Underworld Ascendant

 PC
User Score
2.3

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 52
  3. Negative: 42 out of 52

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  1. LegitMeme
    Dec 25, 2018
    10
    Good game buy 4 me, I do like de graphics and gameplay they are a no downgrade, I say good.
  2. Frogacuda
    Feb 22, 2019
    7
    Three months on, and things have improved. In my initial review I said that this game was pushed out 6 months early. That still seems about right, because three months of patches have done a lot of good, but it still feels unstable and buggy, like a beta.

    There's a lot of elements I like here. It's a mix of Underworld, Dark Messiah, and Thief, and it does a great job of giving you a lot    Three months on, and things have improved. In my initial review I said that this game was pushed out 6 months early. That still seems about right, because three months of patches have done a lot of good, but it still feels unstable and buggy, like a beta.

    There's a lot of elements I like here. It's a mix of Underworld, Dark Messiah, and Thief, and it does a great job of giving you a lot of interesting ways to solve problems. It delivers on its promise of approaching game design as a simulation, rather than having the designers curate the solutions to puzzles. With a little more polish it'll be a solid release. It is certainly not the disaster it was at launch, but not quite ready for primetime either.    … Expand
  3. Glic2003
    Nov 17, 2018
    3
    Let's see, where to begin? For starters, the game has nothing to do with Ultima Underworld. The Kickstarter was basically a bunch of lies and crazy promises. The game isn't even finished: most of the later levels have holes and glitches everywhere (you can clip right through to the last level and beat the game in 20 minutes). UA is extremely buggy in general. When it does work asLet's see, where to begin? For starters, the game has nothing to do with Ultima Underworld. The Kickstarter was basically a bunch of lies and crazy promises. The game isn't even finished: most of the later levels have holes and glitches everywhere (you can clip right through to the last level and beat the game in 20 minutes). UA is extremely buggy in general. When it does work as intended, it's not much fun, thanks to boring quests, empty environments, no NPC interactions and awkward physics-based gameplay. There's basically only one type of enemy (skeletons) because they didn't have enough of a budget to animate anything else, I guess, and their AI is prone to glitching out. To be fair, the environments do look pretty nice and messing around with the physics can be fun, but that's not nearly enough to recommend it, especially if you were hoping for a new RPG in the Ultima Underworld style.… Expand
  4. mau_v
    Nov 19, 2018
    3
    Feels more like an unfinished, uninspired technical demo than an actual game. The first two leves (out of eight, including the hub) are almost ok, even though filled with bugs, but the others are clearly unfinished. Movements are clunky (you get stuck in the environment quite often); the much vaunted physics system is broken and not funny; the game lacks a meaningful save system; theFeels more like an unfinished, uninspired technical demo than an actual game. The first two leves (out of eight, including the hub) are almost ok, even though filled with bugs, but the others are clearly unfinished. Movements are clunky (you get stuck in the environment quite often); the much vaunted physics system is broken and not funny; the game lacks a meaningful save system; the missions are just a bunch of semi-random fetch quests, where you have to go through the same levels over and over, and the levels will reset after each visit (i. e. the enemies you killed, the doors you burned down, the chests you looted are all back again, like nothing happened). Finally, the user interface feels cheap: many objects share the same icon and the inventory slots give you no clear indication about the kind of protection currently in use (be it leather or steel).… Expand
  5. Babutto
    Apr 17, 2019
    3
    Very, very, very bad.
    The engine is bad, physics are bad, game play is boring.
    Guys, I was waiting for this game and at the end I was more than disappointed. Just pass this one.
  6. MindFlavor
    Nov 19, 2018
    1
    I wanted to like this. I really did. I applied to the Kickstarter campaign because I loved Ultima Underworld. It was fascinating, intelligent and the combat system was damn fun (for the time). But this game is awful. The controls are sluggish. So sluggish that if you suffer from motion sickness you won't get past the intro level.
    But, ok, I can live with that.
    The "story" is a joke:    I wanted to like this. I really did. I applied to the Kickstarter campaign because I loved Ultima Underworld. It was fascinating, intelligent and the combat system was damn fun (for the time). But this game is awful. The controls are sluggish. So sluggish that if you suffer from motion sickness you won't get past the intro level.
    But, ok, I can live with that.

    The "story" is a joke: there is a bad guy and you have to stop him. You have a guide that tells you are their last resort (of course you are) but as soon as the bad guy notices you he laughs (of course he does). So cliché.
    But, ok, I can live with that.

