Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

"RPG of Legend"

Ultima Underworld is one of those games that just never lost it's appeal for me. Being a veteran of the Ultima series, I found Underworld's premise inviting. The Ultima series continuously puts the player in the role of a hero known as The Avatar. When I'd play the Ultima games, specifically Ultima 6 & 7, I'd get the feeling I was in the role of an immortal hero. A powerful figure who has constantly returned to the land to trounce evil. You'd especially get this impression when you'd travel to some town and an NPC would say something akin to- "I recognize you from paintings. You're the Avatar! Welcome!" Ultima Underworld continues the swords-and-sorcery adventures of The Avatar, but in an almost wildly different premise.

In Ultima Underworld, the heroic reputation has been thrown out in a sense. The story begins with you being transported to a distant island Barony. Your arrival is completely unexpected. In fact, you arrive in the bedroom of the Baron's daughter, just after she's been kidnapped. The baron doesn't readily believe you when you say you're The Avatar (guess he hasn't been watching the news). The short part of the story is that you are thrown into the Abyss- a huge, sprawling dungeon where the baron has been depositing lawless types over the years. It's also where the kidnappers took his daughter. The game begins at the point where you've just been thrown into The Abyss. If you play the game (use Dosbox) then watch the introduction and you'll see this intro in better detail.

You start with no weapons, armor, spells or anything. A very unceremonious beginning for the immortal hero who has saved the land countless times. No towns to retreat to if you need to rest or get new equipment. You can trade with various inhabitants, but the best things are found while exploring. As you adventure you deal with the need to eat, sleep and find better equipment. You start to learn about this underworld known as The Abyss, which has a story all in it's own. The question is- if you were some great hero who was rudely dumped into an underworld expanse, how would you cope? The two ways out are to find the Baron's daughter.. or die. Or, does another way out exist? It's up to you to find out.

Underworld is standard in the fact that you gain experience points and go up in character levels, like many other RPGs. While you do gain experience from battling monsters, you also gain small portions of experience simply from exploring, which I've seen in only a few other RPGs.

Ultima Underworld is not a terribly difficult game. Yet, it's important to use common sense and know what you're doing. For example, if you fight with a sword and have no sword skill, you may damage it when fighting with it. Remember, there's no towns to run to in order to simply buy new equipment. Underworld focuses on exploring and finding. That rusty old dagger you found is your best friend for the moment. But, there's better things out there.. somewhere. While the entire dungeon has a background story, each individual level of the dungeon has it's own inhabitants, events and various things. There's rarely a dull moment, especially if you're one who likes to explore. One thing is for sure- you're not simply in some random monster-bash type RPG, yet there's enough monsters to bash. There's lots of things to see and do. It's the seeing and doing that makes Ultima Underworld a golden experience.

As a side note, the producer of Ultima Underworld is credited to Warren Spector, who later worked on other high-quality games such as Thief, the System Shock series and Deus Ex. Spector also made some contributions to Origin's highly praised Wing Commander series. Ultima Underworld's designers were Paul Neurath and Doug Church.

Basic breakdown:

graphics 10 out of 10 - (for it's day)
Ultima Underworld does use pixel graphics, as did most games of it's time. However, it was released a little before such "breakthrough" games as Doom. Underworld's graphics are just a touch better. I remember when Doom first game out and it's graphics were slightly less quality than this. I can still see the faces of enemies in Underworld when I get close. Yet, in Doom, when I'd get close, faces tended to become a pixellated soup. In short, Underworld's graphics are better than a score of games that came out after it did- A touch better even than some games that are now considered legends.

Control 9 out of 10
Getting around in Ultima Underworld can be as simple or as complicated as you desire. You can use the mouse to move your character around (not too convenient since the game is in first person). Or you can simply use S to move forward, A to turn left, W to turn right, etc. You might want to look up Dan Simpson's "keyboard commands" text file, which as of this writing, is still found in this GameFAQ's FAQ section for this game. It greatly simplifies things.

Music and Sounds 8 out of 10
There are several different scores of background music that play as you travel. They are well done for the day and do a good job conveying the feeling of The Avatar's gloomy state. However, that's all the music variety the game has. The music is the same on the lower levels as it is on the early levels. Still, as well done as it is, the music didn't seem to grow old, even as I came close to the end of the game. Sound effects are pretty basic, some sound effects less-than-basic. The sound of a bat's wings flapping, for example, sound like someone gently raking their fingernails on the side of a glass bottle. Still, there's very little to complain about. I didn't find any sounds to be overly annoying in any way.

Story / Gameplay - 10 out of 10
If you've ever seen the old move "Escape From New York" then think of this as a game with a _very_ similar premise, except in a swords and sorcery type setting. You're also supposed to be some famous hero who's been mistaken for a criminal and has been treated as such. The story begins and ends with that premise. In between it all, there's the strange story behind the Abyss itself and how the various inhabitants fit into it all. Even if you want to throw all that story-stuff away, just exploring it all is fun from beginning to end.

Bottom Line
At the time it was released, many home computers couldn't handle it's then-demanding hardware requirements. As much as I like this game, I still can't call it flawless, but it's close. It is the humble opinion of this reviewer that Ultima Underworld is one of the more overlooked gems of it's day.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/11/08

Game Release: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (US, 1992)