We haven’t heard from Paul Izod at Zero 1 Gaming in a while; his Ultima series retrospective had seemingly stalled at Ultima 6. However, this very morning, he published the next article in this ongoing effort, taking a look at Ultima Underworld. And as you might expect, he has many good things to say about this revolutionary game:

The game, full title Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, sees the Avatar protagonist return to the world of Britannia, summoned by the ghost of a wizard who claims his brother is enacting a plot which will see the world end. You know, the usual. The Avatar returns at the moment a baron’s daughter is kidnapped and he gets framed for the crime. The baron, who doesn’t recognise the Avatar (the most famous and iconic person in the world of Britannia mind, but suspend that disbelief!) and tasks him with retrieving the girl from where she has been taken; the eponymous Stygian Abyss.

What follows can best be described as a dungeon survival simulation, where the player is tasked with not only surviving, but also conquering, the vast Stygian Abyss, rescuing the damsel and foiling the end of the world into the bargain. As you do…

The game itself is most noteworthy for being set entirely in the first person perspective. While not the first game to do so, Ultima Underworld really broke new ground with its approach. Developed by Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios) and published by Origin Systems, the game was released in 1992 and was, quite simply a game changer. Pretty much every aspect of the game was cutting edge, from the ability to explore three dimensional environments more or less at will to simply being able to look up and down.

While today first person perspective games are endemic to the industry, in 1992 this was breath-taking. Just the visual depiction of the world and its inhabitants was like nothing seen before. Couple this with the previously unseen freedom the game allowed and Underworld can be justifiably be cited as the first true 3D roleplaying adventure game. By today’s standards the game might feel extremely basic, but in Underworld you can see the genesis of the modern adventure RPG.

Click on through to read the rest; he goes on to discuss some of the games that have arguably taken inspiration from Underworld in some way, shape, or fashion, notes some of the flaws and inconsistencies that the game arguably suffers from, and then heaps a bit more praise on it just to balance things out.

If you at all enjoyed Ultima Underworld — and I think most of you did, Dragons and Dragonettes — you’ll enjoy what the good Mr. Izod has to say about it, I think.