Ultima™ Underworld 1+2

Ultima Underworld was one of the first 3D games and the first actual 3D Dungeon Crawler. It's famous for it's immersive atmosphere and the incredibly designed Stygian Abyss. Its sequel has a less foreboding atmosphere but it's awesome nonetheless. Not much needs to be said. Should be on every RPG gamer's shelf. Keep an eye out for the oncoming "third" game (spiritual sequel), Underworld Ascendant.

Folks, what you are looking at, while playing Ultima Underworld I, is the very first FPS in the history of computer gaming. Before Castle Wolfenstein. Before Doom. A game where you can pick stuff in the screen, then use thos to interract with your surroundings. A game where your gear will go bad from damage, where you need to lit torches to see, where you must consumes food, where every actions have a consequence - like taking that food that belongs to that friendly outcast there, who suddenly becomes angry at you. The depth of the game is truly amazing - to say the least. When you get down to it, it's hard to imagine that this game has been released in... 1992. It's in fact one of the single most important game of all gaming history. Without this game, there would have been no FPS in the first pace. And you know what? 20 years later, it's still incredibly fun.

Aside from Catacomb 3-D predating this game, it comes out a few months before even Wolfenstein 3d mentioned below. Showing impressive elements ahead of its time, with a expansive element of a map system, and tons of loot to locate as you transverse dank dark dungeons. Meeting friends or a few foes. Its free from this posting of this, do not wishlist it, but GRAB IT NOW. along with the other freebies!

before i had to reset my laptop i lost al my save data (sad dark times these are) anyways i put about five hours into the game and i was only at level 3 these are massive dungeons they are crawling with goblins, spiders, traps and all things that you should be scared off in the dark, this is a game was a big step up in video games and role playing genre since the designer lord british is the pioneer of the crpg genre when he started off with the little game akalabeth. the story you must save the princess and stop the guardians forces from over throwing britiana, you have been thrown into the dungeon cuz of a lie and know you must prove your worth and rescue the princess, beat the guardian and save the britiana once again, you must search for armor, arm yourself with your axes, swords, shields and other medieval weponary to defend yourself in the cold dark dungeons, eat and sleep to save your strength and to replenish your health and explore the catacombs, this is a big dungeons and it will take you maybe one or two hours of exploring and finding path ways to get down to the other dungeon, people would call this dungeon crawl, first person rpg, sandbox rpg etc, yes the elements and genres are in this game but its not about the story thats fun about it, its like a fantasy dungeon crawler simulation, of what you would do in the dungeons and how you will survive, you can even talk to people and they will give you little sidequests or you can ditch that and just carry on with your quest there so many possiblities its amazing from a retro rpg game, i am in love with rpg and playing one of the first rpg games in histroy it was amazing to go through and i brought the other collections of ultima but this one grew on me i love all that fantasy medieval stuff, this is a game for people who are obessed with rpg games, if you like elder scrolls, dungeons and dragons games, wizadry and the other rpg games well my fellow peasents this one you should buy and play... peace out

Because of the 2000 letter limitation I only mention the drawbacks of UW in this review. The controls are awkward. It needs patience and pratice to get on with the controls nonetheless it is hard and cumbersome to control the character quick and precise. Especially the jump riddles can be very frustrating! Not everything was good in the past! No tutorial, the use of the game-manuell and cluebook is very recommended without the game can be very painful and frustrating, you can turn the game unwinnable be killing the wrong person or destroying the wrong object, no hotkeys for magic so it is cumbersome to change spells, only 4 save slots. There are 8 selectable classes in the game but it only effects the starting gear, stats and skills. In the rest of the game it has no effect. It is very recommended to play as a melee fighter because archery is horrible in this game. Maintaining the minimum range to your enemy to fire your missile weapons is very frustrating because of the speed of the enemys and the controls also you have to pick up every single projectile after each fight be yourself. Play as an offensive mage isn´t better because spells also have a minimum range and after a couple spells your are out of mana, so you have to rest and scavenge for food very often because mana regenerates incredible slow. The skillsystem is mostly fake. More than 50% of the skills are barely implemented or useless. Imbalanced. There are only a few pieces of every equiptmentclass mostly 3-4 different pieces, like leather, chain and plate armor. So don´t be suprised when you found the best armor or weapon beside quality and enchantment (you can repair and enchant items be yourself) after completing only 10-20% of the game. That´s a major let down for exploration. I barely found any useful armor or weapon in the second half of the game! Most of the time the game let you in the dark. What does a great protection enchantment exactly means or what´s the worth of an unblemished gem?