News Underworld Ascendant Launch Trailer

lashman

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Launching November 15th on Steam! From the creative minds behind the acclaimed Ultima Underworld, System Shock and Thief series. In Underworld Ascendant®, Paul Neurath and Warren Spector's OtherSide Entertainment challenges you to think creatively in an interactive sandbox environment. Enter The Stygian Abyss, a dangerous, highly interactive dungeon world. Mix and match dozens of combat, stealth and magic skills to develop your own unique style of play.
 

Blizniak

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What a year for RPGs.
I only ever put 5 maybe 6 hours into Ultima Underworld but I'm really excited for this one.
 
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prudis

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Always so this as pretty much low-bubudget fantasy dungeon version of Deus Ex gameplay set in Ultima world more than anything and it definitelly looks fine for that .
But kinda expecting lot of "its not RPG enough" and "its not Ultima" rants on RPG purist sites (my expectation got confirmed by quick look at RPGCodex)

Really curious how it ends upo being , the imprssions from beta wasnt really that great because of technical szate , but the promise is definitely there ... lets hope they manage to smash the worst bugs before launch
 
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Nahkapukki

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Not really a fan of the artstyle but I love the Ultima Underworld games and I'm a big fan of Looking Glass games so... I'm going to buy this even if it means that my wife will break my cock.
 
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Lain

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Nice looking trailer. This and the email I received earlier urging me to choose between a steam key or a drm-free copy reminded me that the game is so close to release.
Good times.
 
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lashman

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Nice looking trailer. This and the email I received earlier urging me to choose between a steam key or a drm-free copy reminded me that the game is so close to release.
Good times.
yeah, i'm seriously excited for it .... for the mechanics-driven gameplay alone ... and of course because of the people who are involved in making it! :)
 

Deleted member 113

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The game probably needed a bit more time to "cook".
I'm sure in a patch or two things will be much better.
 
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Blizniak

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I'll wait for movement fixes before continuing. I was a little disappointed when I realized it's a mission-based game and not a continuous dungeon but oh well, it's still good.
 
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prudis

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Greetings, Ascendants!

Today we are sharing our post-launch development roadmap beginning with Update 1, which will plan to go live next week. Our goal is to address the biggest issues brought up by the community and to improve the overall quality of the game.

We have also included our plans for Update 2, which will go live early next year. Further details and timing are outlined below.

UPDATE 1 - Next week (Pending QA Review)
Save system
We’ve completely overhauled Underworld Ascendant’s save game system based on player feedback. The goal is to ensure your efforts as you adventure through the Abyss, particularly during quests, are saved.​
Under this new system, you will be able to save your progress anywhere in the game (with a couple exceptions) from the Pause Menu.​
When you save a game, you will retain your location in a level, whatever steps you’ve completed toward a quest and all items and equipment you’ve collected in your inventory. Enemy positions, health and more will also be saved.​
A full description can be found in the Save Game Details section at the end of this post.​
Combat
We have refined Combat to make it more dynamic and responsive and to add more variety to attacks.​
First, we are changing the way directional attacks are being handled. Now, every player will be provided with these attacks at the beginning of the game. Instead of using skill points to unlock these attacks, skill points will now make these attacks more powerful.​
A balance pass on weapon damage and enemy health has been made with an aim to making combat more engaging, particularly in early levels.​
Some initial improvements to AI have been implemented and we have plans for bigger updates in the new year.​
Quests and Levels
Many immersion-breaking holes and seams have been removed and levels have more refined and more varied enemy populations.. Pluto’s Gate and Upper Eberus have received a number of enhancements to improve playability and make them feel more “lived in”.​
Items
You’ll also see some weapon and loot changes in this update. An item’s wear will now be more apparent, with weapons showing damage wear over time as well as appearing broken when they have reached that state. We improved loot drops in the world as well as weapon availability in Aelita’s shop.​
Player Movement
In update 1.03 we made changes to improve player movement. This included the addition of swimming, reduced keyboard and mouse input lag and better transitions into and out of water. Those fixes along with Update 1’s increased base player speed has helped make player movement more responsive and more fluid.​
Other Improvements
We’ll give more details in the update Build Notes next week, but some highlights include saved key binding preferences, better visualization of which skills have been learned, the ability to learn skills sooner and more.​

UPDATE 2
February 2019

Our overall goal for Update 2 next year is to continue to make the game more interesting, more fun, easier to understand, and more polished. We will continue to improve things like combat, AI and levels. We will also focus efforts on player progression, adding variety to the gameplay and improving the overall player journey through the course of the game.

