''Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds'' is a 1993
first-person role-playing video game developed by
LookingGlass Technologies
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...
and published by
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...
. As the sequel to ''
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'', the game is set in the ''
Ultima'' fantasy universe. Players assume the role of the
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...
—the protagonist of the ''Ultima'' series—and adventure through multiple dimensions while seeking to prevent the evil
Guardian from achieving world domination. Progression is largely
nonlinear
In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many othe ...
and the game allows for
emergent gameplay
Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics.
Designers have attempted to encourage emergent play by providing too ...
.
''Ultima Underworld II'' began production in April 1992, shortly after the completion of ''Ultima Underworld''; and it was developed in nine months. The team sought to improve upon the foundation laid by the game's predecessor, particularly by increasing the size and interactivity of the game world. The team reused and improved the first game's
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
. Development was impeded by insufficient staffing and extensive playtesting, and the rapid production cycle led to
burnout on the team.
Most critics gave ''Ultima Underworld II'' positive reviews and lauded its graphics, design and nonlinearity. Complaints focused on its high system requirements and unrefined pacing. It has been placed on numerous hall of fame lists since its release. In reaction to the game's difficult development, Looking Glass altered its design approach: they streamlined ideas from the ''Ultima Underworld'' series to create ''
System Shock''. The team pitched a sequel to ''Ultima Underworld II'' multiple times, but Origin Systems rejected the idea.
Arkane Studios
Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, ''Arx Fatalis'', in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC ( trading as Ark ...
' ''
Arx Fatalis
''Arx Fatalis'' is an action role-playing video game developed by Arkane Studios and released for Microsoft Windows in 2002 and Xbox in 2003. The game is played from a first-person perspective and is set on a world whose sun has failed, forcing t ...
'' (2002) is a
spiritual successor to the franchise originally pitched as a sequel. OtherSide Entertainment's ''
Underworld Ascendant
''Underworld Ascendant'' is a first-person action role-playing game developed by Otherside Entertainment and published by 505 Games. It is the sequel to '' Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' and '' Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds ...
'' is the first officially licensed entry in the series in over 23 years.
Gameplay
''Ultima Underworld II'' is a
role-playing video game that takes place from a
character's eye view in a
three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
(3D) graphical environment.
The player's goal is to adventure through
dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
-like indoor environments across eight
parallel dimensions, while completing quests to help the inhabitants of each world.
The player uses a
freely movable mouse cursor to interact with the game's world and to manipulate the
heads-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
(HUD) interface. Icons on the HUD allow the player to examine objects closely, to converse with
non-player characters (NPCs) and to ready the
player character's weapon, among other things. During the game, the player collects items and stores them in an inventory on the HUD.
Because it uses the same
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
as its predecessor, ''Ultima Underworld II'' shares many of that game's features.
For example, it allows the player character to jump and swim, and it contains an
automap
A mini-map or minimap is a miniature map that is often placed at a screen corner in video games to aid players in orienting themselves within the game world. They are often only a small portion of the screen and must be selective in what details ...
.
The player begins by creating a character, for whom traits such as gender,
character class
In tabletop games and video games, a character class is a job or profession commonly used to differentiate the abilities of different game characters.
In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes aggregate several abilities and aptitudes, ...
and skills may be selected. Skills range from diplomacy and lockpicking to blacksmithing. The game starts in the castle of
Lord British,
through which the player accesses other dimensions.
The player character gains
experience points by fighting, completing quests and exploring. During combat, the player attacks by clicking the screen: more damage is dealt when the player presses and holds the attack button. Depending on where the player clicks, different types of attacks—such as thrusts and slashes—occur. The player may cast spells by using an appropriate combination of "runestones", which are collected throughout the game.
When enough experience points have been accumulated, the player character
levels up
An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Expe ...
and gains
hit point
Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the f ...
s. Experience points also grant "skill points",
which allow the character to increase skill proficiency. Unlike in ''
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'', skills are not improved at shrines; rather, they are increased by training with NPCs at the castle or in other dimensions.
As with its predecessor, ''Ultima Underworld II'' was designed to generate
emergent gameplay
Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics.
Designers have attempted to encourage emergent play by providing too ...
through the interplay of simulated systems. The developers attempted to combine role-playing elements with "a sophisticated three-dimensional simulation of a sensible and believable world".
For example, torches burn out, items wear over time and the player character must eat.
