Cyber Grind

If blown too far off the arena, PUMP CHARGE's overcharge is a good way to get back.

- The Tip of the Day.

"Sixteen waves and what do you get? Another wave spent getting closer to death."

The Cyber Grind is an endless wave shooter set in a modular, highly-configurable arena. Most enemies from the main game also appear in the Cyber Grind, including some bosses such as Swordsmachine and the Hideous Mass.

Customization

The arena is a 16x16 grid of tiles that changes each wave, randomly selecting one of several preset patterns. The mode is highly customizable, allowing for custom arena patterns and new textures for the arena's tiles and skybox. These can be added within the 'Cybergrind' folder of the game's files. The official Cyber Grind pattern editor can be launched from the blue Terminal in-game; a web-hosted version can also be found here.

A Cyber Grind arena with custom skybox and grid textures applied.

Music

Using the same blue terminal, the player is able to adjust the music heard while playing the Cyber Grind. Players are able to make custom playlists, shuffle the songs heard, or use only one song on repeat.

The following songs are unlocked and put in a playlist by default. Additionally, only the first song plays on repeat:

• meganeko - The Cyber Grind
• HEALTH - HATEFUL
• HEALTH - HATEFUL (Instrumental)
• KEYGEN CHURCH - ULTRACHURCH

The default playlist used in the Cyber Grind

The player can choose to add music from the in-game soundtrack or add custom music ( through the game folders ULTRAKILL\Cybergrind\Music )

Each Ultrakill music track is sorted into their own folders:

• The Cyber Grind (for the four tracks above)
• Prelude
• Act 1
• Act 2
• Act 3
• Secret levels
• Prime Sanctums
• Miscellaneous Tracks (contains the main menu theme, the songs that play in the shop and testament terminals, and the four songs that play in the Developer Museum)

By completing level challenges, the player is able to unlock the music that plays in each level (for example, completing the [ 2-2: DEATH AT 20,000 VOLTS ] challenge will unlock Requiem). Levels without challenges, such as secret levels and Prime Sanctums, will simply unlock their music upon completion. The "Prime Sanctums" folder is hidden until the first Prime Sanctum is accessed.

Enemies

The following is a list of enemies that appear in the Cyber Grind, along the wave they can start spawning at and the prefab categories they belong to in the pattern editor: n for normal spawn prefabs, p for projectile spawns, and H for Hideous Mass/layout-specific spawns.

COMMON

• Filth (Wave 1, n)
• Stray (Wave 1, p)
• Schism (Wave 2, n)
• Drone (Wave 3, p)
• Soldier (Wave 4, p)
• Streetcleaner (Wave 5, n)
• Malicious Face (Wave 6, p)
• Cerberus (Wave 7, n)
• Swordsmachine (Wave 8, n)
• Mannequin (Wave 17, n)
• Gutterman (Wave 21, p)

UNCOMMON (Only 1 type can show up at a time in waves up to 24. 2 types can show up in waves 25 and higher)

• Virtue (Wave 12, n/p)
• Stalker (Wave 12, n)
• Sentry (Wave 16, n/p)
• Idol (Wave 18, n/p)
• Guttertank (Wave 24, n)

SPECIAL

• Mindflayer (Wave 16, n)
• Insurrectionist (Wave 21, n)
• Ferryman (Wave 22, n)

LAYOUT-SPECIFIC

• Hideous Mass (Wave 13, H)

From level 25 and onward, Radiant enemies can spawn that have increased speed and health.

Certain enemies have particular rules for their spawning.

• For every 10 waves, another Special enemy can spawn per wave. (i.e. 2 Specials at Wave 20-29, 3 at 30-39, etc.)
  • After a Special enemy wave, Specials cannot spawn for 1 wave per number of Specials. For instance, if 2 Specials show up at Wave 23, you can't see any until Wave 26.
  • If it is an Uncommon wave, the max Special count is reduced by 1.
  • Each Hideous Mass reduces the max Special count by 1.
• Hideous Masses can only spawn in specific, preset locations; as a result, there are very few patterns where they can spawn.
  • Similar to Specials, another Mass can spawn every 10 waves. However, the current set of level layouts does not include any layouts that support more than 3 Hideous Masses, limiting the number that can appear in a single wave.
  • After a Mass wave, they cannot show up for 2 waves per the number of Masses, even if you get a layout where a Mass can spawn. For instance, if you get 2 Masses at Wave 27, they cannot show up until Wave 32.

Patterns

Pattern previews are oriented with the scoreboard to the east and the elevator to the west.

The official pattern rotation currently has 38 total patterns. High scores and leaderboard entries will only be recorded if the run was played on the official rotation—that is, if custom patterns are disabled.

