Ultima™ Underworld 1+2

Ultima Underworld I & II are simply incredible. I barely managed to finish the first, and, to be honest, never quite completed the second—but that never stopped me from enjoying them both immensely. That said, I couldn't help but notice some (newer?) players complaining about the "clunky, boxed graphics" and the difficult controls… Well, of course they are like that. These games were among the very first 3D games ever made! They came out in the '90s, pioneering mechanics and systems that would later shape the entire genre. Criticizing them for their visuals or interface is like dismissing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) for not being "colorful enough." Context is essential to truly appreciate any work of art—and believe me, these two games are exactly that. 5/5, without question.

Definitely one of my most favourite experiences in the 1990ies. Hardly any games have been able to suck me into their worlds like these two. Ultima Underworld has set standards for decades to come, this was the first smoothly scrolling dungeon available in a maintream AAA product, the magic system was different from what you ever saw before and the variety of worlds (part 2) was amazing. I love those games up to this day. The combat music is in my ears right now. Gotta play. :)

What can i say, these games are near perfect. I you like to dungeon crawl, explore, discover secrets of the underworld deeps, then this series is for you. This was also one of the first "3d" 1st person perspective games, which boasted some impressive tech for its day. The GOG release is solid, but it is unfortunate that the default sounds and music patches aren't quite right on my Win7 system. This can be corrected but may require significant research on part of the player. Nothing beats playing this game using the an original Roland MT-32/ CM64L or compatable Roland sysex sound device. These old external sound devices are ideal as they can be plugged in to modern computers through a USB/Midi cable. Then is a simple matter of telling Dosbox to use the external device as default midi port. This whole process was much easier in WinXP byt he way.

A lot of people seem to prefer first one due to the atmosphere but I personally think second one is better: better graphics, bigger size for the visible game area, more diverse locations. The one thing where I can agree is first game as you went down the level deeper into the abyss felt like it had a nicer progression. This game is a bit all over the place and relies on user's imagination for example what the Goblin tower world or Tarna's desert might look like. It only gives you quick bits and pieces from each world but you're left wanting for more. Overall I think is a great game and highly recommended. For those who have a hard time with the control look up online to Ultima Hacks github repo and look visit the website which allows you to patch the executable to add mouse wheel support and mouse freelook making it a slightly bit more modern experience. If you combine the mouse look with Dosbox-X with scalers for example to make it slightly nicer looking then you can get a bit better experience.

You read that right! There has never been a game in this subgenre before or since that has been as influential, innovative, or damn good as this title the Ultima series is already very important in the history of ALL RPGs, even JRPGs, but this one is a First Person spinoff that was developed by the team that would go on to make classics such as System Shock and Deus Ex. But, everything that makes those games good is already here, in primordial form! The whole of "immersive sim" and even Arkane's whole shtick begins here. Plus, this is the game that inspired the ENTIRE Elder Scrolls series! They basically just took this games design, and decided to make a massive world out of it(which ends up being less polished and more buggy than this title's contained environments). the 3D engine is also FAR more advanced than Wolfenstein 3D(which came out AFTER), with the ability to look up and down, NPCs to talk to with dialog trees, and rudimentary physics. If you like classic PC RPGs, this one is pretty much ESSENTIAL, and doesn't require much knowledge of Ultima lore to jump into.