In several reviews here on GOG for Arx Fatalis, I've noticed that some people have said that Arx Fatalis is kind of a spiritual successor to the Ultima Underworld games, or it is at least similar to them.

Now, I enjoyed Arx Fatalis a whole lot, but I was wondering just how similar it is to Ultima Underworld.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Not much to say, they are very similar. In many ways UU is actually the better game (not talking about bugs, actual gameplay). It is almost definite that if you liked AF then you will like UU.

Thanks for the reply! I'll not buy the game right now, but I'll most likely do so in the future.

They are similar and that should not be surprising as Arx was originally intented to become Ultima Underworld III but Arkane could not obtain license from EA so they decided to make their own franchise instead.

Really? I never knew that before. Thanks for the info.

Ultima Underworld has actually inspired games outside its own genre like Wolfenstein 3D, Deus Ex, Bioshock, System Shock, Half-Life 2, etc........list could go on and on. Arx Fatalis is fascinating in that Arkane Studios were such big fans they essentially made the third installment themselves.

In Arx Fatalis you can bake bread and roast meat.
In Ultima Underworld you can cook Rotworm Stew with port and 'shrooms.

Is that information helpful? |-)

Ah! That's more what I was looking for (not the that the others were unhelpful).

It sounds like, at least for a first playthrough, I would almost enjoy Ultima Underworld a tiny bit more, at least in the combat department. I greatly enjoyed the combat in Arx, don't get me wrong, but most of the time, when I play a game through for the first time, I like to be able to kind of breeze through it, just to get a feel for the game. I usually reserve the second playthrough for the more challenging stuff. At times, though, Arx was a tad more challenging than I wished on a playthrough.

But I'm rambling. Thank you for the reply. It was definitely helpful.

No problem. I think UU just feels slower overall.

Also, be warned that the level-up system requires you to find a shrine and meditate, and you need to find some scrap of paper in some random place for each chant... I don't remember whether you can just read a FAQ and use mantras you haven't "learned" yet. But you'll probably have to write things down or consult guides or something, as it's not up to modern standards of hand-holding at all and it can take a long time to find quest locations and such. I don't remember there being any journal or map markers or such, just an automap.

Yeah, I read about level-up system in a review. I'm fine with that. I also don't mind a lack of directions. As long as I enjoy the game, I can usually get through such situations. (Of course, if I get really stuck, I don't find much shame in using a walkthrough to point me in the right direction.) In fact, Arx Fatalis sometimes just throws you into a quest without giving you much of a hint as to where you are supposed to be going. This happened a lot late in the game. I had to consult a walkthrough a few times to figure out where I was supposed to go, but I still found the game to be thoroughly enjoyable.

I see what you mean... It took me forever to find the blacksmith in the town of Arx.