Underworld Ascendant

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ADAPT. EVOLVE. ASCEND.

From the creative minds behind the acclaimed Ultima Underworld®, System Shock and Thief series, in Underworld Ascendant®, Paul Neurath and Warren Spector’s OtherSide Entertainment challenges you to think creatively in an interactive sandbox environment.

You are summoned by a mysterious figure to The Stygian Abyss, a dangerous and constantly evolving dungeon world imperiled by the looming threat of the beast Typhon. To save this world, and yours – you must overcome complex challenges, uncover lost secrets and gain favor with factions to maximize your knowledge and strength. Utilize your environment to stack the odds in your favor. Devise the ideal plan to overcome the challenges you face or dive in and think on your feet.

Each decision holds great opportunity and grave consequence. What you leave behind will be engraved on the lives of others. Assuming you survive…

Developer Commentatary

Underworld Ascendant is a return to the Underworld series, last visited in Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds over 22 years ago.

When we completed Ultima Underworld II in 1993, I never imagined that this classic fantasy RPG franchise would go dark for the two decades.

The Underworld’s were arguably the first immersive 1st person games. Not only were they the first to create a real-time 3D texture-mapped world, they also pioneered player-driven sandbox gameplay. They influenced a whole generation of games: Doom, Thief, Deus Ex, Skyrim, BioShock and more. Today, leading game designers view the Underworlds as still astonishingly modern in design.

But when released, the games were years ahead of their time and didn't fit into the established genres of that era. This contributed to the franchise falling between the cracks and becoming lost in the publisher’s labyrinth depths. Over the years I’ve tried without success to raise the Underworld series back up. Just now have the stars aligned so this can happen.

I started OtherSide Entertainment an indie studio to rekindle this classic. Joining me is an incredible team of developers, who will be introducing themselves over the coming weeks. Some worked with me on the original Underworlds, along with Looking Glass favorites like System Shock and Thief. Others contributed to more recent classics including Deus Ex and BioShock Infinite. We have deep understanding of the genre, and share a passion for bringing Underworld back.

The newest incarnation of the franchise, Underworld Ascendant, will retain the distinctive fantasy RPG gameplay of the originals. We already have an early prototype running on the PC. At that same time we will be pushing forward with new innovations --- I can’t wait to tell you more about what we have planned!

But this can only happen with your help. As an indie studio, we are looking to our fans to fund a significant portion of the development through our upcoming Kickstarter campaign, which begins on February 4th. We aren't shy about our ambitions to make a great game, but that takes serious resources and effort.

Beyond funding, we are inviting you in on the making of Underworld Ascendant. Rarely have fans been able to participate in the often unpredictable, sometimes messy creative process that gives birth to innovative games. We hope you’ll join us on this adventure!

Paul Neurath
Founder | OtherSide Entertainment

Trivia

Original Logo
Underworld ascendant.png
  • The original logo, used during the Kickstarter and prototypes prior to release, uses the traditional Ultima font.
  • The runic below the title spelled out the tagline, "Depths Awaken".


External Links

References

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