Ultima Underworld

Lore & Background

Ultima Underworld is set in Britannia, the fantasy world of the Ultima series, specifically inside a large underground dungeon called the Great Stygian Abyss on the Isle of the Avatar, ruled by Baron Almric. The Abyss first appeared in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, containing the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. After the events of Ultima VI: The False Prophet, a man named Cabirus attempted to create a utopian colony inside the Abyss. He united diverse cultures and races in peaceful co-existence, planning to promote harmony by giving each group one of eight virtue-imbued magical artifacts. However, Cabirus died before distributing the artifacts, leaving no instructions. The colony collapsed into anarchy and war, and the artifacts were lost. At the time of the game, the Abyss contains the remnants of Cabirus's colony, inhabited by fractious groups of humans, goblins, trolls, and others.

In Their Own Story

Before the game begins, the Abyss-dwelling wizard brothers Garamon and Tyball accidentally summon a demon, the Slasher of Veils, while experimenting with inter-dimensional travel. Garamon is used as bait to lure the demon into a room imbued with virtue, but the demon offers Tyball great power if he betrays Garamon. Tyball agrees, but the betrayal fails: Garamon is killed but seals the demon inside the room. Because he lacks virtue, Tyball cannot re-enter by himself, and plans to sacrifice Baron Almric's daughter, Arial, at the doorway to gain entrance. In the game's introduction, Garamon's ghost haunts the Avatar's dreams with warnings of great danger. The Avatar allows Garamon to take him there, where he watches Tyball kidnap Arial. Tyball escapes, leaving the Avatar to be caught by the Baron's guards, who banish him to the Great Stygian Abyss to rescue Arial. The Avatar explores the dungeon, finds remnants of Cabirus's colony, and eventually defeats Tyball and frees Arial. As Tyball dies, he reveals he had decided to contain the Slasher of Veils within Arial to prevent it from destroying the world. Arial asks the Avatar to prevent the demon from being unleashed, and teleports back to the surface to evacuate its inhabitants. With help from Garamon's ghost, the Avatar gathers the eight talismans of Cabirus and throws them into the volcano at the base of the Abyss; Garamon's spirit uses the energy to open a portal and send the Slasher of Veils into another dimension. The Avatar is sucked through the portal into a chaotic alternate dimension, but escapes back to the Isle of the Avatar and makes it aboard the Baron's ship as the volcano erupts. Garamon's spirit reveals he teleported the Abyss's inhabitants to another cave.

Reader's Guide

Ultima Underworld is a role-playing video game that takes place from a first-person perspective in a three-dimensional environment. The player's goal is to adventure through a large, multi-level dungeon, in which the entire game is set. The player uses a freely movable mouse cursor to interact with the world and an icon-based interface on the heads-up display. Icons include Look to examine objects and Fight to ready weapons. Progression is non-linear: areas may be explored, and puzzles and quests finished, in any order. An automatically filling map, to which the player may add notes, records what the player has seen above a minimum level of brightness. Exploratory actions include looking up and down, jumping, and swimming. The player begins by creating a character, selecting traits such as gender, class, and skills ranging from fighting with an axe to bartering to picking locks. By participating in combat, quests, and exploration, the character gains experience points, levels up, and gains additional hit points and mana. Experience is required to recite mantras at shrines—statements like 'Om Cah' that increase proficiency in a specific skill when typed. Simple mantras are in the manual; complex ones are hidden throughout the game. An inventory lists items and weapons; carrying capacity is limited by weight. Players equip items via a paper doll system, clicking-and-dragging items onto a representation of the player character. Combat occurs in real-time with melee and ranged weapons; the player attacks by holding the cursor over the game screen and clicking, depressing the button longer for greater damage. Some weapons allow different attacks depending on cursor position—clicking near the bottom may result in a jab, clicking in the middle a slash. Simulated dice rolls determine weapon accuracy. Enemies sometimes try to escape when near death, and stealth mechanics may be used to avoid combat. The player may cast spells by selecting an appropriate combination of runestones, which must be found in the game world before use. There are over forty spells, some undocumented, with effects ranging from causing earthquakes to flight. The developers intended the game to be a realistic and interactive 'dungeon simulation': many objects have no actual use, while a lit torch may be used on corn to create popcorn. Weapons deteriorate with use, and the player character must eat and rest; light sources burn out unless extinguished before sleeping. A physics system allows items to bounce when thrown against surfaces. Non-player characters exist with whom the player may interact by selecting dialogue choices from a menu; most have possessions and are willing to trade. The game was designed to give players 'a palette of strategies' and its simulation systems allow for emergent gameplay.

Did You Know?

• Ultima Underworld has been cited as the first role-playing game to feature first-person action in a 3D environment, and it introduced technological innovations such as allowing the player to look up and down.
• The game sold nearly 500,000 units and was placed on numerous hall of fame lists.
• It influenced game developers such as Bethesda Softworks and Valve, and was an inspiration behind the games Deus Ex and BioShock.
• The game had a sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993), and a new game in the series, Underworld Ascendant, was released in late 2018.
• The developers called the game a 'dungeon simulation' because its design combines simulation elements with concepts from earlier role-playing video games, including Wizardry and Dungeon Master.