Ultima Underworld

Ultima Underworld is the name of a computer role-playing game series originally developed by Looking Glass Studios and one of the early pioneers of 3D graphics in computer games. The first two titles wereadvertised- mainly for marketing reasons - as offshoots of the Ultima game series by Origin Systems . The first part, however, was originally conceived as an independent work and was onlyadaptedto the Ultima universeafter Origin had acquired the marketing rights. With the third part, which is currently under development, the connection was broken again.

description

In the early 1990s, former Origin employee Paul Neurath founded his development company Blue Sky Productions in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , which was later renamed Looking Glass Studios . His goal was to develop a role-playing game with real-time 3D graphics in the style of Dungeon Master . Together with a few young MIT graduates, he developed a prototype that was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show . Neurath's former employer then acquired the marketing rights and published the first two parts in the early 1990s as an offshoot of his Ultima series, mainly for the IBM PC, in Japan also for the PlayStation and the FM Towns .

→ Main article : Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

→ Main article : Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds

Within the Ultima -Universums is the first part, The Stygian Abyss (1992), at the end of the Age of Enlightenment ( english Age of Enlightenment ), after Ultima VI and above Ultima VII instead. The second part, Labyrinth of Worlds (1993), playing in the Age of Armageddon ( English Age of Armageddon ), one year after the events of Ultima VII . Unlike most Ultima games, Underworld is played from a first-person perspective .

At the beginning of the 2000s, the French developer Arkane Studios tried unsuccessfully to obtain approval for the development of a successor to the Underworld series. The game was instead published in 2002 as a separate work under the title Arx Fatalis for Windows and the Xbox game console . The source code of the game engine published in January 2011 made it possible to port it to other operating systems, so that since April 2012 it has also been able to run as "Arx Libertatis" on the FreeBSD , Linux and macOS operating systems. However, possession of the original game is a requirement.

In mid-2015, a successor was financed through Kickstarter.com , which should originally have appeared in November 2016 as Underworld Ascendant , but was delayed indefinitely on the promised date. On August 17, 2017, the partnership with 505 Games as publisher was announced. The PC version for Windows was released on November 15, 2018. The OtherSide Entertainment development team, put together by series creator Paul Neurath, agreed with brand owner Electronic Arts to separate the series from the Ultima universe in order to be able to publish the game as a successor to the previous Underworld parts. The addition to the name Ultima is thus omitted. In terms of time, Underworld Ascendant takes place a few generations after the events of the first part of Ultima Underworld , in which the Stygian Abyss was ultimately destroyed. From its ruins a new and therefore different Abyss with partly new inhabitants has formed over time. The game received consistently bad reviews when it was released in 2018 because it was perceived as unfinished and buggy. Versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One appeared in 2019, as did the promised Linux and Mac versions, the PC version for Windows received some updates. However, many Kickstarter campaign supporters don't believe the game is what it was originally promised.

Web links

• Paul Neurath: The Story of Ultima Underworld ( Memento from March 9, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
• Eurogamer.de: From Ultima Underworld to Underworld Ascendant: A Twenty Years March , Sebastian Thor, August 19, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ TTLG. March 9, 2001, archived from the original on March 9, 2001 ; Retrieved June 20, 2016 . 
2. ↑ The Codex of Ultima Wisdom: Age of Enlightenment (English); accessed on May 2, 2016.
3. ↑ The Codex of Ultima Wisdom: Age of Armageddon (English); accessed on May 2, 2016.
4. ^ Arx Fatalis Preview. In: GameSpot. Retrieved June 20, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Arx Fatalis Source Code Released (English); Retrieved July 20, 2016.
6. ↑ Arx Libertatis Changelog (English); Retrieved June 20, 2016.
7. ^ Kickstarter: Underworld Ascendant ; accessed on May 2, 2016.
8. ^ Steam Greenlight: Underworld Ascendant (English); accessed on May 2, 2016. Planned publication date: end of 2016.
9. ↑ The Team at OtherSide: Stygian Sentinel, Issue 30. Halloween Edition. (No longer available online.) OtherSide Entertainment; October 31, 2016; archived from the original on January 5, 2017 ; Retrieved on January 4, 2017 (English): " A Special Word from OtherSide's Paul Neurath  - It probably comes as no surprise, but it's taking longer than we'd hoped for Underworld Ascendant to come together. The release will extend beyond the original November 2016 date. ... Before we will be ready to share an updated release date, we want to get over the hump on the key innovations and know that they are working smoothly. In February, we expect to share a new Prototype build with Backers that shows much progress. “ Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ 505 Games to publish long-awaited fantasy RPG Underworld Ascendant. OtherSide Entertainment, August 17, 2017, accessed April 16, 2020 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b} Underworld Ascendant. In: GameStar PC games database. Webedia Gaming GmbH, accessed on April 16, 2019 . 
12. ↑ From Ultima Underworld to Underworld Ascendant: A Twenty Years' March. In: Eurogamer.de. Retrieved June 20, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Underworld Ascendant: Explore the Stygian Abyss, at your peril. ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English); Retrieved May 2, 2016. Quotation: “ In Underworld Ascendant, you return to the Abyss as the Avatar generations after the events of Cabirus' failed colony. " 
14. ↑ OtherSide Forum: The Avatar (English); accessed on May 2, 2016.
15. ↑ Rick Lane: Underworld Ascendant Review. It's a mess. In: PC Gamer . Future US Inc., November 21, 2018, accessed on April 16, 2019 (English): "Underworld Ascendant is phenomenally bad, a catastrophic mess of poor design ideas, woeful execution, and bugs the size of buildings." 
16. ^ Andy Chalk: Underworld Ascendant developer video promises that fixes are coming. In: PC Gamer. Future US Inc., November 20, 2018, accessed on April 16, 2019 (English): "It's not unusual for a crowdfunded indie game to have issues, especially one as ambitious as Underworld Ascendant, but even in that context, that's a lot of ground to cover. "