Underworld Ascendant has been on the way for years now, but developers Otherside Entertainment haven’t shown much of their immersive sim successor, despite closing in on a nonspecific release date this year. Now we finally have a proper gameplay trailer, as well as a new dev diary detaily the studio’s player-driven approach to design.
Find out how Underworld Ascendant is a more immersive sim than Deus Ex.
The trailer showcases some of the locations and enemies of the Stygian Abyss, along with the warning that it’ll soon be destroyed without your help. There’s plenty of tossing barrels around, narrowly avoiding traps, and using magic to turn the environment to your advantage – you know, immersive sim stuff.
A lengthier dev diary goes into much more detail on the experience. The developers call their tech the Improvisation Engine, and have built Underworld fully focused on extrapolating player agency in the world. That sense of improvisation is inspired by tabletop role-playing, where players are able to creatively work out their own solutions to problems. Just hearing them list the number of ways to open a door here is mind-boggling.
The game is still on track for release in 2018.