Underworld Ascendant, a spiritual successor to the groundbreaking Ultima Underworld games which released on PC back in the 1990s has now arrived on PS4.
Originally funded by Kickstarter to the tune of over $860,000, Underworld Ascendant is a sprawling RPG that unfortunately launched to less than shining reviews when it released on PC late last year.
Since then however, developer Otherside Entertainment and Fullbright have been hard at work fixing the game and ironing out the kinks and it’s this much more polished version of the game that PS4 gamers will now receive.
The official blurb reads:
Underworld Ascendant is a fantasy RPG that challenges you to think creatively in an interactive sandbox environment. Players can mix and match dozens of combat, stealth and magic skills to develop their unique style of play and devise clever plans to overcome challenges as they navigate the foreboding Stygian Abyss.
The console version of Underworld Ascendant launches with updates from the PC version, including enhancements to gameplay mechanics based on player feedback from the game’s launch on PC last year. Additional in-game content and features have also been added, offering new quests, enemy encounters, in-game items and more, as further outlined below.
Underworld Ascendant Update Highlights Include:
Save Game System
OtherSide completely overhauled the Save Game system based on player feedback, enabling save across much of the game while also retaining the Silver Sapling’s respawn feature.
Player Journey
The world is now a series of interconnected levels, accessible through The Grand Staircase. Updated quest flow focuses now on important narrative quests highlighting both new and refined story and content, while allowing the player to freely explore the environment and optional side-quests. Players will also be able to reach the lower depths of the Abyss more quickly in the game’s overall progression.
New Content
A number of new NPCs offering various benefits to players are available, including the Shambler Meridian, the Deep Elf Severn, the Dwarf Quarter, the Outcast Dahlia and the Outcast Fane. Quests have been added for each of the new NPCs noted above. Freeing the NPCs results in offering various benefits to players, including a new vendor that sells high level magic artifacts (weapons, armor), additional rune formulas and highlight hidden areas and lairs. Additionally, many new items, weapons and armor are available.
Skills and Abilities
Combat has been improved to be more engaging and strategic, with advanced combat skills now immediately available to the player and adding new elements like the enemy shove attack. Magic has been enhanced with new spells and more available runes, allowing players to explore more of the game’s customizable spells. Updates to stealth and enemy responsiveness in lighting have improved stealth playability.
Performance and AI
Player movement is more fluid and enemy AI has been updated to improve enemy behavior, offering a more polished reaction to player actions, pathfinding and combat effectiveness. Enemy AI now also ramps up in variety and difficulty as players venture deeper into The Stygian Abyss.
You can catch the Underworld Ascendant PS4 launch trailer below:
https://youtu.be/gjwYakuZRuc
Underworld Ascendant is out now on PS4 and retails for $29.99/£24.99.