Paul Izod at Zero 1 Gaming has continued his retrospective of the Ultima series with a lengthy look at Ultima 1.

Here’s a taste:

The question for Garriott was this; how should he follow up on Akalabeth? While an interesting premise, the game’s narrative was in all intents and purposes a thinly veiled mechanic for setting up one level after another. Was this the mechanic he should follow again for his next title?

That question was answered in September 1980, when Ultima I (later to retrospectively be known as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness) was presented to the world. Now considered by many to be the first commercial RPG game, Ultima I changed the face of gaming as we know it. Gone was the linear level structure of Akalabeth. Gone was the small-scale quest to become a knight. In their place was left a (relatively) open world adventure on a never-before-seen scale. In today’s saturated gaming market, it’s hard to fully appreciate the sea-change this was for the budding gaming market. Today, many games are sold on the fact they are open-world games alone. In 1980, this was something that was virtually unique. It can be argued that the release of Ultima one was the first shoot of what would blossom into the RPG genre we have today.

He has a fair bit of fun commenting on the game’s odd mashing-together of genres and its unflinching brutality as regards ways in which the player can suddenly die. Do read the whole thing if you have some time to spare.