    The immersion: the world is beautiful, old. You can see it crumbling beneath your feet. But there are a lot - and I mean a lot - of unblemished wooden boxes laying around. Why? How come stone collapsed but the wood of that box remains intact?
    The reason of this destroys the immersion: the boxes are there because they are part of the "fun". You can stack boxes, burn boxes, throw boxes. Imagine if the whole plot of the "fellowship of the ring" were "a bunch of guys towing boxes around". That is underworld ascendant. You can actually kill guys with boxes. Unbelievable.
    Speaking of fun, you are faced with ridiculous puzzles like: "Is the savior of the universe able to open a door?". "Will he burn his hands while holding a burning box"? (yes, boxes everywhere!).
    No, I cannot live with that. That's too much. I did not sign for a sluggish sokoban clone.

    And you cannot save during a mission. You have to complete a "level" from start to finish otherwise you lose all the progress. The game is so stupid that even if you complete a level and come back later (and you will because the locations are used more than once) the level "resets" itself. All the boxes you moved are magically arranged as before. All the doors you smashed throwing boxes will be replaced with brand new doors. It's like there is a god who doesn't want you to displace his precious boxes.

    So buy this game only if you want to have a good laugh. Taken seriously this game will have you throw you pc out of the window in frustration. But that's ok, the god of boxes will replace it during the night, right?    … Expand
  7. jack67
    Nov 19, 2018
    1
    There is no game, here. It's a wild mess. I'm a backer of this game that was originally pitched as a sequel to the Ultima Underworld games -- but devs are now stating that no such promise was made. Well, the beauty of the Internet is that nothing goes away, including the original pitch stating that UA was to be a sequel to the Ultima Underworld games.

    The reason they're stating it was    There is no game, here. It's a wild mess. I'm a backer of this game that was originally pitched as a sequel to the Ultima Underworld games -- but devs are now stating that no such promise was made. Well, the beauty of the Internet is that nothing goes away, including the original pitch stating that UA was to be a sequel to the Ultima Underworld games.

    The reason they're stating it was never intended to be a sequel is because the design went so far off the rails and the devs clearly went way over their heads technically, that all they could get working was a tech demo for a physics sandbox. The story is generic, there is no NPC interaction (they're just kiosks), extremely weak combat AI, and a complete disaster of a save system (leave the game mid-level and you have to start the entire level over again, regardless of whether you saved or not... and the entire level state is reset, including all objects, so the player can pick up an infinite amount of found objects if they reload).

    As I said, there is no game here. It's a lame wood-burning and bottle smashing simulator. If you want a game with story, interaction, factions, and player progression (you know, like the original UU games), look elsewhere. You'll find only tears of frustration, here.

    The devs claim they "hear the community" and are working on a fix to the save system. I was in the beta group, and the save problem existed then. I wonder what they were listening to during that time.