Most importantly, we will continue to gather feedback from our fans and players after Update 1 to see other areas where we can continue to improve the game.

Here are highlights of what we are planning for Update 2:
Combat and AI
We will continue to make improvements to combat to make it more fun and engaging—please continue to give us detailed feedback as you play! On the AI front, we’re planning to improve behavior, responsiveness, communication to players and navigation. Our goal is to make enemy behavior more interesting and more natural to players.​
Meta Game
We are evaluating ways to improve the overall player experience during a full play-through to better communicate requirements to complete the game and also reduce the complexity around what players are supposed to be doing to stop Typhon.​
Levels
We will continue to look at improvements to levels, including adding more enemies, environmental storytelling and potentially streamlining the layout of Marcaul.​
Quests
Our goal is to make quests more interesting and less repetitive. We are also scoping out improvements to player experience in the beginning of the game through enhancements to Pluto’s Gate and Saurian’s Challenge to expose players to fun gameplay elements more quickly.​
Other
We’re looking to continue to make the game easier to understand (aka better tooltip text), improve performance, improve load times, and continue to fix bugs​
There you have it, our roadmap for the next two updates. Beyond that, our plans will take shape as we gather more feedback from the community and evaluate the game’s progress. If you have constructive feedback on Update 1, please check out the discussion here.​
Thank you!​
The Underworld Ascendant Team​


ADDENDUM: UPDATE 1 SAVE SYSTEM DETAILS
The following are the current build notes for the Update 1 Save System. Please note that some details may change between now and when it goes live.

You will be able to save your progress anywhere in the game from the Pause Menu.

The new system saves the following:
World State

  • Enemies, chests, doors, levers, chandeliers, torches, sconces, braziers, and water level will save their states and location
    • All spawned items (e.g., weapons, food, etc.) including location and position
    • Silver Sapling location and status
    • Enemy Health
    • Enemy status effect with durations
    • Door damage
    • Combustibles will remain lit
    • Gate / Portcullis state (up / down / in transit)
Quest State
The new system will save and restore the current state of the quest, including the required items and enemies as necessary. If a player saves after finishing objectives, this objective will be saved.​
Player State

  • Position, rotation, crouching
    • Current health/damage
    • Current Mana
    • Status effects
    • Inventory
    • Hotbar
    • Stash
    • Known spells
    • Faction Favor
    • Influence
    • Completed quests
    • Skills
    • Held items
    • Player session stats associated with level progress (e.g., enemies killed)
    • Existing player stats associated with prior level progress
A few things are not saved:​

  • Arrows that are not at rest
    • Spells in the middle of being cast
Important Notes:

  • Saving is disabled when the player is off the ground or within 15 meters from enemies.
    • We are still working on saving in Marcaul. It currently does not save player position or world state, but does save inventory, stash, skill point changes, etc. in addition to saving quests completed (as a result of Hap sending you to the Midnight Forum), but you will start at the Ring of Portals when you re-load.

Underworld Ascendant :: Underworld Ascendant | Development Roadmap December 2018
 

nofuckinidea

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From what I read and hear, they need to fix almost every aspect of the game. Maybe I give it a try around the end of next year or sth.

I'm really worried about System Shock 3. Maybe it would be better, if Night Dive themselves develop the game instead of Otherside, with Neurath and Spector as creative advisers. I don't know :(
 
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lashman

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I'm really worried about System Shock 3. Maybe it would be better, if Night Dive themselves develop the game instead of Otherside, with Neurath and Spector as creative advisers. I don't know :(
they're still uber-busy with the SS1 remake, so ... probably not :p
 
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lashman

lashman

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I've waited almost 20 years. I can wait some more :p But seriously, if SS3 ends like Ascendant, I google a picture of Spector and slap my screen so hard
i hope it doesn't ... they only need to find a publisher now since Starbreeze is ready to kick the bucket any minute now ... hope Nordic grabs them
 

prudis

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I'm really worried about System Shock 3. Maybe it would be better, if Night Dive themselves develop the game instead of Otherside, with Neurath and Spector as creative advisers. I don't know :(
from what i udnerstood SS3 is done by totally different (Spector's) team inside the same company with much bigger funding ... UA iirc was like small scope project of 15 fpeople
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oh they just posted some text about what happened
The Backstory
To provide some context, understand that the Underworld series is especially close to our hearts. Those of us who worked on the original Ultima Underworld threw ourselves into that game and took some crazy creative risks. When the game launched, we had no sense if players would like it. Turns out they did. That encouraged us to explore the immersive simulation genre further with games such as System Shock, Thief and Deus Ex.

