Underworld Ascendant - First Minutes Gameplay
20Underworld Ascendant is a sequel to the old Ultima Underworld series which had revolutionary 3D graphics for its time (1992-1993) with fluent instead of step-by-step movement, with a physics system, different ways to solve puzzles and interact with the environment etc. Solving problems in different ways is a typical Warren Spector specialty. He and his Looking Glass team created System Shock, Thief and Deus Ex based on their experiences with the Underworld engine. ID's John Carmack was impressed by the engine and tried to create his own one with Wolfenstein and Doom (which was faster but wasn't "real" 3D like Underworld; later with the "real 3D"-Quake-engine he created the base for a new era of shooter games). Underworld can be seen as a predecessor to the Elder Scrolls games like Daggerfall or Skyrim and the whole fluent 3D RPGs.
Underworld Ascendant uses the Unity engine and the art style is more like World of Warcraft which is debatable but understandable: for indie teams nowadays gameplay matters most because they can't compete with big corporations like Bethesda. Back in the days a team of 10 people could create games with the revolutionary graphics for their time but nowadays this is much harder to accomplish (Crytek had 50 to 100 engine programmers for its CryEngine...).
Why am I writing more text than usual? Because Ultima Underworld (1992) was one of my very first games and it was extremely advanced for its time, and although both titles got splendid reviews the Ultima Underworld series failed financially. And I'm not sure how Underworld Ascendant will perform, but at least I've supported the developers (Warren Spector and Co.) with my purchase of the game :)
Normally I don't comment much on games I buy after playing for some hours I have to warn you: this game is too buggy and the game mechanics are pure crap. It is a disgrace for the Underworld games, and the developers should be ashamed to call it a spiritual successor.