Underworld Ascendant - Review @ PC Gamer

Another review comes from wccftech:
https://wccftech.com/review/underworld-ascendant-underwhelming/
Pros
- Nice cartoonish look
- Knows Ultima inside and out

Cons
- Struggles to utilise any new mechanics
- The interaction just isn't immersive by todays standards
- Has boring combat
- And stealth
3/10

Underworld Ascendant touches on something but never really grasps it. It doesn't utilise any of the improvements from its long absence from the industry and even falls flat compared to the game it is meant to be the successor of.
 
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They sent out a Backer Update (#66) yesterday which contains a link to a spreadsheet with the status of all the backer rewards. I looked at it because I was curious when/if I might ever get the physical copy I'm supposed to:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ErSXSN7hdDP-8kfw7SUEqywIy011W1IGQO9kuFrAJsE/edit#gid=0

It's amazing how many of the promised things aren't done, or in many cases, don't even sound close to being done. Especially for the highest-tier backers.
 
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Well to be honest I think they blew most of the cash on system shock (remember that project being put on hold). This is of course bad management across the board. What I'm more shocked is the over-all quality of these big names individuals are providing compare to some indie games. To be honest I'm almost willing to give bard tale iv a pass because they actually had a well thought out design they didn't quite execute on it (there is imho a small gap between a bad game and great game); but this one - this one seems like they realize they had no funds and came up with garbage; that was then poorly executed upon.... It is amazing what a team of 2 or 3 can do when they don't have to worry about paying office bills... keep it small and talented....
 
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The System Shock remake is Night Dive, a completely different developer. These guys are making System Shock 3.
 
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The most recent hotfix fixes quite a few issues.

  • Added "Swimming" (Crouch while in water to sink)
  • Walking through shallow water has been improved
  • Arrows now function as expected
  • More magic runes are now in Aelita's rotation for sale
  • Fullscreen exclusive graphics option is now preserved between gameplay sessions
  • When the player collects the final Abyssal Key, the gate to the Midnight Forum now opens as expected
  • Fixed a rare bug when The Vault of Nyx did not open when the player had all 8 keys
  • Saurians are now less chatty
  • The secret shortcut to the Vault of Nyx has been sealed
  • Infinite loading screen crash for the opening level has been fixed
  • Subtitles can be now toggled On or Off (See: Options->Gameplay)
  • Graffiti language in-level now changes when the player changes their language settings
  • Tuned movement controls for stopping and starting. The controls now respond faster to player input
  • Kickstarter backers will receive 8 dire berries instead of 1
  • General movement fixes
  • Various rare crash fixes

It's good to know that at least they're working on it.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,129
Location
Florida, US
The most recent hotfix fixes quite a few issues.

  • Added "Swimming" (Crouch while in water to sink)
  • Walking through shallow water has been improved
  • Arrows now function as expected
  • More magic runes are now in Aelita's rotation for sale
  • Fullscreen exclusive graphics option is now preserved between gameplay sessions
  • When the player collects the final Abyssal Key, the gate to the Midnight Forum now opens as expected
  • Fixed a rare bug when The Vault of Nyx did not open when the player had all 8 keys
  • Saurians are now less chatty
  • The secret shortcut to the Vault of Nyx has been sealed
  • Infinite loading screen crash for the opening level has been fixed
  • Subtitles can be now toggled On or Off (See: Options->Gameplay)
  • Graffiti language in-level now changes when the player changes their language settings
  • Tuned movement controls for stopping and starting. The controls now respond faster to player input
  • Kickstarter backers will receive 8 dire berries instead of 1
  • General movement fixes
  • Various rare crash fixes

It's good to know that at least they're working on it.

So is it a demo or a game?
 
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Apr 2, 2011
Messages
3,381
BT4 made my list by a "hair." It had just enough bugs and missing features that were promised form its kickstarter to be worrisome..

What features are still missing? Genuinely interested.
 
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What features are still missing? Genuinely interested.

The two big ones for me were the grid based movement and a proper save game system.
 
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Oct 18, 2006
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Oregon
Good to see that they are working on the game, perhaps it will make a full recovery and turn into something close to what was expected. I think there are many more updates to come, so for now it will sit patiently in my library.
 
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Good to see that they are working on the game, perhaps it will make a full recovery and turn into something close to what was expected. I think there are many more updates to come, so for now it will sit patiently in my library.

No, it will never make anything like a full recovery. There's no way.
 
Probably not, but I'm a glass half full kind of guy. I'm simply glad it wasn't utterly abandoned, based on the lackluster reviews that I've both heard from friends and read in articles.
 
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