Two decades later, when we had the opportunity to make a game related to the Underworldseries, we jumped at the chance with Underworld Ascendant. However, rather than duplicating our past work, we wanted to try to move the genre forward with some new design thinking.

For instance, we ditched the Ultima Underworld scripted conversation trees with NPCs, and instead told the story through a mix of character voiceovers and lore sprinkled about the world as graffiti carved into stone surfaces for the player to uncover — similar to how we used narrative voice overs in Thief and audio logs in System Shock. We also decided not to build an expansive, continuous dungeon to explore. Instead, we built self-contained corners of the dungeon that players would jump to through magic portals. Ultima Underworld IIfeatured an early version of this approach with portals that led to different “worlds”. In Underworld Ascendant we took that further, parceling out quests that would direct you to a primary goal in particular corners of the Abyss.

There are other examples of ways in which, for better or worse, we deviated from the original Underworld model. Sometimes a less-than-warm reception is in part due to experimenting with new design approaches that don’t fit player expectations for the genre. Players may come around to appreciate these design choices in the years following launch. Or not so much. But as a studio, we will continue to take creative risks even with this reality.

This is not the first time we’ve taken creative risks that didn’t all pan out. It’s also worth recalling that some of the innovations we tried in past games were, at least initially, received less than enthusiastically. Ultimately many came to view these games as classics, but some of the early reviews that the original Ultima Underworld and System Shock were less than kind. For instance:

It doesn’t help that Ultima Underworld’s combat is fairly weak. Many fights felt drawn out… with little variation beyond swinging and healing occasionally. Relying on magic has its own annoyances, given that each spell needs to be incanted with several runes.

Those who like to spend hours with a manual to try to figure out to play System Shock, good luck. The rest of us choose to play Doom II instead, where we get what the game promised – full action without hassles.

Taking creative risks is only a part of the story of Underworld Ascendant’s launch. The project faced funding hurdles early in its development. We had lined up a healthy funding commitment with a partner, many-fold more than the Kickstarter funding we later raised. Unfortunately, several months following the Kickstarter our funding partner made a strategic pivot away from the sort of game we were making, resulting in the funding falling through. We had to make do with a fraction of the funding needed to complete our original vision for the game. We did our best to make forward progress with a tiny team. However, it was slow going as we wandered through a development desert for nearly 2 years.

In the summer of 2017, 505 Games stepped up as our publishing partner to help bring the game home. At long-last we were able to step up the pace of our progress. This past Summer we felt confident that we had scoped the game correctly and that we’d be in solid shape for a Fall 2018 launch.

With 20/20 hindsight we were overly optimistic. Part of that came from our prior experiences making immersive simulations, where a lot comes together in the final months. Having a small development team, along with the legacy of an artificially protracted schedule that resulted in relying on now outdated code, ended up impinging on our ability to execute on the same level of progress. In addition, after having worked on the game for more than three years we lost perspective on where Underworld Ascendant stood. We convinced ourselves that the game was in more robust shape than it actually was. Had we been more objective, we would have held off the launch and worked on the game longer. Instead we pushed hard and hit the planned November launch date.

As a consequence, the game went out rougher than it should have. None of the challenges the project faced are an excuse. We should have done better.

Mistakes aside and despite its flaws at launch, we believe Underworld Ascendant has the bones of a truly good game, and we’re now working hard to make the goodness show through much better.
OtherSide Entertainment – Underworld Ascendant: Where We’re Headed & How We Got Here
 
Last edited:

Blizniak

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Nice to see they're at least open about the problems, even if it's after the fact. I think it's impossible to turn the ship around at this point but hopefully they can salvage some of it. My main issue at launch was busted controls and I think they already fixed that so it's time for me to get back into it.
 

prudis

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Hopefully they manage to fix the game with updates.
yep hope so too , from what i saw and read so far i really like the ideas that are hidden below the mess it is now ... i guess time will tell
We need a true successor of Ultima Underworld!
Well even if they manage to patch this one up its not gonna be Ultima Underworld successor (that from my understanding from interviews and statement died with the investor that quit them after KS) and its more of a Dark Messiah-esque title with some UA flavours
 
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Adnor

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Well even if they manage to patch this one up its not gonna be Ultima Underworld successor (that from my understanding from interviews and statement died with the investor that quit them after KS) and its more of a Dark Messiah-esque title with some UA flavours
Man, that's a game I've never played even tho it's been on my sight since forever.
 
