Ultima Underworld is one of the first games which shipped with part of its documentation translated in foreign markets. Read more here: PSX-Port of Ultima Underworld I. All menus have been altered in the Playstation version to compensate for the system's lack of keyboard or mouse. The Playstation port uses 3D models for all in-game characters. The introduction and endgame sequence of the Playstation port consists of a cinematic movie using completely new graphics. Most the storyline is identical between the ports except for a few key differences. Several years later there was a Japanese release of the game for the Playstation. A port for the Japanese FM-Towns computer was made, but it is an exact copy of the original. Ultima Underworld was originally exclusively produced for the IBM-PC.

The game was later integrated into the Ultima series at the suggestion of Richard Garriott, who was still fondly attached to the idea of 3D dungeons in Ultima games, even though he ended up removing them in Ultima VI. Ultima Underworld was originally only called Underworld and had no relations to the Ultima series, which explains the appareance of some rather unusual races in Britannia. In relation to the main Ultima series, the game takes place between Ultima VI and Ultima VII. The player has to deal with the survivors of the failed colony and, in the end, discovers a plot to summon a daemon, the Slasher of Veils, into Britannia. The Avatar is found guilty of the crime and banished to the Great Stygian Abyss, to either rescue the baron's daughter or perish within. The wizard escapes and the Avatar is caught by the baron's guards and taken before him.

After being drawn back to Britannia by an apparition, the Avatar witnesses the kidnapping of Baron Almric's daughter by the wizard Tyball. The player is cast in the role of the Avatar, the protagonist of the Ultima series. But the colony failed and in the end the Abyss became a prison. On the Isle of the Avatar, a colony was built in the Abyss to promote Virtue. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. Id Software programmer John Carmack has himself said that the engine used for Wolfenstein 3D was inspired by a technology demo of the first Ultima Underworld game.

It was released before and featured significantly more complex technology and gameplay than the exceedingly popular Wolfenstein 3d by id Software, but had higher system requirements. The game was born from a concept brought to Origin by Blue Sky of a 'simulation style' RPG using advanced 3D engine technology that was later combined with the Ultima gaming universe created by Richard Garriott.

Ultima underworld save game editor