After 10 years of work, modders have remade classic RPG Ultima Underworld in Unity with 3D models, new sound effects, and controller support

You'll request the OG files to tally it

Eyes up, dungeon delvers! Or down, rather. Some agleam spark has remade Looking Glass classical Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss successful the Unity motor with caller 3D models and dependable effects, positive controller support. Ultima Underworld, often cited arsenic the original first-person 3D RPG! Ultima Underworld, besides considered a primordial specimen of the immersive sim! Ultima Underworld, which has influenced everything from Bioshock to Tomb Raider! Ultima Underworld, which... immoderate appropriately rousing 4th thing!

The Unity revival is an unofficial project, titled Unity Underground. I conjecture we indispensable brace for the imaginable wrath of licence holders EA, but it does necessitate ownership of the aged crippled files to work, truthful surely it's connected the level? Anyway, here's the archetypal 10 minutes successful video form.

Now that I've lured you down past the trailer embed, it is clip for a disgusting confession: I person ne'er played Ultima Underworld. The crippled launched for DOS originally, and I was a repulsive Macintosh gamer backmost successful the 90s - the closest I came was playing the heavy Ultima-inspired Exile: Escape from the Pit. Naturally, I'm funny to work thoughts from returning Ultima players who tin speech successful item astir the recently protuberant and sheeny quality models. I deliberation they clash with the situation textures a little, but again, I'm not truly successful a presumption to judge.

The task has been successful the offing for a while. "I've been moving connected this since 2015, and [it] wouldn't person been imaginable without erstwhile hackers' generosity successful sharing their results," writes developer Kweepa connected the Itch.io page. In a comment, the dev besides responds to immoderate concerns astir the 3D models being AI-generated (the crippled has been tagged "AI-assisted").

"No, they are each hand-crafted, moving with the sprite sheets arsenic reference," Kweepa explains. "The artists are Spherical Horse (for the items) and Lil Pupinduy (for the critters). I know they didn't usage AI due to the fact that determination were aggregate rounds of revisions and I was capable to nonstop the creation down to infinitesimal details. Plus, these models are mode much clean, tidy, and businesslike than thing AI tin produce. I did person immoderate AI generated UI textures and audio during improvement but it was each stripped retired oregon replaced earlier I released the game."

This appears to beryllium the afloat grade of the project's usage of generative AI. While I'm beauteous anti-generative AI myself - amongst different causes for concern, cardinal dollar corporations person utilized it to alteration maine into Microsoft Clippy - I deliberation a modder channelling the chatbot tech for placeholder worldly isn't each that diabolical. Still, I privation they'd done a Slay the Spire 2.

Unity Underground launched a period oregon 2 ago, truthful I americium playing Johnny Come Lately adjacent with this station successful which I admit that I americium playing Johnny Come Lately with Ultima Underworld. Johnny Come Lately, my favourite game! Somebody should remake that too. The upside of our tardiness is that you're proceeding astir Unity Underground successful the aftermath of a batch of bug-fixing. Thanks to scholar Nah for lobbing this into the accursed wishing good we telephone our Contacts email.