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prudis

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UPDATE 2 is up
Update 2 - Player Journey & Gameplay Improvements
14 FEB @ 9:04PM - QUESTION_505
Underworld Ascendant
Update 2 Build Notes
Thank you for your continued support of Underworld Ascendant!

We have been hard at work on Update 2 and have focused our efforts on the overall structure of the Abyss, the player journey, AI and other gameplay improvements. We believe these changes will significantly improve the overall player experience, especially when starting a new game.

We hope you enjoy this update and please continue to provide your feedback.

The Stygian Abyss renovated
  • The world is now a series of interconnected levels, accessible through The Grand Staircase. Updated quest flow now focuses on important narrative quests that highlight both new and refined story and content, while allowing the player to freely explore the environment and optional side-quests.
  • As a result of this major change, we highly recommend that you start a new game to experience it. That said, if you want to start from where you left off, your old save games will still work and you will start at a roughly similar place in the new story progression.
Player experience improvements highlights
  • Updated enemy patrol paths and lighting pass in all levels to enhance tactical stealth gameplay, and enemy population overhaul/refinements on all main quests.
  • New and streamlined story elements along main critical path, with supplemental story elements moved to explorable space.
  • The Vault of Nyx, the final level encounter, gameplay and clarity improvements.
Meta Game updates
  • The Doom Counter has been refined to better ramp the type and difficulty of creatures that appear, and now allows players to complete the game without having to set it back more than once in an average playthrough.
  • Players no longer need to gain Faction Favor or Influence to trigger the final encounter of the game, though Faction Favor still provides benefits in trade.
  • New games can now choose a difficulty level. All old save games will be treated as “Normal” difficulty.
Save Game System
We made some additional enhancements and refinements to the save game system based on your feedback:
  • Players can now use F5 to quick save and F9 to quick load said quick save.
  • Players are now asked for confirmation if they are about to overwrite an existing save.
  • Clarity pass on the text in the Save menu to improve usability.
  • Also a load game panel clarity pass. It will also now show difficulty of each save game.
AI
  • Updated enemy patrol paths and AI behavior models to improve their reaction to player actions
  • Enemies will no longer do more than one in-combat emote in a row, which makes them much more aggressive.
  • Enemies will flee less often than before.
  • Animuses now alert all nearby undead when they are being attacked.
  • Lizardmen casters will no longer cast while on the ground or getting up.
  • Lizardmen will now be more aggressive.
  • Better wandering for deep slugs and rats.
  • Skeletons will no longer attack torches that damage them. Also reduced torch damage radius for when creatures walk by them.
  • Enemies now have more personality in their idle time.
Loot and Items
  • Standard trunks are now smaller to reflect that they don’t hold treasure on the level of the mighty Typhon chests. Removed the sparkly “treasure” effect when you open a trunk. Celebrations are for actual treasure chests.
  • Trunks that are too low-level to hold much loot will now (rather than being so empty) have more filler items such as pots, which will sometimes contain coins.
  • Clarity pass on item descriptions to make it easier to understand what they do.
  • Magical items now have a different color name so they stand out more in your inventory.
  • Player’s speed percentage is now listed in the inventory screen so you can tell if items you have equipped are slowing you down (or speeding you up).
  • Item tooltips for equipment that improves the wearer’s armor percentage now include a notation about that.
  • Updated Aelita’s trade menu to make it easier to understand how much silver you will get for a trade, and how much silver Aelita has available to trade.
  • When you mouse over an item, it will be compared to the same type of item you have equipped, if any.
  • Right clicking on items in your inventory behaves the same as double clicking. This also applies to trade where it will move it to/from the offer table.
  • When moving a stack of items within their inventory, the player is no longer prompted to pick how many they like to move. To see that pop up, hold down shift and click on the stack of items.
