Underworld Ascendant - Training Level Video

A new video for Underworld Ascendant shows off the training level for the first time.

First look into the training level of Underworld Ascendant! The opening level is a series of rooms that can be solved in multiple different ways – with some level of experimentation and thought.
Wishlist Today https://store.steampowered.com/app/692840/Underworld_Ascendant/

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More information.

They're obviously trying to make this as immersive and realistic as possible, yet you can move a burning crate with your bare hands. Wouldn't it be better to have the crate disappear, like the door?

I find it a bit unrealistic to talk about realism in a setting with magic and monsters.

pibbur

As long as not stated otherwise I assume that the protagonist is a human being where earthly physical and biological laws apply. So indeed I expect something like a health loss when touching burning stuff.

Having monsters or magic doesn't change this expectation. The latter could be an explanation of course, but I'd like to have it mentioned somewhere.

Backer update number forty-five had a nice selection of screen shots, makes me even more hungry for this game to be finished!!

I mostly like the art direction... the game world looks "fun." But I'm turned off by the neon-blue highlighting of objects and the sci-fi look of the UI icons that appear in the video. It's a strange match up for what is otherwise supposed to be a fantasy setting. I feel the same way about Bard's Tale IV, that game looks nice but I really hate that "Tron" inspired combat grid... just seems out of place. Come to think of it, the neon blue highlighting of objects in Underworld Ascendant too reminds me of Tron.

Hopefully devs implement some user interface options like deus ex devs. I'd really like to disable or atleast tune down that blue glow seen on that tutorial video. I find it very distracting to gameworld immersion. I understand perfectly well that items can be interacted with. No need to hammer it so much.

Hak'n'Slash said:

They're obviously trying to make this as immersive and realistic as possible, yet you can move a burning crate with your bare hands. Wouldn't it be better to have the crate disappear, like the door?

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Morrandir said:

As long as not stated otherwise I assume that the protagonist is a human being where earthly physical and biological laws apply. So indeed I expect something like a health loss when touching burning stuff.

Having monsters or magic doesn't change this expectation. The latter could be an explanation of course, but I'd like to have it mentioned somewhere.

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Watch the video again. He's losing health every second he's touching the burning crate.

What made me raise an eyebrow was when he simply punched through a different door with his bare fist. I'm going to assume there are multiple types of doors with different strengths\thickness.

I backed this (ages ago), but I still find the graphics style a bit odd - looks like the world is made of putty :-o

Hmmm...., I thought I was playing Thief there, not Underworld!!

The thief in the underworld ?

Corwin said:

Hmmm…., I thought I was playing Thief there, not Underworld!!

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booboo said:

I backed this (ages ago), but I still find the graphics style a bit odd - looks like the world is made of putty :-o

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Yea your right it does look like putty, weird.

+ BIG FONTS are the main positive feature of the video

- lame hands raised in the air
- lamest execution of fire I have seen in a long time
- voice actor's script is plain stupid. What idiot wrote that SHT?
- inept copy-catting features from Thief and other games

You know, why the engine is so sluggish? Thrown objects so slow? Because it is made with Unity and the programmer is not proficient enough to speed it up - versions, etc.. - its not a super fast in-house engine, built by their (non-existing) expert coder team.

It’s pre-alpha. Historically, on Warren’s teams, pre-alpha was never anywhere near art/animation complete, and lots of coding optimization is yet to come. Tons of new assets are going to be added and placeholders will be removed.

I see what y’all mean about the art style. It’s very unique. I imagine it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but nothing ever is.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Just want to clarify a few things;
- Yes, you take fire damage while holding burning objects.

- Yes, there will be options to turn ALL UI off for the Full Immersive Experience. We're actually still tweaking all of the UI right now, so it's useful to hear that some of you dislike the highlight and bright colors of some of the interactables. They were mostly there to test visibility, but we see the color and light itself may be too much.

- We're still in Alpha, so there's always room to improve the gameplay and animations itself. I know the game looks remarkably passable, as if we could ship within the next month or so, but please keep in mind that we're still working on it.

- We actually incorporated features and mechanics from previous games we've worked on, such as Thief, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and Deus Ex. We're glad you noticed!

- Optimization is still being worked on, and will be finished by around early-to-mid beta. It's not our highest priority while we're still missing key systems after all.

- The art style is specifically based on the idea of miniatures and old D&D boards. We've been thinking of highlighting our art style choices in the next Dev Diary, since we've received a lot of questions about it.