Underworld Ascendant (Out now on PC, 2019 on PS4, XB, Switch)

[MechDeus]

No Kate Beckinsale, no sale.

[Frogacuda]

The new prototype is out. Thoughts/impressions:

First of all, this is massively improved since the December prototype. To the point of being barely recognizable. The graphics are a huge improvement, obviously, and I really do like the art style, but mechanically it feels a lot better too, and there's more of a sense that this is a game. The new prototype is not exactly a vertical slice, but it does have things to explore and puzzles to solve and even a little bit of story. You can get a sense for how the game is designed around systems rather than lock and key solutions.

Combat is now working, which was not the case in the previous proto. It's pretty basic, but functional. I wouldn't mind if they added some defensive moves like a dodge, parry, or block.

The magic system is already fairly robust. The proto has a bunch of runes to find, and doesn't spell out what spells to use, so you can just try different combinations and see what does interesting stuff. Some of these spells have effects that aren't very clear or useful, but it's still fun to just try things.

Physics are clearly going to be a big part of this game, which makes the various magic spells a bit more interesting as well.

Overall it left me feeling good about where this is heading. I wasn't so sure 6 months ago, but now I'm really looking forward to it.

[Frogacuda]

This has resurfaced looking a little more polished. This project is ridiculously overdue at this point but looking a lot better than I ever expected.

[Frogacuda]

This is out today.

I got to play a bit of the most recent beta. It's a really interesting game, and while I don't expect it to review well (because it defies so much of what we expect from modern game design) it might be the truest immersive sim to date.

The expectation in modern games, is that the game will subtly hint to you where to go, and when you do the right thing, or start to do the right thing, it will in some way communicate to you that you're on the right path, or that the thing you're doing "works." And sometimes we find other ways around that the designers didn't account for, it's usually pretty obvious which one the game "meant" for you to do. Even in immersive sims, there are usually simply a few different choices laid out for you (say, crawl through vent, break through door, find a key), but they're all still curated choices that the designers thought of.

This game has none of that. There is no right way to do anything. And because of that, everything feels like the wrong thing, if you're used to modern game design. There simply is no one obvious correct way that feels right, it's all kludging your way through using this huge repertoire of abilities, all of which are based on physical simulation and kind of unpredictable. Nothing clicks into place, or chimes when it fits, it's all messy and unscripted. Everything feels like you're breaking the game. And that's actually an intentional design ethos.

Once that clicks, it's actually a lot of fun. The game is pretty janky, because it's all simulated systems rather than scripted actions, so it can get very messy, and yet there's always a way through. Definitely not for everyone but there are people that will love it.

[NeoZeedeater]

It definitely sounds right up my alley, and I'm a big Ultima Underworld fan. I will have to wait until I get a new PC or when it comes to console, though.

[kingoffighters]

I love UU too, so I will look into this at some point.

[Frogacuda]

Oy, so digging into the final game, it's gotten a lot of polish, and it looks a lot nicer, but... there's basically no save system. You can only save at the hub. There are mid-level checkpoints for respawn if you die, but you have to get to the end of the level if you want to actually save and quit.

I'm not sure if this is simply the design, or something they intent to fix. Patch notes say mid-level saves are not working "right now," which implies they maybe intend to change that... But it's a pretty big obstacle keeping me from enjoying this right now.

[Frogacuda]

Yeah, I'd put this one on the "Wishlist and buy on sale after they patch" pile.

I don't mind the mushy controls and clunky combat, and I like how crazy the simulation can get (burning down load-bearing posts and collapsing whole floors, for example). The systems-based stuff is interesting. But the save system makes the bugginess and unpredictability of the gameplay genuinely harrowing. Like I can only save once an hour, but then I might get stuck in a wall or do something crazy that makes getting back difficult, and lose all that progress. If they can fix the saves, the other issues become tolerable, but as it stands right now, it's a hard pass.

[kingoffighters]

That sucks, not having save anywhere is really unacceptable this day and age.

[Frogacuda]

That sucks, not having save anywhere is really unacceptable this day and age.

From what I understand, they said it's just too complicated with all the possible world states, and I can understand why that would be an obstacle, because there's a lot of interactive stuff in the game, but there has to be some kind of compromise with checkpoints or something. You can't just force people to go through an hour long level with no saves.

There's also really obvious polish issues once you get a few levels in. Spots where I can see outside the level, etc. This very obviously needed a few more months and was forced out by the publisher.