Ultima Underworld

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is a roleplay on computer, developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Origin Systems in 1992. The play is in the universe of Ultima, the series of roleplays created by Richard Garriott.

History

Large the Dark Abîme (Great Stygian Abyss) was formerly the most dangerous keep of all Britannia. It is at the bottom of this keep that the Avatar (the hero of the series Ultima) had been able, many decades before, to find the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom and to supplement the Quête of the Misadventure. But the years passing, an insane dream was born, carried out by Sir Cabirus: to make Dark Abîme a colony where in good intelligence all the species of Britannia would cohabit, in the respect of the eight virtues.

The idea appeared insane, and yet the dream became reality… For a time. Quickly, the tensions between the various factions within the Abyss went increasing. Only the personality of Sir Cabirus seemed to maintain a pretense of order within the colony, and this until the day when he was assassinated. It was then the end of the beautiful Utopia, and chaos reigned.

When the play starts, the colony of the Dark Abîme is nothing more than one prison where the criminals are dispatched. The guard of the Baron Almric makes sure that nobody never escapes from it.

For three nights, on ground, the Avatar has made the same strange dream. A spirit appears to him and announces to him that his/her brother is on the point of releasing a destroying evil on Britannia. But when the Misadventure opens the eyes this night, it is to be discovered on Britannia, in full heart of the castle of the baron Almric. It can only attend to with it impotent the removal of Arial, the girl of the baron, by a encapuchonné character who disappears as soon as his accomplished misdeed. The guard, arrived on the spot, discovers there only the Avatar, which becomes thus the ideal culprit. Taken along in front of the baron who refuses to believe that the man in front of him is the hero of Britannia, the Avatar will be seen finally thrown in the Abyss… with only one hope of exit: to find the girl of the baron Almric.

Play

The player moves in subjective sight in full heart of the Dark Abyss. The play is played mouse completely. All the engagements are in real-time. There exists also a system of magic which rests on the assembly of runes found with the length of the play.

The discovery of the Dark Abyss is not limited to a continuation of combat in an hostile environment. The dialog occupies a very great place in the play: the player discovers each community within the Abyss, his history, his tensions. In this direction, the play is a worthy heir to the series Ultima, famous to rather stress the adventure than on the successions of engagements and the profit of experiment to which were still limited the majority of the data-processing roleplays of the time.

By its technical realization and the immersion which it offered, the play had often been perceived at its exit like a revolution. The magazine Tilt had thus allotted to the play the note of 20/20 for the first - and single time of its long existence. In the beginning, the play was not designed to belong to the saga Ultima. Developed by the company Blue Sky Studios (which will become later Looking Glass Studios), under the aegis of Warren Spector, the play will be finally attached to the saga of Richard Garriott with his request. That explains why the play has many disparities with the universe of Britannia such as it is presented in the other episodes, and which one finds neither dwarves normally nor man-lizards as those that one can meet in the play.

It is by seeing a technical demonstration of the engine of the play that John Carmack had the idea to make a play of action in subjective sight. It is thus Ultima Underworld which is indirectly at the origin of the existence of the major plays which were Wolfenstein 3D and especially Doom.

Versions

Although having been developed with the base only on PC, Ultima Underworld tardily was also adapted on Playstation, specifically for the Asian market. The play was adapted to the capacities of the console of Sony and is played from now on in full screen. The sprites which represented the characters were replaced by models 3D, of a rather debatable quality alas. The Playstation version carried forever to occident.

Anecdotes

The man who doubles the character of the baron Almric during the introduction of the play is not other than Richard Garriott, the founder of the series Ultima. He will lend later his voice to Lord British in the introduction of Ultima VII leaves 2: Snake Isle.

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