Many items in the game are useless but were included for the sake of realism.
The game is
nonlinear
In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many othe ...
, in that players must "visit and revisit" areas as the character gains abilities and becomes stronger,
instead of "clearing each square foot as they go".
Many situations and puzzles in the game have multiple solutions.
Plot
Setting and characters
''Ultima Underworld II'' is set in the fantasy world of the ''
Ultima'' franchise. It takes place across multiple parallel dimensions, the first being Britannia, the traditional setting of ''Ultima'' games.
The protagonist is the
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...
, the main character of the series.
Chronologically, the events of the game occur directly after those of ''
Ultima VII: The Black Gate'', rather than those of the original ''Ultima Underworld''.
As with ''Ultima VII'', the villain of ''Ultima Underworld II'' is the
Guardian, an evil being who seeks to conquer Britannia.
The game features recurring characters from previous ''Ultima'' games, such as Lord British, Nystul, Dupre, Iolo and Mayor Patterson. Also present are Lady Tory and Miranda,
the latter of whom appeared in ''Ultima VII''.
Story
One year after the events of ''Ultima VII: The Black Gate'', the Avatar and many other recurring characters from the ''Ultima'' series attend a celebration at the castle of Lord British. However, they are trapped when a large dome of impenetrable "blackrock" covers the castle.
The Guardian plans to attack Britannia while the characters are trapped,
and he explains that those who do not surrender will be left to die in the dome. Searching the sewers beneath the castle,
the Avatar locates a smaller blackrock crystal that leads to alternate dimensions. The magic used by the Guardian to seal the castle caused interdimensional portals to open between eight parallel worlds,
each of which is a "center" for the Guardian's power across dimensions.
The denizens of these dimensions are ruled by the Guardian, and the player must free each world to weaken the Guardian's power over Lord British's castle and elsewhere.
The Guardian mocks the efforts of the Avatar in their dreams throughout the game.
As the Avatar explores other worlds, a contemporaneous plotline, which ''
PC Zone''s David McCandless called a "soap opera", unfolds at the castle. One of those trapped in the castle is a traitor, and the Avatar must discover their identity.
The first dimension visited by the Avatar is a prison tower in "Fyrna", which has been conquered by goblins led by the Guardian. There, the player rescues a human resistance leader named Bishop, who then returns to lead a rebellion against the Guardian.
Back at the castle, the player gives a small blackrock gem obtained in the prison tower to Nystul, who enchants it to disrupt the portal in the sewers. Next, the player visits Killorn Keep, a floating fortress in a different dimension. Altara, a sorceress in Killorn Keep who is allied with Bishop,
warns the Avatar that the Guardian has hidden a magical spy beneath the castle in Britannia. She provides a special dagger with which to kill it. After removing the spy, the Avatar visits a dimension of ice caves: the remnants of a civilization destroyed by the Guardian, now ruled by a ghost named Beatrice.
The Avatar returns to the castle and finds that Lady Tory has been murdered by the traitor.
The next dimension is Talorus, a world inhabited by energy beings called "Talorids" that each serve a single purpose, such as knowing only the past or producing runestones. Talorids are created to serve the Guardian,
but the Avatar destroys and replaces the sole reproductive Talorid to free the race.
The Avatar completes a series of tests at Scintillus Academy, a mage school whose staff was killed by the Guardian. Afterwards, the player travels to the Pits of Carnage, a subterranean prison on a world where the Guardian trains soldiers to attack other dimensions; and to the Tomb of Praecor Loth, where a king killed in a war with the Guardian is buried.
Finally, the Avatar visits the Ethereal Void, a strange world with floating, glowing pathways and no map.
Eventually, the Avatar discovers that Mayor Patterson is the traitor and destroys the blackrock dome.
Development
Looking Glass Technologies
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...
began to develop ''Ultima Underworld II'' in April 1992.
The team's goal was to build upon the foundation laid by the game's predecessor, ''
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss''.
They attempted to write a better, more complex plot and to include superior simulation elements and "play value".
According to project leader
Doug Church
Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in Evanston, Illinois), is an American video game designer and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with Looking Glass Studios, when they were making primarily MS-DOS-based i ...
, the team's "biggest advantage" was the presence of four dedicated designers; by contrast, each member of the original game's team had assumed multiple roles.