Gameplay Including Movement, Combat, Stealth, Magic and More
  • Additional refinements to combat feel and responsiveness, including removing an animation step so that players aren’t moving forward after an attack ends, which tended to interrupt combat flow.
  • Creatures may be knocked down during combat and get back up to continue the fight. Make sure to finish your foes!
  • Several creature types now have small weaknesses to extended melee combat. This will make encounters a bit more eventful in cases where the player’s attacks are underpowered for their foe.
  • Chains and ropes will be much easier to swing on.
  • Fixed issue where you would get stuck on chains in certain situations.
  • Removed some lights that didn’t have an extinguishable source and were making stealth difficult in spots.
  • Further refinement of player movement
  • If the player walks into a heavy object (like a table) it no longer knocks over. Instead the player will step on top of it. This also applies to crates! Running into stuff will still knock it over, of course.
  • There are more mana motes in the world. Use the Mana Sight skill to spot them and keep your supply full!
  • Player’s maximum mana is increased.
  • Fixed the Blink spell getting stuck on light obstructions (e.g. crates), and made it more reliable in general. Adjusted it to Level 3 instead of Level 2.
  • Fixed the Magic Fist spell’s collision with physics objects to apply forces as intended.
  • Fixed Outcasts’ fleeing behavior so they don’t smoke bomb away from the player if they are allies (as with summoned or charmed Outcasts).
  • Fixed long-press of the interact button on doors (as if you were trying to pick the door up), to lock or unlock them.
  • Friendly lizardmen now show up on the map. You will also get a warning saying “Saurians are your allies!” if you accidentally hit one.
  • General pass on tooltips to ensure they appear where expected and make sense.
Levels and Quests
  • Players will be able to reach the lower depths of the Abyss more quickly in the game’s overall progression, if they choose to do so.
  • Removed the intro sequence with Cabirus so players can get to the action faster.
  • Implemented subtitles for the ending cinematics.
  • A lighting pass across the entire game to better support gameplay.
  • More improvements to the main quest line to make sure there are no dry spots.
  • Narrative and clarity pass on the Vault of Nyx so players can better understand what needs to be done to complete the final mission in the game.
  • Players who miss the “Cautious First Steps” feat in Pluto’s Gate can still qualify for it by running any subsequent quest undetected.
  • Removed the “Weaponless” Side Bounty from the rotation as it’s not applicable to the new Quest flow.
  • New challenges and rewards to discover in all levels!
  • Lots more holes filled!
Skills
  • Fixed the Haste skill so only characters with the skill get its benefit.
  • Some special attacks now knock the targeted enemy back.
  • Skill Points are now called Skill Points on the Skills screen, (not Memora).
  • Clarity pass on skill descriptions to make it easier to understand what each skill does and how to use them.
    ○ Known issue: the Mighty Blow, Cleave, and Fists of Iron skill chain descriptions sometimes leave out that they apply to axes & maces, swords, and unarmed attacks respectively.
  • Added a reminder on the Skills screen that the player needs to perform Feats (found in the Compendium) to earn skill points.
  • Fixed the Unseen Dash and Dash Farther skills’ handling of rough terrain. Unseen Dash should skim over terrain, while Dash Farther will hop over gaps entirely.
  • Increased the bonus to mantel height granted by the Athletic Ascent skill.
  • Improved clarity for skill descriptions and skill panel.
Misc
  • General performance improvements to improve load times, increase FPS and reduce hitching.
  • Players can now cycle through hints on loading screens by hitting the E button.
  • Brightness bar on character creation extended so you can make the game even brighter.
  • A Compendium now appears in the Tab menu. The Hints and Secrets tabs have been folded into the Compendium. In addition, one section lists all the available Feats in the game and tracks which feats have been completed. Another section will track all of the foods the player has eaten and their effects.
  • New VFX on Memora.
  • New VFX on Animus Hearts.
  • Players will no longer sound like they are plunging deep beneath the water when they splash through a puddle.
  • Fix for “Bark & Bite” achievement not firing right (the Ripper was getting the achievement instead).
  • (Trade) Fix for splitting stacks during trade destroying stacks.
 

