In 1992, Ultima Underworld changed the rules of what a fantasy RPG could be. It introduced the concept of 3D immersion, a player-authored experience, and a richly dynamic world to explore. Its influence led to a whole generation of games such as Thief, Deus Ex, BioShock, Skyrim, and Dragon Age.

Underworld has been hidden away in the deepest vaults of its publisher for two decades. Only now have the original creators unchained the franchise, freeing it to innovate yet again.

Backing the game grants you unprecedented front row access to the creation of the next epoch of this storied masterpiece, Underworld Ascendant. With your help, here's a glimpse at what we can together build:

- Exquisitely Realized Underworld – Plunge into The Stygian Abyss: dark, ripe with dangers, full of ancient secrets to discover. A vast subterranean fantasy world made startlingly real and alive.
- Dynamic Factions – Become embroiled in an epic plot, as rival factions vie for dominance in struggles that ebb and flow across The Stygian Abyss. Your choices will alter the outcome in subtle and dramatic ways.
- Improvisation Engine – Delight in player-authored gameplay taken to a whole new level, with a suite of technologies that empower you to solve challenges with astonishing ingenuity. Be the ‘MacGyver’ of a fantasy world.
- Hero to Call Your Own – Jump right in as a Fighter, Thief or Mage. Then as your Avatar grows, freely mix and match across any skills to develop a unique hero, tailored to your style of play.
- Pushing Boundaries – Stretch Goals will innovate on co-op play with a friend; letting you build your own corner of The Stygian Abyss; and more.

Hi everyone, 

Huge thanks for your continued support! Your passion for this project is quite wonderful.

Today we have reached 70% of our base funding goal! Also, we are now fewer than 225 new backers away from reaching our 8,000+ goal for this week, which will unlock the special weapon:


Steam Greenlight
Some of you may already know that yesterday we submitted Underworld Ascendant for Steam Greenlight.

We are pleased as punch to announce that Denis Loubet will be contributing his legendary artistic talents to Underworld Ascendant. Denis illustrated the box covers of every classic Ultima game, including the Ultima Underworlds! He will be doing the illustration for the COLLECTOR's EDITION of our game box, as well as other art for the game. Above is an early sketch Denis did while collaborating with us on the original Underworld box, along with a (naturally) artistic woodcut of Denis himself. Please check out Denis' Patreon campaign HERE, and his website HERE

Not yet a week in and Underworld Ascendant has already reached the #17 spot of 1,718 games in Steam Greenlight! Huge thanks to all of you for putting in the YES votes. Keep the YES votes coming and let's see if we can reach to the rarefied air of a top-10 spot.

We are thrilled to announce that Tracy Hickman is lined up to write a novel for Underworld Ascendant. Tracy is a best-selling fantasy author, known for the Dragonlance series, the Death Gate Cycle and Apogee of Fear to name a few. He also co-wrote with Richard Garriott, Blade of the Avatar, the book that tells the story behind Shroud of the Avatar.

Tracy’s talents as a fantasy author, together with his deep experience with gaming and close collaboration on Shroud of the Avatar, a world connected to ours, make him ideally suited to write the Underworld Ascendant novel. The novel is going to be set several generations before the game takes place, and tell the story of how a band of Dark Elves from the land of the Shroud of the Avatar passed through a magic portal to make an exodus into the Stygian Abyss. It will tell of their trials in this harsh and dangerous underworld, and of how they carved out a place for themselves. 

Over the last 2 weeks a number of folks have been asking about Mac and Linux versions. From our forum poll on platforms, we’ve also learned that a larger percentage of you play on Mac or Linux than we had anticipated. There is also some information suggesting that a non-trivial number of people who have come to check out the Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter page move on as soon as they see that we’re only showing Windows support up front. 

So… we have decided to roll Mac and Linux support into the base funding goal. There are tradeoffs when moving around features within a budget, but this seems worthwhile. One tradeoff is that it will likely mean we’ll need to hold off for a month or possibly longer to release the Mac and Linux versions following the initial Windows release (staging it this way helps to minimize budget impact.) 

If making this change brings in new backers and funding, then it will all be a wash, as we’ll be that much more likely to go past our first stretch goal. We do suggest that our Mac and Linux backers take a peek at a tier or two above where they are currently pledged...

The Team at OtherSide

As our Kickstarter campaign comes to an end, we cannot express enough how grateful we are to you, our fans and our community, for having faith in us, backing us, and helping us mold Underworld Ascendant into the game we all want it to be. This experience has been truly amazing for every one of us, something we will never forget!

Looking Ahead...

So, I’ll put two lines in the sand:

Prototype build sometime during Q4 2015.

Pre-Alpha build sometime during Q1 2016.

Two weeks ago, when I talked about making things look like they were burning, I promised I'd talk soon about the other side-the actual effect that fire has in game.

