run into and instakill the Malicious Face that spawns directly in its path. - This is the first level where Cerberi with white orbs are fought. They were initially found in [ 1-4: CLAIR DE LUNE ], but remained inactive.
- These Cerberi are noticeably larger and tankier than normal, even more so than the boss variants found in [ 0-5: CERBERUS ].
- The Red Skull initially spawns on a regular pedestal, but when the button is pressed, the pedestal changes into the decapitated Mannequin.
- Grabbing the Red Skull with Noclip while it's still on a pedestal, and then pressing the button, will cause the pedestal to change into the Mannequin with a fresh new Red Skull.
- If at the beginning of the level you do not pick up the Red Skull from a decapitated Mannequin, but create it using cheats, then the battles before the battle with the
Minotauron the rails will take place without battle themes and changing the atmosphere of the level to a darker one.
- Dropping down into the Tram Arena will make the level music stop. However, this can be prevented by not landing on the tiny crushable platform at the bottom (including the second one down the other hole). The walls can't be slid down on, so dashing will help minimize falling speed to avoid landing on it. If correctly avoided, "The World Looks Red" will still continue to play, even over both phases of "Bull of Hell".
- Prior to the Full Arsenal update, the slab detailing how to unlock [ 7-S: HELL BATH NO FURY ] had a different final line, reading "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 text was likely changed to the current passage in order to make the intended solution of using one of the level's Streetcleaners more clear, since the Firestarter Rocket Launcher is not capable of burning through the aforementioned vines.
- Prior to the weapon's introduction, there was no source of 'melting metal' outside of enemies damaging V1 (with only Streetcleaners and Virtues capable of destroying the vines barring the player from reaching 7-S), so there was no inconsistency in the passage.
- According to the Act II dev stream, Hakita originally did not want to add crosses into Ultrakill since the Crucifiction of Jesus Christ does not line up with the game's canon lore, Hakita confirming that in the ULTRAKILL universe, Jesus never descended to Earth. However, due to there already being a cross on Gabriel's face (making it unremovable since he's too iconic), there was a need to write in a different meaning behind the symbol. This is what led to the cross becoming the symbol for the Tree of Life in Ultrakill.[3]
Gallery[]
