Airframe Ultra: From the Bleak Depths of Rain World to the Neon Chaos of a Cyberpunk Racer

After years of guiding players through the unforgiving, rain-soaked ruins of Rain World, the team at Videocult was ready for a change of pace—and volume. Their new project, Airframe Ultra, trades existential dread for engine roar, delivering what co-creator James Primate calls a “loud and dumb and fast” hoverbike combat-racer that is anything but brainless. The multiplayer-only title, showcased in a demo now live during Steam Next Fest, marries break-neck racing with arena brawls, all wrapped in a neon cyberpunk skin.

At first glance, Airframe Ultra appears to be a straightforward hoverbike racer, but its twist is immediate: every circuit is punctuated by wide combat arenas where riders must dismount, slug it out with iron pipes, traffic-sign lances, and an arsenal of power-ups, then remount and rocket back onto the track. Points are awarded for both race placement and knock-outs, so the rider in first place is never safe until the final score tallies.

The dismount mechanic is more than a gimmick. Riders can abandon their bikes at any moment, trading the vehicle’s fluid, drift-friendly handling for their avatar’s intentionally awkward, QWOP-style gait. Off-bike exploration is encouraged; maps are littered with secrets and vantage points, and the game will happily let players wander until the next arena timer forces a teleport. It is a generosity rarely seen in arcade racers, and it hints at the meticulous level design lurking beneath the game’s anarchic surface.

Combat feels closer to a chaotic eight-player round of Super Smash Bros. than to a traditional kart racer. Weapons range from conventional firearms to delightfully impractical melee implements—none more satisfying, according to early hands-on reports, than a battered stop sign used as a jousting pole both on foot and at full throttle. Guns require precision, but landing a sign-swinging uppercut on an opponent mid-dismount is pure slapstick joy.

Hoverbikes themselves are slower than genre veterans might expect, yet they offer nuanced aerial control and tight cornering that reward mastery. Advanced players can chain boosts, drifts, and mid-air pivots to shave seconds off lap times or to slam rivals into walls during the racing phases. The learning curve is gentle enough for newcomers, but the “tech” is there for competitive communities to dissect.

Airframe Ultra is consciously built for players weary of modern multiplayer monetization. There is no battle pass, no engagement-hacking daily quests, no premium currency—just a single up-front purchase and, if the launch community thrives, continued developer support. Lobbies are customizable, ranked play is absent by design, and matches can be tailored from quick three-leg sprints to extended score-based brawls. Bot matches will ship alongside online play, but the focus is squarely on human competition.

Publisher Akupara Games and Videocult emphasize friction-free access: from booting the client to the start of the first race is a matter of seconds, a deliberate rebuttal to the menu-laden bloat of many live-service titles. The aesthetic, meanwhile, leans into late-night cyberpunk: holographic billboards flicker above grimy tunnels, and synth-heavy basslines throb under the scream of anti-grav engines. Lore exists—corporate sponsors, underground racing leagues, augmented riders—but it stays in the periphery, never slowing the momentum.

For a studio that once trapped players in a brutal ecosystem simulator where every raindrop could spell doom, Airframe Ultra is a deliberate exhale. Primate’s tongue-in-cheek description of the project as “Fall Guys with iron pipes” captures the slapstick energy, yet early feedback suggests a surprising depth beneath the mayhem. The demo, playable now via Steam Next Fest, includes full online multiplayer and a handful of tracks and arenas. No release date has been announced, but wishlisting is open for players eager to trade melancholy for motor-revving madness.