The Tomb of Praecor Loth was largely created by lead writer
Austin Grossman
Austin Seth Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American author and video game designer. He has contributed to '' The New York Times'' and has written for a number of video games, most notably '' Deus Ex'' and '' Dishonored''.
Life
Grossman w ...
, who took inspiration from the ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'' module ''
Tomb of Horrors
''Tomb of Horrors'' is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') role-playing game. It was originally written for and used at the 1975 Origins 1 convention. Gygax designed the adventure both to chal ...
''.
The additional designers allowed Looking Glass to more carefully revise levels in ''Ultima Underworld II'', so that players would have "interesting stuff" to see and do each time they explored an area. The team attempted to fine-tune the role-playing mechanics of ''Ultima Underworld'', such as by making certain skills more powerful in the sequel.
More puzzles and interactivity were added, and the game world was made several times larger than that of ''Ultima Underworld'', according to Church.
He later believed that the team was overambitious, and that the game was insufficiently focused and polished as a result.
Like its predecessor, ''Ultima Underworld II'' was produced by
Warren Spector
Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...
, who was Looking Glass' main link to publisher
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...
.
Church later praised Spector's handling of the project: his weekly phone conversations and monthly meetings with Looking Glass helped Church and the team to refocus creatively during development.
When the team failed to produce enough art for the game, Spector supplemented the art team with
contractors
A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...
from Origin, which Church believed was "critical" to the game's being released on schedule.
As a result of the art team's distance from Looking Glass, Church had to phone "nine different area codes every couple days to check up on things". He recalled the challenge of describing the enemy designs by phone.
Dan Schmidt and the recently hired
Seamus Blackley
Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley (born 1968) is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001.
Career
After enter ...
composed the game's score in Blackley's apartment over one week. They attempted to give each world a unique sound, while hiding variations of the main theme in each track.
The music system from the original ''Ultima Underworld'' was retained with only minor alterations,
but the team included
digitized sound effects instead of the synthesized audio used in the first game.
''Ultima Underworld II'' was developed in nine months.
It was originally slated for a February 1993 release,
but the date was later moved up to December 1992.
The game underwent two and a half months of playtesting by Origin and Looking Glass employees,
and by remote testing firms.
According to Church, the testing phase took more time than expected because of complaints from playtesters and the presence of numerous bugs.
Church went to Origin's headquarters in Texas during the final stages of development. The team "tried desperately to make Christmas", and the game was completed around December 18. Church compiled the final version on his laptop in Spector's office.
However, the game was held back for further playtesting even though it could have shipped on schedule.
Church later commented, "
ere was one bug we couldn't reproduce, and everyone really wanted to go home for Christmas. We ended up taking a few days off, checking it a few more days and using that version anyway."
The delay caused the game to miss the holiday season.
It was shipped in January 1993.
Technology
''Ultima Underworld II'' was built with an improved version of the
game engine used for its predecessor. The team enhanced its visual capabilities: they broadened the first-person view by 30%, expanded the color palette, added more 3D objects, increased the size and animation of
character sprites and wrote a new
texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for mapping a texture on a computer-generated graphic. Texture here can be high frequency detail, surface texture, or color.
History
The original technique was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974.
Texture mappi ...
algorithm. Director
Paul Neurath Paul Neurath is a video game designer and creative director. He founded both Blue Sky Productions (later renamed Looking Glass Studios) and Floodgate Entertainment. He was the creative director of Zynga Boston. In 2014 he founded OtherSide Entertain ...
commented that ''Ultima Underworld''s texture mapping had failed to "look quite as good as we had hoped", and that the new system realized their vision. The game's code is roughly 30% larger than that of ''Ultima Underworld''—bloat that Church attributed to "second project syndrome".
Reception
According to Paul Neurath, ''Ultima Underworld II'' and its predecessor together sold half a million units.
Paul Presley of ''
PC Review
''PC Leisure'' was the United Kingdom's first magazine dedicated exclusively to IBM PC compatible (PC) entertainment and was published by EMAP between spring 1990 and September 1991. A total of nine issues were published in its lifetime, the firs ...
'' called the game "huge" and praised its atmosphere, increased variety and higher graphical detail. However, he found that the game, unlike its predecessor, does not feature "anything that takes it to a higher plateau to wait for the others to catch up". He summarized ''Ultima Underworld II'' as "magnificent", and he wrote, "If someone were to hand me £40 and say buy either ''Underworld I'' or ''II'', I'd take the sequel any time."