A few weeks back Tim and Chris described how we are using physics to allow arbitrary interactions with thing like traps. By having a physics model of objects and forces applied to them, we can resolve most physics situations.

Damage is an analogous problem. Some things in life count as "dangerous"-fire, swinging axes, big rocks, etc. In some cases such as the rock, and to a lesser extent the axe, damage is a direct result of its mass, shape and speed. In other cases, such as fire, the damage is just an innate part of "what it does". Just like the game has a physics system to decide how much force is applied to whom and what the result is, the game will have a damage system to decide how much damage is applied and what the results are. I did some work on that this week and have a little demo movie to share and discuss.

OtherSide Entertainment is elated to announce that Dave Flamburis has joined our team as Art Lead! Dave is an industry vet having worked with studios such as Harmonix, Papyrus and Demiurge. He has worked on over 30 shipped game titles, including Bioshock, Rockband, Borderlands, Medal of Honor, and recently contributed to the upcoming Adrift game. Dave is especially expert in 3D modeling and environments.

With over 375 votes cast in the "What type of character do you anticipate playing?" poll in the forums, we think it's safe to say that thief-style characters are the clear favorite. Sneaking through the Underworld and picking some pockets along the way is clearly a play style people enjoy. Throw in some backstabbery and trap disarming and, for 32% of you anyways, we'll have made the perfect game!

Wizards were also high on the list, with 26% of you wanting to master the arcane arts. Judging from the comments, a lot of folks actually want to combine the two archetypes into a magical-thief type character. We can't wait to see the Underworld's equivalent of the Gray Mouser!

Fighters came in the lowest, with 17% of our fans wanting to smash their foes with huge battleaxes and yell fearsome battle cries. Most people, it seems, want to blend their fighter-y characters with some thievery or magical means, making them a bit more well-rounded.

Luckily, the Underworld Ascendant character creation system will give players great leeway in creating characters from any or all of these archetypes, so all preferences will be supported. It's great to see folks already thinking about what they want to be in the Underworld, and this poll has helped us internally to realize how strong and desired our "open ended" character creation system is as a feature.

This week, Art Lead Dave Flamburis is going to take us through his process for creating concept art. Dave was tasked with concepting out how the natural caverns of the Underworld might be transformed into livable and utilitarian structures. Something the dwarves, elves or even some past race who existed in the Abyss might do. Enjoy!

I want to go there! Imagine the things to discover. What is through the "cathedral" archway? Where do the stairs on the right go? So many shadowy alcoves, SOMETHING must be hiding there, right?

I hope you agree. Thanks for reading!

CALABASAS, Calif. – Aug. 17, 2017 – 505 Games, a subsidiary of Digital Bros. S.p.A., announced today a partnership with development studio OtherSide Entertainment to publish fantasy RPG Underworld Ascendant, the next-generation sequel to the landmark Underworld franchise. The deeply experienced team at OtherSide studio – helmed by industry legends Paul Neurath (Ultima Underworld, Thief) and Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Epic Mickey) – has worked on many leading game franchises, which collectively garnered more than 200 awards and earned over $3 billion in revenues. Their current project, Underworld Ascendant, was first revealed on Kickstarter, where fans clamoring for the return of the storied masterpiece raised more than $850,000 for its creation.

“It’s another big moment for 505 Games, having the opportunity to partner with this talented team on such an iconic brand,” said Neil Ralley, president of 505 Games. “Ultima Underworld is among the greatest PC RPGs ever made, and we look forward to what Paul, Warren and their team will accomplish with the next generation of the franchise.”

In 1992, Ultima Underworld changed the rules of what a fantasy RPG could be, and introduced the concept of 3D immersion, a player-authored experience and an open world to explore. Now, OtherSide is making the next-generation PC follow-up to the series, innovating in bold new ways. Players will return to The Stygian Abyss, a breathtaking fantasy realm, rife with danger and full of intrigue. They are provided a wide array of tools to experiment with and create their own ingenious solutions to challenges. The story and world will react dynamically to player choices, challenging and rewarding their creativity and allowing them to author their experience.

“We’ve found a great partner in 505 Games; one who really supports and understands indie developers,” said Paul Neurath, CEO, OtherSide Entertainment. “We also have our fans to thank for helping make this dream a reality. Everyone who backed Underworld Ascendant on KickStarter is an important part of this project and we plan to keep them involved throughout development, sharing early builds and sourcing their feedback to help make this game amazing.”

“The original Underworld games broke new ground in the world of video game RPGs, and the Ascendant team is committed to innovation at that level,” said Warren Spector, studio director, OtherSide Entertainment. “Early builds already prove that, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

Underworld Ascendant will be published on Steam for PC in the second half of 2018. Players can Wishlist the game now at: http://store.steampowered.com/app/692840.