    I gave this a "1" rating because the game loads and starts with relatively few crash bugs (of course, if it crashes, you're redoing an entire level, whether you saved or not). And I'm not sure the devs can really make a game out of this. To do so is to fundamentally rewrite the entire design, but as a backer, I'm kind of forced into hoping for the best. I've already paid for this travesty. I hope this review warns you away until the game is fixed or given away as a consolation prize with another purchase.    … Expand
  8. platomica
    Nov 18, 2018
    1
    ok, i was really REALLY hoping for a revival of the original UW, which i played - believe it or not - when it came out and which contributed to countless thrilled nights and many lectures lost during my student days. so, expectation might be too high, but THIS CRAP?
    i'm sorry, aside from the remotely similar dark atmosphere of this dungeon creeper, there is nothing that reminds me of the    ok, i was really REALLY hoping for a revival of the original UW, which i played - believe it or not - when it came out and which contributed to countless thrilled nights and many lectures lost during my student days. so, expectation might be too high, but THIS CRAP?
    i'm sorry, aside from the remotely similar dark atmosphere of this dungeon creeper, there is nothing that reminds me of the tight, cramped, funny, slightly chaotic but always entertaining way that the original UW and UW2 even more provided. it almost looks like the developers have tried to take out the worst from these originals (slow motion, bad physics, glitches galore and a list of boring quests) and threw that into a new graphics engine that seems to have been inspired 15 years back by the avatar movie. also, the whole thief series seems to have been put to the grave in this one as well; water arrows and sneaking behind stupid monsters who end up fighting lamps and walls - i'm not sure if this counts for irony, humor or just bad, sloppy level design.
    i've waste 30$ on this crap - i hope you don't.    … Expand
  9. RPGler
    Nov 17, 2018
    1
    If you just look at the game mechanics this game is crap: 7 rather small static levels which you have to revisit at least 70 times, because you get 70 quests to do so; and each time you visit the levels the enemies respawn, and each time every obstacle you have removed before (like a wooden door that has to be burned) is there again.
    > The save system is the worst I've seen in recent    If you just look at the game mechanics this game is crap: 7 rather small static levels which you have to revisit at least 70 times, because you get 70 quests to do so; and each time you visit the levels the enemies respawn, and each time every obstacle you have removed before (like a wooden door that has to be burned) is there again.
    > The save system is the worst I've seen in recent years for a RPG, with no manual save, no quicksave, no normal checkpoints, just one at the beginning of the level and a respawn system (you have to plant a "silver sappling" in certain spots and when you die you respawn at this point). If you leave the game no story progress of the current mission is saved, just the items and attributes of your character.
    > The quests are boring as can be: find object of type X or kill enemy Y, no variation, no real reasoning, just a text telling you to do so because faction Z wants it that way. No real story integration, no characters who give you the quest, just letters on a board.
    > The items you can find are almost always the same like coin purses or leaf. The shop in which you can trade has almost no usable or buyable stuff and is totably unbalanced (relation between price and usefulness). The icons used for the item classes are absolutely undifferentiated, so you can't tell if it is a chainmail or a leather west because both use the icon for a plate armour...
    > Regarding weapon balancing: it takes 10 hits with a good sword and a leveled swordskill to kill a skeleton, but only 3 normal arrows, although I didn't level up this skill.
    > The AI is between dumb and dumber, sometimes they simply forget there was an attacker, sometimes they run into walls, sometimes they turn their back towards you and stay in this position although you attack them constantly.
    > The story is irrelevant, just a few guys telling you that Typhon is a bad guy you have to stop.
    The game has nothing to do with the Ultima Underworld lore or its game mechanics, which could be alright, but the developers shouldn't have said that it is a spiritual successor, because that's pure nonsense on so many levels. If you published the old 1992/1993 Ultima Underworld game as remastered versions with current graphics and polished usability it would be many times better than Underworld Ascension, even if you put the nostalgia goggles aside. Just compare the game mechanics, reward systems, dialogues, inventory, items, save system, level design, story, enemy design, AI etc. In every regard.    … Expand
  10. MirandaCox
    Nov 19, 2018
    1
    Normally I don't write reviews but it is neccessary now: I feel cheated, I paid 25 € for a joke, should have gone to a restaurant instead. I haven't played the old Underworld games so I can't compare it with them. But this gameplay is so annoying that every game design student could tell you that you shouldn't use it. So basically it follows this rule: let the player go into a level 10Normally I don't write reviews but it is neccessary now: I feel cheated, I paid 25 € for a joke, should have gone to a restaurant instead. I haven't played the old Underworld games so I can't compare it with them. But this gameplay is so annoying that every game design student could tell you that you shouldn't use it. So basically it follows this rule: let the player go into a level 10 times to find a generic item (the story is a joke, too), and each time everything is reset exactly the way it was before. So I have to burn the same wooden floor each 10 times to reach the generic item. That is sooo much fun, I want to do it 10 times more. Please, please make some DLCs with one new level, so that I can visit it 100 times without any change. Cause that is what makes games fun for 25 € !!!… Expand
  11. Hexen-Slayer
    Sep 5, 2020
    1
    The developers of UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT should be banished to the underworld. I've played indie games made by a team of one that are far superior to this.
    UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT should be ashamed to use the name UNDERWORLD, as the ULTIMA UNDERWORLD games, being almost 30 years old created a far more believable and immersive underworld than this.
    This is lazy programing: the game world    The developers of UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT should be banished to the underworld. I've played indie games made by a team of one that are far superior to this.
    UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT should be ashamed to use the name UNDERWORLD, as the ULTIMA UNDERWORLD games, being almost 30 years old created a far more believable and immersive underworld than this.
    This is lazy programing: the game world consists out of a handful of levels which you will revisit over and over and over and over again to do quests - not given to you by NPCs, no, you just rip em off a board. The typical fetch x or kill x chores. The areas you revisit reset. Locked doors are locked again, enemies are back and puzzles need to be solved again.
    The physics system is the most primitive thing they could get to work, it's also glitchy as hell. The art style is terrible - neon lights, bright colors, feels more like Tokyo than an Underworld. Then there's tons of bugs.
    Well, at least it has to have a great story, right? No! You dream and awaken in the Underworld, and have to kill its prisoner Typhon. Yeah, brilliant, right?! UNDEROWORLD: ASCENDANT is one of the worst games ever made.    … Expand
  12. Armis
    Nov 26, 2018
    0
    Yet another kickstarted remake of an old-school game that seems to entirely miss the point of the original. I'm sure many of its other shortcomings will be documented in other reviews, but how can both this game,Bard's Tale 4 AND Kingdom Come Deliverance screw up something so basic as saving. How do PC games not get a decent save system in this day and age? I don't care if a vocal minorityYet another kickstarted remake of an old-school game that seems to entirely miss the point of the original. I'm sure many of its other shortcomings will be documented in other reviews, but how can both this game,Bard's Tale 4 AND Kingdom Come Deliverance screw up something so basic as saving. How do PC games not get a decent save system in this day and age? I don't care if a vocal minority of "l33t gamers" want to clear areas with no saves just like Dark Souls. Nothing forces you to save if you don't want to.

