Preview Underworld Ascendant PAX South 2018 Trailer, Gameplay Footage and Previews

[Infinitron]

Tags: OtherSide Entertainment; Paul Neurath; Tim Stellmach; Underworld Ascendant; Warren Spector

The annual PAX South event in San Antonio took place this past weekend. Among the games that made an appearance there were Pillars of Eternity II, Divinity: Original Sin 2 and OtherSide Entertainment's Underworld Ascendant. Despite high expectations, so far nothing new has come out from there about the first two games, but OtherSide have come through for us. Today they published a new trailer for Ascendant, featuring gameplay footage from the latest internal build and narrated by the one and only Stephen Russell. The trailer is combined with what appear to be old recordings of Warren Spector, Paul Neurath and Tim Stellmach dating back to the Kickstarter, and it serves a kind of introduction to the game. Check out that new logo:

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Simultaneously with the release of the trailer, several previews of Underworld Ascendant have appeared on the web. The most notable of these is a two and a half minute gameplay video at IGN. Narrated by Paul Neurath, it demonstrates some of Ascendant's diverse gameplay options, including a bit of fiery deep slug action:

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There are also a couple of preview articles at The Verge and TechRaptor, and a brief interview with Paul Neurath on a YouTube channel called Dropthespotlight. The interview is interesting in that it features a rather candid admission by Paul that the game has strayed away from its originally planned RPG roots as development has progressed.

 

[Morality Games]

Well done Ultima Underworld, you just inched yourself back onto my wishlist.

For now.

 

[grimace]

https://youtu be/8tQafjwS7bk


Calling it "Immersive simulation" and saying Otherside Entertainment is "pushing the innovation ...[and] it's satisfying".

 

[Metro]

Wait... this game is RELEASING in 2018? Not a fucking chance.

 

[thesheeep]

What a soothing voice.

 

[tindrli]

that water arrow begs for redesign

 

[ciox]

Environments look cool even if they're full of teal&orange, some abilities are nice (you'll have all the gear from Thief in the game at this rate), but the awkward messing around with physics and super creative solutions to resolve combat still looks like someone playing Garry's Mod.

 

[Van-d-all]

I've been waiting for a good, freelook dungeon crawler since Arx Fatalis, yet again the video is mostly talking heads. Show me the god damn game.

 

[Infinitron]

I've been waiting for a good, freelook dungeon crawler since Arx Fatalis, yet again the video is mostly talking heads. Show me the god damn game.

Second video.

 

[Van-d-all]

I've been waiting for a good, freelook dungeon crawler since Arx Fatalis, yet again the video is mostly talking heads. Show me the god damn game.

Second video.

Touche.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Wait... this game is RELEASING in 2018? Not a fucking chance.

At his point, I'm thinking most video game release dates are just there to add some urgency to the marketing. They are inevitably delayed, but it the mean time, it gets people more exicted to think a game is just around the corner than thinking it's 1 or 2 years away.

 

[Jasede]

I'll even take a bad Arx Fatalis clone to re-experience that UU feeling so this looks nice. Maybe it's the voice but I feel like I can trust that guy talking in the first video, the LG guy.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It still looks terrible so far, but I'd extremely happy to be proven wrong.

 

[SCO]

Cratemancy is a somewhat original development on the long and prestigious history of players using crate physics to fuck with a game. Not necessarily better than crate ladders in ultima 7 and thief, but a welcome development.

 

[Andhaira]

Graphics and animations look horrible.

The game has potential but...

 

[toro]

I see glimpses of Thief and Arx ...

 

[RatTower]

Looks really nice. The snail having a little snack seems quite specific.
I wonder how detailed the AI will be with these things.

Performance seems to be a little lacking here and there.
Probably because of the dynamic lighting. From what I understand all of those torches can be put out, so none of that nice orange light can be precomputed.



One of those comments under the second video though...

I recently made Ultima Underword work with dual analog control through a Wii U Pro controller and played through the entire game. Then programmed it to work with a Wiimote with motion controls for swinging stabbing and chopping

I'm actually thinking about trying that myself.

 

[Sinatar]

Hey guys, our game lets you play however you want, here's a video showing off a bunch of different approaches to a situation!

All the approaches fail.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Is it just me or does this have nothing in common with Ultima Underworld?

Except being underground, obviously. :D

 

[Sentinel]

Honestly, this game looks like shit.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Looks like bootleg Thief in Unity what a shit show.

 

[Metro]

Infi still white knighting this. If it isn't out in 2018, like they say, Infi, then I get the Codex review copy!

 

[Forest Dweller]

So they showed a bunch of different approaches, but only one of them worked?

 

[grimace]

At his point, I'm thinking most video game release dates are just there to add some urgency to the marketing. They are inevitably delayed, but it the mean time, it gets people more exicted to think a game is just around the corner than thinking it's 1 or 2 years away.

There's always something "just around the corner."

The question we should be asking is: How many corners does this game have and how many of those corners will need to be cut?

 

[Chunkyman]

Hey guys, our game lets you play however you want, here's a video showing off a bunch of different approaches to a situation!

All the approaches fail.

Sounds pretty realistic to me.