Stygian Sentinel 13

Issue #13, October 26th 2015

Press, Interviews, Answers from the Abyss, & More

OtherSide recently went on the road to meet the press and discuss the latest Underworld Ascendant Playable Prototype footage. Hijinks, articles, and podcasts ensued!

Here's a few highlights:

• Quarter to Three Podcast - An in-depth discussion about Underworld Ascendant with OtherSide's Paul Neurath and Joe Fielder and QT3's Tom Chick. (Starts around 07:09.)

• RadarRadar Podcast - GamesRadar's Ludwig Kietzmann talks with Paul and Joe about Underworld Ascendant's player-authored gameplay and much more. (Starts around 41:27.)

• An Early Look at Underworld Ascendant - IGN's Jared Petty gives his thoughts on the game after seeing the latest footage and chatting with Paul and Joe.

There's even more coverage still coming. Be sure to add us on Twitter to keep on everything.

Answers from the Abyss

Following the release of the latest footage, we figured it was a good time to solicit fans for questions about it -- or the game in general. Here's a handful of what you sent our way:

slayerming2: In the original Kickstarter, you called a certain character a thief, but it seems like in the more recent video, it's called a rogue. Are you moving away from the original idea? How stealth focus can you play, if you want to be as stealthy as possible?

We don't have specific character classes in Underworld Ascendant per se, such as a Thief or Rogue class. Rather players can gain skills and abilities that fall broadly into combat, stealth, or magic categories. The player can choose to bear down in one those categories; creating a character who is very adaptable in physical combat situations, or is able to creep into areas to get the lay of the land and sneak past tough opponents, or unlock the "source code of reality" with runic magic. Or they could mix and match, say, creating a powerful mage sort who also had a few stealth skills, enabling them to better sneak into an area, see what challenges await, and prepare just the right spell.

It's all about player choice -- and since you can't exceed at everything, you'll have to decide where to focus. Skills and abilities will be distinctly different enough where you can play through multiple times and potentially have a very different gameplay experience. (Paul and Joe talk about this more in the Quarter to Three podcast here.)

On your question of stealth focus, stealth in our game will feel a little different than in other games, thus the use of the term "rogue." We'll get into exactly how later on, but since our lead designer Tim Stellmach was the lead designer on the original Thief at Looking Glass, I think we can safely say stealth will be a distinctly fun experience in Underworld Ascendant.

rustbyte: I'm curious to how you envision boss-type encounters. Can we see boss-like (ie 'Elite') mobs in the game?

Not sure if our creatures will hit that exact description, but there will definitely be challenging creatures with a robust set of skills and abilities, sometimes including the power to alert or command other monsters. The first who comes to mind is the Arch-Lich Tyball, who you may recall in pre-undead form in the original Ultima Underworld.

GameOutLoudRob: What's one awesome thing the player will be able to do in your game and no other?

With the Improvisation Engine, there will be dozens of unique actions that the player can come up with. Between the players' interactions with the environment, the procedural runic magic system, and the opportunities to influence the behaviors of the creatures in The Stygian Abyss. If we do our jobs correctly, Underworld Ascendant will have one of the most dynamic game toolboxes you've ever played with.

uutsa: Why did you chose to use such an ultra-low field of view value [in the recent footage]?

We have more than a year of work left on Underworld Ascendant, so many details like FOV will change repeatedly over time, but I can say that we currently have it adjusted to 90 as a default and it will be alterable.

mg: I seem to remember that zombies were a categorical no-no a few months ago. Have you come to your senses in this regard already?

Currently there's no plans for zombies, but... you'll likely find our take on Underworld Ascendant's undead ecology to be fairly intriguing. More on that later, but we're pretty excited about it, so hopefully you will be too.

MentalKase: Are you planning on having branching dialogue trees and will you be able to talk your way out of fights with intelligent creatures?

Underworld Ascendant's narrative system is one element of the game we're holding off on talking about in full detail right now, but mean to dig into in a big way later. It's another aspect we think is potentially pretty unique, so can't wait to tell you all about it.

Toddsworth: Is there an estimated time when the playable prototype will be released to backers? Just wondering and really excited!

We're working on having a new Playable Prototype -- one that's focused on fun interactions with the Improvisation Engine -- ready to share with backers the second half of November.

That's it for this round. Thanks for all the questions! We'll be answering a few more here on our forums over the next week and change. Don't forget to join in!

Other News

Our recent co-promotions with inXile and ArtCraft and your kind support have gotten us more than halfway toward our next stretch goal: The Wailing Haunt. If you've been considering raising your backing or have friends or enemies you can spread the word about the game to, your help could allow us to add this awful, horrible undead monster to the Underworld Ascendant bestiary.

Here's the link to the pledge support page. Pass it on!

Finally, next Wednesday, November the 4th at 1pm ET, the team will be conducting another OtherSide Plays OtherGames Twitch session. This time we will be playing Dishonored. We hope to have some special guests to announce as well, so stay tuned for more info over the coming week.

The OtherSide Team

See Also

• Frequently Asked Questions

External Links

• Stygian Sentinel #13