Ultima Underworld Returning??!

[Ziroc]

The Co-Creator of Looking Glass Studios is indeed working on it!

http://www.othersideentertainment.com/

(and Facebook page) https://www.facebook.com/OtherSideEntertainment



Games Pioneer Paul Neurath Forms OtherSide Entertainment and Announces its First Game, Underworld Ascension™

July 1st, 2014 – Boston, USA – OtherSide Entertainment, a new independent games studio, today announced its formation. Fronted by game pioneer Paul Neurath, OtherSide Entertainment revealed that its first title, Underworld Ascension™, will mark the return of the groundbreaking and long fallow Underworld franchise.
Paul Neurath, Founder and CEO of OtherSide Entertainment, is renowned for his creative direction spanning three decades, notably leading the development of such classic franchises as Thief™, System Shock™ and the acclaimed Ultima™Underworld.
Underworld Ascension marks both the series and Paul Neurath’s return to his RPG roots, with OtherSide Entertainment aiming to innovate and revitalize the fantasy genre in the same way that its predecessor did in 1992. “With Underworld Ascension,” said Neurath, “we are excited to be bringing back the Underworld franchise, making it more vital than ever before.”

[CerebroDragon]

G'day Ziroc, long time no post! Glad to see Ironworks is still around...some of the best post archives are still here thankfully!

This is amazing news, is it not? It really made my week last week to hear about this. It truly put a big stupid dungeon crawling smile on my face.

Here's a youtube clip of Paul discussing the concepts of Underworld with PCGamer. Well worth the listen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sh_DY28wl4

It's a shame we didn't get to see Arx Fatalis 2, but with Underworld returning to the fold, perhaps we'll finally see a return to the highly immersive, environmentally interactive, fully underground dungeon crawler. UU and UU2 are two of my favourite games of all time; had a blast with them during my university years.

For me, it'll be very interesting to next hear how Paul and his team intend to create the content and tie in setting and lore to the new game, since it's unlikely they'll get the Ultima trademark to allow direct continuity that way with the series.

At this stage, I'm thinking something like Thief meets Dark Messiah meets Arx with the choices of say Dishonored. In any case, it's going to be great to hear more about their project.