Blizniak

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Another small update with some fixes is in
A small update today to address the following items:

  • Crash fixes
  • Fixed issue where the quest “Repel Typhon’s Army” sometimes didn’t spawn enough enemies to complete the quest.
  • Fixed issue where the day would advance every time the player returned to Marcaul.
  • Fix for loading screen sometimes saying “Input:Interact Next Tip”
  • The doors on Hap’s cart now work properly on low quality mode

If your current version of the game is up to date, the download will be 380mb.
Underworld Ascendant :: Hotfix for Update 2
 

prudis

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still fixing things
Update 3 - Performance Improvements
10 APR @ 8:00PM - QUESTION_505

Hi everyone, we’re happy to release Update 3 for Underworld Ascendant. We’ve been listening to your feedback and focused this Update on improving performance, fixing bugs and polishing various aspects of the game. We also added a bunch of fun new things as noted below.

Performance Improvements and New or Updated Features
  • Major improvements to frame rate and load times.
  • Lighting pass across the game to help players see deeper into the darkest corners of the Abyss.
  • Added Saurian Mage allies that have been captured by Typhon’s minions. Once you free these allies, they will aid you in battle against nearby undead.
  • Added the Outcast character Fane, an ally who, once freed, becomes a vendor selling adventuring provisions wherever Hapurkala sets up camp.
  • Added Talking Skulls (Bart and Bertha) to the Midnight Forum in Marcaul.
  • Increased the equipment that drops in the earliest part of the game and added several new types of gear.
  • Loot from chests is now placed more intelligently in the chest’s interior, to reduce unintended collisions.
  • Added a new, more appropriately-sized model representing smaller equipment items like helmets and boots.
  • Added confirmation text when Quick-Saving, including a notification if the player is in a situation where saving is not permitted.
  • You can now start climbing ropes and chains from swimming contact, not just jumping. Also, contact with water won’t break you out a rope climb.
  • Blast arrows no longer detonate without being fired (like, for example, when they’re sitting in a chest).
  • Rune formulas branded on wands with the Focus Mastery skill are now preserved around player respawn.
  • Added Goggles of Night-vision as a new item of headgear.
  • Added variation of scale colors to Saurians (rather than all defaulting to green).
  • Updated Aelita's vendor tables to offer a greater selection of gear usable with the Ceremonial Garb skill.
  • Updated the sfx that plays upon completing a quest.
  • Improved performance when things are on fire.
Polish and Bug Fixes
  • The confirmation screen when quick-loading (pressing F9) a saved game is no longer blank.
  • Fixed an issue where players would be unable to complete a quest if they save after completing the objective but before turning it in.
  • The frame rate no longer hitches when the Tab button is pressed.
  • Fixed a number of crash bugs.
  • Fixed issues related to using a controller to play the game.
  • Fixed issue where a dying NPC could send the playing flying upon its death.
  • Fixed issue where the player was unable to complete the “Typhon Summons a Lich!” quest if they left Titan’s Reach and came back.
  • Fixed various Inventory issues related to stacks and arrows.
  • Fixed issue where the player’s quest could break if they saved after completing the quest objective but before turning it in.
  • The Sword of Regret now restores the intended amount of health to the player.
  • The Blade of Bewilderment now gives a small bonus to Adroit damage in addition to its main Confusion ability.
  • Fixed an error that prevented unlocking the Vitality II skill. Note: It unlocks after the character performs a quest with the Quick Recovery skill.
  • Magically-bound creatures are no longer frictionless when trying to move.
  • Improved the consistency damaged received from a fall, depending on the height of the fall.
  • The player is no longer immune to falling damage during their melee attacks.
  • Eidolons will now raise skeletons as their original type, rather than always as Spectral Knights.
  • Fixed a few bugs with combat animations that were moving a player involuntarily.
  • Fixed not being able to skip the intro if you hit the 'no' button.
  • Fixed the Deep Slug not being baited by dropped Ripper Pomes.
  • Deleted the obsolete warning that the player needs a bow when scrolling over arrows.
  • Fixed a minor exploit where players could load an arrow, drop their arrows, fire the equipped arrow, and pick the bundle of arrows back up with no decrease in quantity held.
  • Fixed an issue where lights reflected on water were disappearing at certain camera angles.
  • Fixed an issue where a player could hold a dead NPC’s body close and use it to climb up into the sky.
  • Fixed some localization issues.
  • Fixed an issue where some Tutorial and Quest Popups have no text.
  • Fixed clarity of Side Bounty Completion / Failure on Mission Complete Screen that gave the impression that the quest had failed versus the side bounty not being completed
  • Fixed issue where player was able to access Inventory and Pause menu during ending credits.
  • Fixed issue where Tempus Modus/Doom Counter was located off the Map in Marcaul.
  • Fixed a few memora logs that did not have titles.
  • Removed mentions of Influence from all quest rewards.
  • Fixed issue where the item spawned by the Create Wood wand would not stay in the Player’s grasp.
  • Fixed issues where player receives a significant amount of damage by swinging corpse of an enemy around.
  • Fixed several visual holes found throughout the game.
  • Fixed several issues that caused corpses of enemies to spin
Known Issues
  • Rune formulas branded on wands with Focus Mastery will not be saved.
  • Some crystal lamps in Marcaul move from their position depending on where the user stands.
  • When jumping next to an object, like a crate, a player will sometimes move forward involuntarily.
  • Fire bottles make an excessive amount of light when they explode.
  • There is no text notification upon freeing Fane.
  • Highlight outline for Fane is slightly displaced.
  • Wood chunk from Create Plant spell does not have fire VFX when lit.
  • Very rarely, a skeleton’s body can stretch after death.
  • With the Interaction prompt, some captions and the sneaking UI can overlap over certain menus.
  • Pendulum trap can show erratic behavior.
  • Hunger continues even when the game is paused.
  • UI does not clearly indicate that some skills are locked because insufficient time has passed to unlock them.
  • End game subtitles appear as large blocks of text.
  • Damage can be unintentionally taken in unusual circumstances (i.e running into doors, opening doors).
  • When exiting options menu, screen resolution can be reset to smaller default with no warning.
  • Player automatically swings melee weapons when switched to in hotbar.
  • Some floating geodes and stones can be found in certain areas.
Underworld Ascendant :: Update 3 - Performance Improvements
 