    So: A game with an apparently unlimited save system -> Actually just saves your character, but none of the progress in whatever area you are, so reloading resets you to the start. Possibly minus critical quest items.

    **** this game and **** this plague on gaming that is "punish people who want to be able to save when they want". At least KCD has a mod that fixes it.    … Expand
  13. GwionBach29
    Nov 25, 2018
    0
    This game is hot garbage. Every part of it is broken. Avoid it at all costs.
  14. Ereborn389
    Nov 18, 2018
    0
    The countless bugs are just the tip of the iceberg. The game itself is the most boring RPG I've played in the last 20 years: after playing for a few hours I had to realize that the game designers want me revisit the same small and few levels again and again just to find meaningless objects for a faction that is not present in any way. And the quests aren't given by a NPC, no, you have toThe countless bugs are just the tip of the iceberg. The game itself is the most boring RPG I've played in the last 20 years: after playing for a few hours I had to realize that the game designers want me revisit the same small and few levels again and again just to find meaningless objects for a faction that is not present in any way. And the quests aren't given by a NPC, no, you have to pick a letter from a wall. Is this good quest and story design, why should I be motivated to spend another minute with this game? There are other games like Diablo where it can be fun to take the same quests repeatedly just to get better equipment with harder enemies but in this game the very few items look all the same and have no visible benefits, the enemies and environments are the same all the time. There are games, especially multiplayer games, where the concept of taking countless generic missions can be fun IF the rest of the game is rewarding. But for a game that claims to be an immversive RPG this is a disgrace. Please, OtherSide Entertainment, tell me where the entertainment lies and what this "game" has to do with a RPG? This is the weakest RPG game design I've ever witnessed for a game that costs 30 $.… Expand
  15. GameLord3000
    Nov 19, 2018
    0
    This "game" is neither a RPG nor an Underworld successor, it is just an unfinished Unity project made by amateurs. The developers gave their backers dozens of promises how great this is going to be, experimenting with the environment, immersive sim, honoring Ultima Underworld, having all the old veterans on board, this game will be a blast. Not a blast, just blabla. Forget about the name,This "game" is neither a RPG nor an Underworld successor, it is just an unfinished Unity project made by amateurs. The developers gave their backers dozens of promises how great this is going to be, experimenting with the environment, immersive sim, honoring Ultima Underworld, having all the old veterans on board, this game will be a blast. Not a blast, just blabla. Forget about the name, forget about the veterans, just look at the game itself, it is absolutely underwhelming. Can you imagine having to revisit half a dozen levels again and again to collect a worthless item for non-existing parties and all this without a functioning save system? And what about the hundreds of bugs: AI, physics, items, level geometry, all messed up. How dare these "developers" charging any money for that?… Expand
  16. DerPlayer1987
    Nov 20, 2018
    0
