RPGWatch Feature: Underworld Review

Corwin looks at Underworld - a retro, early Might & Magic inspired game from Classic Games Remade. Here's a sample:

This is an old-fashioned, turn based, party RPG and your first job is to roll up a party of adventurers. You can create a party of up to six characters and there are six classes to choose from. Race and gender options are also available, but they didn't appear to make much, if any, real difference during the game. Class certainly did as many items have class restrictions upon them. The six possibilities are Knight, Paladin, Archer, Thief, Priest and Sorcerer. I began with a balanced party, but later swapped to try other builds. You begin in an Inn, with some very primitive gear, a little gold and no idea what to do except explore the town a little. Good Luck.

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Sounds pretty good and right up my alley. I'll be sure to give this a look after I finish the Ultima-6 Project. Should be a couple hundred gaming hours away from it.

Aaaargh! I hate you Corwin.

I had great plans for today to work on my garden, then I read your review. I got hooked and bought the game. Four addictive hours later the garden continues to look as though it is the "before" picture in a fertilizer ad.

The least you can do is fly over and finish the garden while I play :-)

I still have not finished this game, myself. I know that the next time I sit down to play, hours will go by, and nothing else will get done that day. I'm glad that others are enjoying it as well.

Thanks Corwin, sounds like great fun!
Gonna send a link to Blue.

Agreeing on all points, started playing shortly after you, finished just the other day, very enjoyable. Am trying it again with a different party load, dropping 2 classes that were least useful at the back half of game, makes the front half almost impossible, very fun.

Havent bought this one yet but it looks worth 20$ to help support further development of these types of games. Thanks to Corwin for playing and reviewing I think I will buy it and add to my play list.

Anyone need less work and more CRPG Time?!!!

@Saxon1974 Definitely! I'd love to have more hours in the day to play U6P. If anyone loves Ultima, then you really need to find a copy of Dungeon Siege or Dungeon Siege Legend of Aranna and give this game a shot.

The guy who did the music for U6P is looking for other projects. Does Underworld have music? If not, or if more could be used, then the Developer might want to contact DWG over at Project Brittania.

Hi crpgnut,

UW does have some - and although it might benefit from a little more I'm starting to shift my focus towards a new title rather than further patching. New music will need to be considered although further down the line. I'll keep DWG in mind!

Thanks again to Corwin & RPGWatch for the great review, including the criticism which helped improve!

Great game - very addictive. Money well spent, thanks for the heads up Corwin.

I am really quite excited that a one man indie was able to put this game together. This game is just a tad short of Might and Magic 6 quality. And when the indie shops start putting out games like that, I will be refocusing my whole gaming time.

So quick question. How do I get out of the first town? I have just started exlploring the catacombs via the tavern owner. Am I heading in the right direction?

You most certainly are.

I've dabbled a bit in the demo too. I'm still playing U6P, but I hope to give this some serious time during an upcoming vacation/holiday. Looking forward to it.

Okay, I'm going on vacation at the end of the week, so I went ahead and purchased the game. I've messed with the demo enough to know that this is very old-school and it strongly reminds me of the Yendorian Tales trilogy that was released several years ago. Chapters 2-3 of the YT set have similar graphics to this game, so if you liked Underworld then you should definitely see if YT can still be purchased. Both games seem to mimic the Might and Magic series, which is a good thing imho.

Is the standard party viable in this game or should I skip a certain class? Feel free to give me some input before I get too far in the game

I would say the standard party's just fine (although I'm somewhat biaised ). Some people played it through several times with different parties and reported their class preferences (which led to a few adjustments). I think the standard party's the most effective now, although some would argue differently and replace the rogue.

To answer your question though it's definitely viable.

Have a great holiday!

Okay, next question: This game is supposedly based off the old might and magics with a little Wizardry thrown in…where's the loot? I've leveled up to 3 and I've found one wood shield and a packet of salt. The older games are all about combat and loot and this game hasn't really had any loot to speak about yet. I keep finding gold, but only 1 combat in 100 are offering items. If the loot doesn't pick up real quick this'll have to be set aside. I want rewards for fighting

Loot has a pretty high drop rate on random encounters (about 15-20%), but only if the monsters carry it (drakes don't ever drop loot for instance). Then there's a 50% chance for a second item to drop if a first one did.

On fixed encounters (like behind the locked doors in the inn or the arenas) loot isn't randomized. Usually there is none but there are exceptions. Using the search option acts like looking more closely and will lead to a few interesting finds.

How you got to lvl 3 can largely affect the loot you've found. With just exploration of the catacombs you should get a lot more than what you described though. Even Highnest should do much better than that. But if much of the xp comes from the arena or breaking into inn rooms then loot will be scarce.

Then there's the luck factor which evens out over time.

Eventually tons of loot drops though you get better stuff away from the starting area. Definitely use SEARCH as it will reveal extra things. That sometimes includes lots of gold!!

I'm level 5 now and running around in the barracks. So far it's the same exact creatures as the catacombs with one exception. I'm finding the occasional item down here, though I wouldn't call it a loot extravaganza. I've got 3 weapons that aren't available from town, and I've got 3-4 armor pieces that aren't up there. I do have 2 crossbows, though only one archer. I gave the best weapon, which I found by searching the pantheon, to the rogue. It's making a huge difference when facing the "one tough creature" type of combats. He'll hit for nearly 200 on an assassinate. Variety is seeming to be the biggest lack so far, outside of generally low loot. I'm averaging 1 loot drop every 9.7 combats since I started keeping track. I can't believe there isn't a page down option in the shops so we can get more than 6 items in a shop. Oh well.

Cleric needing water keeps sending my back upstairs. I could stay down nearly indefinitely if I could find a source of water/food down here.

There is a spell for that. There are also places with water down there once you find them.

The spell for creating water comes later though (lvl 4 spell, which means lvl 7 required).

Monsters in the barracks are indeed similar as the catacombs but the next lvl, the lair, introduces new mobs. Altogether there are 90 throughout the game.