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
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That's a whole lot of known issues. Certainly not a good way of convincing people to buy the game at the current state. The game should've been released in early access.

Well, at least they're being honest.
pretty sure we can thank 505 for the state the game launched in ... there's no way the devs thought it was good to launch ... 505 probably decided they don't want to wait any longer and released it regardless
 

Prodigy

Sleeper must awaken
Dec 9, 2018
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Can this game be fixed? I am genuinely interested in getting it, but I'm not sure if the problems with this game are bugs or the core game itself that needs a full reworking. Anyway I hope they can sort it out to an acceptable state.
 
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Prodigy

Sleeper must awaken
Dec 9, 2018
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Prodigy depends on what you mean by fixed .... if you mean making it good action rpg with immersive sim elements, thats definitely possible , they have been making steady improvements on that fromnt , if you mean it as "Ultima Underworld 3" , thats was never gonna happen with such budget and small team
Sadly I have never played Ultima, I of course know of its status as a classic game. And I know underworld was a game with high hopes from backers, that ultimately disappointed. When looking at footage of this game though I can see the potential so I am more wondering if lets say it's a 40% rated game, could it be re-reviewed to 70% after these patches, or is it so fundamentally broken that the game would need to be redone.
 
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Blizniak

MetaMember
Sep 19, 2018
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Sadly I have never played Ultima, I of course know of its status as a classic game. And I know underworld was a game with high hopes from backers, that ultimately disappointed. When looking at footage of this game though I can see the potential so I am more wondering if lets say it's a 40% rated game, could it be re-reviewed to 70% after these patches, or is it so fundamentally broken that the game would need to be redone.
Ultima Underworld still holds up incredibly well once you get used to its old look and awkward controls, there's even a source port released recently that's way more modern. As for Underworld Ascendant it's probably wise to still wait for a couple more updates but it's way better than it was at launch already.
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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I'd say go play Arx Fatalis instead, flawed itself but more like a real spiritual successor to the games Underworld Ascendant was meant to pay homage to. It was going to be Ultima Underworld 3 at one point but they didn't want to cave to EA's demands at the time so they did their own thing. Sucks it flopped.

Use the Arx Liberatis sourceport/fanpatch.

Or play System Shock II which holds up. It doesn't have the immense scope of the Underworld games either but makes up for it with the polish, it doesn't feel so experimental. Use SS2Tool, Community Patch (SCP), Four Hundred (400) and SHTUP (Shock Texture Upgrade Project) for an updated but true to the original experience. I'd stay away from other mods that upgrade the character models and other such things massively, I've not seen any that retain the style well.

