And instead of a huge underground dungeon, there’d be a sprawling, multi-level space station.
Instead of blades and magic, there would be laser swords and assault rifles. Instead of rats and dragons, there were robots and cyborgs. It was stripped down compared to other CRPGs – due to its nature, you could only play as a single character at a time, and there was no class system, among other regressions – but the fact that it felt like a truly 3D texture mapped world was an incredible achievement, especially since it predated Doom.Īfter working on two Ultima Underworld titles, Blue Sky Productions (which eventually changed its name to Looking Glass Technologies) grew tired of the typical CRPG swords-and-sorcery setting, and decide to try its hand in a futuristic setting. In Ultima Underworld, you had full control, and could walk, run, or look in any direction, and fight enemies in real time. No longer did you just saunter forward, tile by tile, facing straight forward and typing commands to attack enemies. Developed by a company called Blue Sky Productions and published by Origin in 1992, Ultima Underworld took the first person dungeon crawler and turned on its head by featuring fully 3D caverns and completely real-time action. It wasn’t until over a decade later that the formula truly evolved. The action was turn-based, the movement limited to a single square at a time. Its successors, including Wizardry, The Bard’s Tale, and Garriott’s own Ultima series, continued in this venue, despite being somewhat limited by technology.
First person dungeon crawling has been a staple of the computer role playing game ever since Richard Garriott’s Akalabeth.