The Dark Unknown is a browser-based tiled RPG in the style of Ultima 5, built by Goldenflame Dragon as a sort of “spritial prequel” to Ultima 1. Which is to say: it has no direct connection to the Ultima series, but will feature lots of little references and other things that most Ultima fans will nod knowingly at.

Goldenflame Dragon is writing his own engine for the game, and intends to keep the actual game itself fairly short. Ultimately, he wants to give players the option to either play the game online, via his website, or download and play it on their own computers. Whether that latter goal will be realized by means of a client or an actual standalone game is not yet clear.

At present, The Dark Unknown is web-playable only, and still very much in the pre-alpha stages of development. A map editor, with instructions, is also available. I have added a project entry for it, with links to both the playable pre-alpha and editor.