About this project

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.

Veteran game designer Paul Neurath is bringing the Underworld series back with a new game, Underworld Ascension.

He's set up a new studio in the Boston area, called OtherSide Entertainment, to do the honours.

Neurath's Ultima Underworld lifted a veil on what people expected from a video game. It was first-person, 3D and had you explore the ruins of a vast underground utopian civilization.

It would inspire The Elder Scrolls series of games as well as Ken Levine and his celebrated Shock games, among others.

Neurath would also go on to co-found Looking Glass Studios, the studio behind System Shock and Thief.

"With Underworld Ascension, we are excited to be bringing back the Underworld franchise, making it more vital than ever before," commented Neurath.

Exactly how he plans on doing that, so many years after Ultima Underworld made a splash, remains to be seen. We're to expect more details in the coming months. His old friends are keen, though.

Commented Ken Levine: "Underworld had a transformative effect on my understanding of what games were. It was the first time I ever felt 'inside' of an imaginary world. It was the game that primed all of my creative ambitions."

Commented Warren Spector: "As producer on the original Ultima Underworld games, I'll never forget the first time I saw a working prototype of the game - I felt as if the world had just changed. As the first fully-textured, real-time, first-person game, Underworld paved the way for every other first-person game that followed. If that doesn't qualify as 'changing the world', I don't know what does!"

Commented Richard Garriott: 'I went to space!' No no, not really. Here's what he actually said: "For those of us lifelong gamers that go back to the early days the Underworld franchise, created by Paul Neurath, represents a watershed event on what an immersive 3D true role-playing game can be like. In these days, where we are seeing many of these greats return, I personally am as excited about Underworld as any game I can imagine."

Finally, Chris 'rake-it-in' Roberts commented: "Ultima Underworld was truly revolutionary for its time - it was the first fully 3D textured first person game. As such it influenced pretty much all first person 3D games that came afterwards and could be truly called the granddaddy of first person role-playing games."

Commented Richard Garriott: 'I went to space!' No no, not really. Here's what he actually said: "For those of us lifelong gamers that go back to the early days the Underworld franchise, created by Paul Neurath, represents a watershed event on what an immersive 3D true role-playing game can be like. In these days, where we are seeing many of these greats return, I personally am as excited about Underworld as any game I can imagine."