I won't excuse them by the low budget, they could have just used it way differently. Hire half the artists but have a lower fidelity art target so they can churn out more of the content each (and also make it modular and easier to edit and expand as the rest of the game progresses) and also keep getting paid for a longer time, focus on the story and having an actually cool world to explore and decent feeling combat/stealth/spell mechanics before seeing how big and open ended and simulated the solutions to each challenge can be and exactly what character skills and tools you'll add for that purpose. As for the simulation aspects, just because they're supposed to be there doesn't mean everything should be to a realistic high fidelity degree, so long as objects can be moved around and certain materials burned and other such interactions I don't need to see it in amazing visuals or the best most natural physics ever. The classic immersive sims certainly didn't try to make every particle simulated to the highest degree, they just laid some ground rules and then tried to stick to them.

Basically, for a revival of a dead genre or series I don't need something to surpass for the modern day what the originals pioneered in their own era, which would indeed seem an impossible task for anything with less than an AAA budget which nobody would invest in such a project, just something close enough to them. Shemue III isn't trying to be as pioneering as Shenmue seemed in its time, just to follow after what it was in practice regardless of the era. Same for all the new retro CRPGs that we started getting thanks to crowd funding, they don't surpass the Baldur's Gate sagas or Torment, they give us more of that good old fun. I'd be fine with a game of the scope of Legend of Grimrock II but as an immersive sim, or Outward but that amount of content condensed in a more closed off experience rather than an attempt at an actual open world. Stuff like that which these other small/indie teams managed well enough.
 
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sk2k

Steam New Releases Warrior
Dec 8, 2018
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It's killing me. The game is killing me. This is no Ultima Underworld 3 and it is not a good game. Even after Update 3 the game is a mess. Everything feels like it barely works and is glued together.

Performance is a joke. Upper Erebus was fine at 60 FPS until i finished the second (main?) mission. The doom counter advanced and more enemies were spawned. Now the FPS are mostly at 30-40. :( The physics is doing it's own thing and is adding to the frustration. I now reached Level 2 (Underswamp or something like that). FPS are still at 60 and i wonder how long. :(

Also, why doesn't the game remove the dead bodies?
 
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sk2k

Steam New Releases Warrior
Dec 8, 2018
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Somewhere else
I give up. As part of the main quest i retrieved a memora in Fort Evidius (Underswamp level). As per quest i should now go back to the camp. I'm still at the fort and the quest completed window pops up with the message that the doom counter advanced and more evil forces are coming. Yup, the game spawned two skeletons right at my postion along with a fire stand that pushed me of the edge so i plunged into my death. FUCK THIS GAME! WHAT A MESS!

Did a mentioned the crashes? For me never ever has there been a game that crashed more than this.
Can this game be fixed? I am genuinely interested in getting it, but I'm not sure if the problems with this game are bugs or the core game itself that needs a full reworking. Anyway I hope they can sort it out to an acceptable state.
Nope. This game can not be fixed. For me the game is still not in a acceptable state. Sure, it is fun to explore the levels. It borrows heavily from Thief in regards to exploration. Everything else is bad, animations, sounds, physics, "combat" system, loot, etc.
 
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StereoVSN

Junior Member
Apr 7, 2019
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As a huge fan of Ultima Underworld games and even Arx Fatalis, this was an immense failure to me. I kickstarted the game too. Going to wait for couple more patches to get back in there. I do think a decent game will come out of this, just not a great one or perhaps even a good one.
 
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lashman

lashman

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As a huge fan of Ultima Underworld games and even Arx Fatalis, this was an immense failure to me. I kickstarted the game too. Going to wait for couple more patches to get back in there. I do think a decent game will come out of this, just not a great one or perhaps even a good one.
makes me extremely sad it turned out this way :(

i can imagine 505 forced them to release it WAY too early ... wouldn't be the first time they fucked devs over (see: Control)
 
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prudis

anime occult member
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The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
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Good thing I never played Ultima Underworld so dont give a damn for this game to live up to it (which i noticed is the common thread in the most negative reactions to this) and my expactations are pretty low at this point anyway .
But looking at the changelog , they sure try to make something decent out of it , Its never gonna be UW3 (so the part of audience wanting that will always be sad) , but fine game is definitely possible as the ideas and system underneath the hordes of buggs are pretty good.

And i have seen quite a bunch of projects in worse state turning out decent after heavy patching
 
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