    So stellt sich der Entwickler Otherside also ein Rollenspiel vor: gib dem Spieler ein Schwert, gib ihm eine minimale Hintergrundgeschichte, steck ihn in sieben oder acht bugverseuchte kleine Level und bitte ihn, diese paar Level immer wieder aufzusuchen, um einen Gegenstand oder Gegner zu finden. Das Schöne daran, diese immer gleichen Quests sind nicht in eine Geschichte eingebunden undSo stellt sich der Entwickler Otherside also ein Rollenspiel vor: gib dem Spieler ein Schwert, gib ihm eine minimale Hintergrundgeschichte, steck ihn in sieben oder acht bugverseuchte kleine Level und bitte ihn, diese paar Level immer wieder aufzusuchen, um einen Gegenstand oder Gegner zu finden. Das Schöne daran, diese immer gleichen Quests sind nicht in eine Geschichte eingebunden und werden auch nicht von einem NPC gegeben, sondern man darf man sie als langweilige Zettel von einer Wand pflücken. Dann wird man per Portal in das Level gebracht, wo sich der Gegenstand befindet, in der Regel der gleiche, den man schon zuvor geholt hatte, nur diesmal an einer anderen Stelle. Und die Level sind so klein, dass die einzige Herausforderung darin besteht, nicht die Geduld zu verlieren. Das Beste kommt aber jetzt: die Level werden immer wieder in ihren Ursprungszustand versetzt. Was heißt das? Alle Gegner sind wieder da, alle Objekte sind wieder da, was schlimmer ist, als es erst mal klingt, denn bestimme Bereich des Levels kann man nur erreichen, wenn man einen Holzboden oder eine Holztür niederbrennt. Das heißt, man darf diese langwierige Niederbrennen immer und immer wieder vollführen, da sie ja wieder auf magische Weise repariert worden sind beim Neubetreten des Levels. Die Entwickler haben das damit begründet, dass sie es nicht geschafft haben, alle Zustände der Spielwelt abzuspeichern... Aber seien wir ehrlich: selbst wenn sie es geschafft hätten und auch die tausenden Bugs bereinigt wären, das Spiel wäre trotzdem todlangweilig, weil man eben die immer gleichen Aufträge in einer sterilen Welt absolvieren soll, ohne richtige Storyeinbettung, ohne jeglichen anderen Anreiz wie tolle Rüstungsgegenstände/-sets wie bei anderen RPGs, ohne andere Charaktere, mit denen man sich unterhalten könnte, ohne Multiplayer, ohne das Belohnen von Experimentierfreude und und und. Gerade letzterer Punkt ist eine Schande, da Otherside behauptet hatte, dass das Experimentieren das Besondere sei am Spiel, aber da man (hab ich wohl vergessen zu erwähnen) NICHT ABSPEICHERN KANN, riskiert man zum einen all zu viel und geht sicherere Wege, denn sonst darf man am Levelanfang wieder einsteigen (oder wenn man stirbt beim Silver Sappling). Zum anderen geht dem Experimentieren schnell die Luft aus, da es immer das Gleiche ist: entweder auf Gegner zustürmen oder vorbeischleichen, oder ein Feuer mit einem Wasserpfeil ausschießen oder ein Holzbrett anzünden. Das hat absolut nicht das Niveau des Ausprobierens wie bei anderen Spielen wie Deus Ex, System Shock oder auch Underworld 1 & 2.
    Den Entwicklern scheint schon vor Jahren das Geld ausgegangen zu sein, denn schon damals wurde dasselbe Spielmaterial gezeigt wie das, was man heute bewundern darf: unfertige Level, kaputte Spielmechanik, lächerliche Bugs, kein Speichersystem, versprochene aber fehlende Rassen und Umgebungen usw.
    Dieses Spiel ist die größte Rollenspielkatastrophe, die ich je für Geld erworben habe.    … Expand
  17. BobbyFalcone
    Nov 22, 2018
    0
    Easily the worst game of the year. That's not a RPG or even a game, it is a hobby project by incompetent people who charge money for that. Steam should not allow this scam to happen. It is understandable that GOG didn't want this crap in their portfolio.

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
37

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 19
  3. Negative: 14 out of 19
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 6, 2019
    15
    Underworld Ascendant is a disgraceful mess in terms of both design and execution. [01/2019, p.85]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 10, 2019
    40
    Technically unfinished RPG full of dubious content choices that kills the fun instead of expanding the legacy of Ultima Underworld. It’s not even a good RPG. [Issue#292]
  3. Screen Rant
    Dec 21, 2018
    30
    Every mechanic to the game needs drastic improvements, and it's just plain unfortunate that Otherside Entertainment released the game as-is.
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