Official Patterns

Image Preview	Names	Enemy Prefabs			Notes
		n	p	H
	01.cgp Skatepark	30	41	0
	02.cgp Single HiM	24	22	1
	03.cgp Corner Jumps Parkour	52	36	0
	04b.cgp Firing Squad Castle	32	32	0
	05.cgp Castle/Fort Big Column	40	28	0
	06.cgp Double HiM	48	34	2
	07.cgp Monument Pillars Jump Monument	71	32	0
	08.cgp Spires	60	38	0
	09.cgp Pits	44	36	0
	10.cgp Plateau King of the Hill	50	36	0
	11.cgp Funnel	76	48	0
	12.cgp Jump Center Sniper Towers	88	60	0
	13.cgp Labyrinth Maze	52	76	0	Modified in the GREED Update
	14.cgp Grand Staircase Stairway	58	47	0
	15.cgp Funnel Towers	88	72	0	Added in the GREED Update
	16.cgp Balconies Trenches	74	66	2	Added in the GREED Update
	17.cgp Coldplay Stage	64	60	0	Added in the GREED Update
	18.cgp Bridge	80	50	0	Added in the GREED Update
	dood_brokenBridge.cgp Broken Bridge	71	41	0	Community pattern by Dood Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	dood_dontGetSoaked.cgp Don't Get Soaked!	73	30	0	Community pattern by Dood Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	dryzalar_hall.cgp Hall	88	54	0	Community pattern by Dryzalar Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	jacob_royalGuard.cgp Royal Guard	167	34	1	Community pattern by Jacob Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	jandy_catwalk.cgp Catwalk	44	56	0	Community pattern by Jandy Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	jandy_steps.cgp Steps	48	56	0	Community pattern by Jandy Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	jandy_tripleDeck.cgp Triple Deck	42	110	0	Community pattern by Jandy Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	loafing_theStage.cgp The Stage Double Decker	67	43	2	Community pattern by NO LOAFING Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	loafing_tripleThreat.cgp Triple Threat	55	47	3	Community pattern by NO LOAFING Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	notabot_sniperTowers.cgp Sniper Tower	76	35	0	Community pattern by NotABot Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	slimer_feast.cgp Feast	94	26	0	Community pattern by Slimer Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	splendid_altMarksman.cgp Alt Marksman	52	42	0	Community pattern by Splendid Ledraps Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	splendid_overlook.cgp Overlook	41	76	0	Community pattern by Splendid Ledraps Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	splendid_theEntrance.cgp The Entrance	54	58	0	Community pattern by Splendid Ledraps Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	spruce_gravel.cgp Gravel	30	26	0	Community pattern by Spruce Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	stuon_a14.cgp A14	90	87	0	Community pattern by Stuon Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	stuon_a29.cgp A29	54	58	0	Community pattern by Stuon Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	wakan_hopper2.cgp Hopper	140	64	0	Community pattern by Wakan Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	william_division.cgp Division	68	38	0	Community pattern by William Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update
	william_hightowerMass.cgp Hightower	64	53	1	Community pattern by William Added in the Back to the Cyber Grind Update

Other Patterns

Image Preview	File Name	Enemy Prefabs			Notes
		n	p	H
	BigBridge.cgp	98	40	2	Custom pattern bundled with the game Added in Early Access Patch 2020/11/05
	Cliffs.cgp	48	40	1	Custom pattern bundled with the game Added in Early Access Patch 2020/11/05
	LowCover.cgp	76	108	0	Custom pattern bundled with the game Added in Early Access Patch 2020/11/05
	Pit.cgp	52	64	0	Custom pattern bundled with the game Added in Early Access Patch 2020/11/05
	13.cgp	52	44	0	The version of 13.cgp included with the game from Early Access launch until the GREED Update
	dood_dontGetSoaked.cgp	69	30	0	Original submitted version of dood_dontGetSoaked.cgp Replaced by revised version to fix a stair placement issue
	dood_dontGetSoaked.cgp	69	30	0	Revised submitted version of dood_dontGetSoaked.cgp Tweaked by Hakita prior to release
	dryzalar_hall.cgp	88	54	0	Original submitted version of dryzalar_hall.cgp Tweaked by Hakita prior to release
	stuon_a14.cgp	91	86	0	Original submitted version of stuon_a14.cgp Tweaked by Hakita prior to release
	stuon_a29.cgp	58	54	0	Original submitted version of stuon_a29.cgp Tweaked by Hakita prior to release
	stuon_A41.cgp	82	108	0	Community pattern by Stuon One of the 21 winners of the first Cyber Grind Pattern Democracy contest Was cut by Hakita prior to release due to its high complexity causing it to play poorly at low waves
	wakan_hopper2.cgp	136	64	0	Original submitted version of wakan_hopper2.cgp Tweaked by Hakita prior to release

Trivia

• The Cyber Grind is ULTRAKILL's analogue to the Bloody Palace survival game mode from the Devil May Cry series.
  • Notably, only the first Bloody Palace iteration in Devil May Cry 2 is truly endless; the versions of Bloody Palace in subsequent entries all have predetermined endpoints.
• The Cyber Grind's theme, The Cyber Grind, was written by meganeko, and can be found here. It is featured at the end of the Act I Soundtrack, and is one of the few songs that Hakita did not create himself.
  • The theme itself also inspired Hakita to create the Cyber Grind.
• The Steam Cyber Grind leaderboards for each difficulty can be found here. Do take some of the top results with a grain of salt, as scores can be cheated.
• Clearing a wave or causing a major hitstop will play a crowd cheering noise. Major hitstops that occur in the spawn elevator or otherwise outside of combat will still trigger the crowd cheer.
• Enemies summoned using the Spawner Arm are ignored by the Cyber Grind's enemy counter.
• The color of the arena's configurable grid glow changes as the player progresses to later waves, from blue (Wave 1–9) to green (Wave 10–14) to yellow (Wave 15–19) to red (Wave 20–24) to rainbow (Wave 25+).
• When only one enemy is remaining in a wave, the grid glow's glowing rings will emanate from their position instead of the center of the arena.
• One of the bundled grid textures is the image of Dave Oshry's likeness used for Big John, a boss enemy in DUSK.
• The Cyber Grind is canon in Ultrakill lore, where machines plug into terminals to simulate battles in a virtual space without the risk of getting destroyed, as well as acting as live entertainment for the Terminals.
• The Cyber Grind's name is probably a reference to the music genre of the same name, one that combines elements of Electronic and Grindcore music.