Nearly four and a half years after it was first announced, Underworld Ascendant was finally released today, with more of a whimper than a bang. This game's development is truly one of the most shameful events of the Kickstarter era. It's one thing when a group of respected developers from the old days (and there are few who were more respected than this bunch) fail to recreate the magic and come out with a disappointing game. God knows we've seen plenty of that. It's quite another thing when they reveal themselves to have had no idea how to even make a game.

To be sure, Ascendant is janky, buggy and incomplete, but its real problem is quantity rather than quality. It's been cut down to the absolute minimum. With enough patching, its gameplay could perhaps become acceptable, but we didn't need to bring Paul Neurath and Tim Stellmach out of retirement to create what is basically an Early Access indie dungeon survival game of the sort that three-man teams from Eastern Europe release on Steam every week. Frankly, it's kind of hard to believe that the game even exists. It's the sort of project that's supposed to get cancelled and rebooted before ever seeing the light of day. The really sad thing, though, is that there aren't enough people who care to have even made much of a fuss about it.


Naturally, there are no reviews of the game, only a flurry of interviews with Warren Spector and a few "sponsored" previews on YouTube. It won't be long before the fun begins, though. If for some reason you'd like to experience it first-hand, Ascendant is available on Steam for $30 with a 15% launch discount until next week. Apparently GOG have refused to stock the game, which really tells you all you need to know.