Underworld Ascendant - More than a spiritual Successor @ The Escapist

Underworld Ascendant is More Than a Spiritual Successor

The Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter was a great success, and the team at Otherside Entertainment looks to be hard at work on the shared vision of an RPG based on player choice, rather than stats and single-solution puzzles. An interesting twist to this Kickstarter success story is that Otherside was able to acquire the rights to much of the original Ultima Underworld games, excepting the Ultima brand itself. Ascendant is going to be a narrative sequel to the early 90s classics, rather than a spiritual successor, and Otherside wants to celebrate the innovative roots with Ascendant.
Otherside is hoping to make Ascendant more about player ingenuity than grinding levels and gear. Character progression isn't going away, but instead of incremental stat increases, your character levels will be primarily about gaining skill points to unlock new abilities among the three class trees; Fighter, Mage, and Thief. This progression is akin to the open character class system of recent hits like Skyrim, in that you never have to commit to a single class, instead spreading your points between the three class trees to suit your playstyle.
A player focused on stealth would want to commit primarily to the Thief tree, but a bit of magic can go a long way, so dabbling in the early Mage trees would be able to offer extra utility, especially with the customizable spell system. Magic in Ascendant is making some changes to the standard spellbook. The system has been done before, but customizing spells has always been a personal favorite feature, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. A couple of examples offered were a heat-seeking fireball and a light spell that reveals undead. Depending on the depth of the customization options, it could lend itself to a uniquely personal experience, as your creations could be entirely novel, offering new options for solving puzzles and defeating encounters.

Otherside is working now on the Improvisation Engine, which is the core of the choice-based gameplay the team is striving for. The idea is that any given obstacle or encounter should be approachable by multiple gameplay styles. A fighter might want to hack and cleave his way through an encounter, while a thief will prefer sneaking past by sticking to the shadows. An example from the Kickstarter is trying to cross a river inhabited by a hungry lurker. If you're tough enough, you can fight it toe to toe (though a common theme in my conversation was that the combat route was generally incredibly difficult), but if you're looking to get around, you might distract it by throwing a lurker delicacy upstream a bit to lure it away, or even charm a cave spider nearby to carry you to the other side.
The concept of an open-ended solution to any given situation is absolutely incredible to think about, but it remains to be seen just how well it is executed. If Otherside manages to get this working, it will be a huge leap forward for RPGs, but we've seen similar claims before, which universally resulted in a handful of pre-determined solutions to a given encounter, rather than a genuinely open-ended system that will give you the sensation of tabletop RPGs. If you've played D&D, you've probably tried to convince your DM to let your 18-strength fighter roll a strength check to throw your halfling rogue across the river. If Otherside manages to make an engine that can offer that kind of choice, it will truly innovate the RPG genre. Even if it's not entirely freeform, it sounded like there would be a wide variety of solutions available, even if they're finite.

Underworld Ascendant is targeting a Q4 2016 release, so we've got plenty of time to see how it's developing. If you're looking for more, the game's website has an abundance of information.

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wolfgrimdark said:

Looks very interesting - thank you for posting this. Got it on the radar now.

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CelticFrost said:

I just hope they don't take much more time than the end of 2016. Also I hope they keep LB far, far way from it. He was lurking around the project when it was first on kickstarter.

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CelticFrost said:

Also I hope they keep LB far, far way from it. He was lurking around the project when it was first on kickstarter.

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JDR13 said:

Duh.. I must be tired.

It's not an MMO, so I doubt we have to worry about him trying to get involved.

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JDR13 said:

Duh.. I must be tired.

It's not an MMO, so I doubt we have to worry about him trying to get involved.

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Wisdom said:

Oh but it could be! What if we started selling character names in advance? Even tho its a single player game with no online component we could charge for the right to reserve unique names! So you can feel secure knowing nobody else is using Drizzt as the name of their dark skinned ranger.

PS. Limited time offer on Gothic Lantern! Don't delve this dungeon in the dark or the standard torch!

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DArtagnan said:

What's with the LB hate?

The Shroud of the Avatar thing?

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DArtagnan said:

He does seem to have lost his touch many years ago. But the guy more or less revolutionised CRPG storytelling.

Most people don't do much at all when it comes to much at all - so I can't really be too hard on the guy.

That said, I'm still undecided about SotA. I think it has potential - but it's in a really sorry state at this point.

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CelticFrost said:

Is it he lost touch or feels he missed out?
One of the greats that seem to have sat back, sold off and has been doing everything possible to get back in.

To me it would seem he is trying to make a game/facebook/candycrush all in one. It is a social, RPG with millions of micro transactions.

I was on the fence post for the longest time but have moved off that farm and on to other things.

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DArtagnan said:

I think that's a little harsh and without much basis - but whatever

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CelticFrost said:

Wasn't really trying to be harsh, nor think I was being harsh. He has a group of work since he sold the company to base this off of.

This latest project from what I have read and seen is to me how I described above. He has never done anything to harm me or anyone I know so I am not on a witch hunt. I personally just think it must be hard for to be the king of games and now trying to be even relevant in the gaming world.

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CelticFrost said:

I am hoping that a six person team can pull it off and meet their dead line.

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