''
PC Zone''s David McCandless wrote, "Nothing can completely prepare you for the freedom the game gives you ... It's about as close to Virtual Reality as you are ever likely to get from your mouse driver." He praised the game's atmospheric sound and called its graphics "stunning": on a high-end computer, he found that "dungeons can move like a film". Partly because of the game's large size, he felt that ''Ultima Underworld II'' was looser and less involving than its predecessor, but he concluded that players would still "sit there, dribble slightly, and say 'blimey' every eight to ten minutes."
The ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
''s William Burrill called it "the best fantasy ... role-playing game in this (or any parallel) world." He praised its automap and noted its increased graphical fidelity. However, he found that the control system took time to learn, and he stated, "This is not a game you can master quickly or play in a night. It has its frustrations and its flaws, despite its brilliance of design". He summarized that "those who are patient will be richly rewarded with a game like no other."
''
Computer Gaming World''s Doug Sencat enjoyed the game's graphics and praised the plot, conversations and 3D world for giving a sense of "being there". However, he noted that the game's movement controls were "a pain" and that navigating the environment was initially "frustrating". Sencat was unfavorable toward the linearity of the plot and
dialogue trees, and toward NPCs' inability to take actions independent of the player. He described the game as "a long and grueling quest" that often "seems more frustrating than enjoyable". Although Semcat called it "a relatively high-quality game", he finished, "By the time I finally saw daylight again, emerging from the ''Labyrinth'', I must admit that it wasn't exultation I felt, but sheer relief."
The magazine's
Scorpia was more positive, calling the game "a good follow-up to the previous entry".
Legacy
In a 2004 retrospective review, ''
PC Gamer UK
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
s John Walker stated that ''Ultima Underworld II'' "was new and exciting in half a dozen areas at once, not just one. Somehow, no game has quite achieved that since".
''PC Gamer'' has included ''Ultima Underworld II'' in several lists of the best computer games of all time: the game placed 5th in 1994,
18th in 1998,
54th in 2001,
39th in 2007,
and 98th in 2011.
One writer for the magazine wrote, "Like ''Ultima Underworld'' but again and better. No, that won't do. ''Ultima Underworld
I' needs to be hailed from the roof-tops for being one of the best dungeon-based adventure RPGs of all illustrious gaming history."
Another wrote that "
other game since has raised the bar half as high".
In 2011, a writer for ''PC Gamer'' called ''Ultima Underworld II'' "a game from the future" that was "
nderfully, richly, impossibly interactive".
According to Church, Looking Glass found ''Ultima Underworld II''s long playtesting phase extremely stressful.
Neurath commented that the game's rushed production led to
burnout on the team.
Near the end of development, the company decided that it "had done too many dungeon games", and it began to consider a project with a similar design philosophy but without a fantasy setting.
After brainstorming sessions by Church, Spector, Grossman and Neurath, Looking Glass began development of ''
System Shock''.
Grossman later stated that his work on the Tomb of Praecor Loth was in some ways a "mini-prototype" for ideas he fleshed out in ''System Shock''.
Looking Glass pitched a sequel to ''Ultima Underworld II'' several times, but Origin Systems rejected the idea.
Years later,
Arkane Studios
Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, ''Arx Fatalis'', in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC ( trading as Ark ...
pitched ''Ultima Underworld III'' to
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
and received a similar response, which inspired the studio to create the
spiritual successor ''
Arx Fatalis
''Arx Fatalis'' is an action role-playing video game developed by Arkane Studios and released for Microsoft Windows in 2002 and Xbox in 2003. The game is played from a first-person perspective and is set on a world whose sun has failed, forcing t ...
''.
In 2014, Neurath and his company OtherSide Entertainment announced ''Underworld Ascension'', another spiritual successor to the ''Ultima Underworld'' series. In 2015 the game was renamed to ''Underworld Ascendant'' and a
Kickstarter campaign was launched and successfully funded.
References
External links
*
''Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds''on the Codex of Ultima Wisdom wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultima Underworld Ii: Labyrinth Of Worlds
1993 video games
Action role-playing video games
DOS games
Dungeon crawler video games
First-person video games
FM Towns games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
Immersive sims
Looking Glass Studios games
NEC PC-9801 games
Role-playing video games
Single-player video games
Labyrinth of Worlds
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
Video game sequels
Windows games
Video games produced by Warren Spector