History VideoGame / UltimaUnderworld

Two first-person ActionRPG spinoffs of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series, developed by {{Creator/Looking Glass Studios}}:

* AfterTheEnd: Two of the dimensions you visit in the second game, Ice Caves and Scintillus Academy, were conquered by the Guardian through utter devastation.

''"If thou art truly the Avatar, then perhaps thou canst offer hope. None here can survive the Stygian Abyss and rescue Arial. My mind is set. Corwin shall take thee to the Abyss. Return here with my daughter, and thy innocence shall be proven. If thou dost not return, 'Avatar', then thy lies shall have brought thee low."''
-->--Baron Almric setting in motion the plot of the first game.

''"'Tis now almost a year since thy defeat of the Guardian. In that time we have repaired much of the damage done in the Guardian's assault. But though the task is great, the time has come to take pleasure in what we have acomplished. On the Anniversary of thy triumph, we shall hold the Festival of Rebuilding at my castle in Britain. There we shall honor thy victory, and relive past adventures. I shall be honored if thou dost attend."''
-->--Lord British's letter to the Avatar at the start of the second game. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: In the first game, you can refresh burnt-out torches and lanterns if you find some oil, or combine a pole and some giant spider silk to make a fishing rod. You can also make popcorn by using corn on a torch (no, it has no purpose, but it's fun).

The ''Underworld'' games are notable for being early examples of true 3D environments, predating [[TwoPointFiveD quasi-3D]] {{First Person Shooter}}s such as ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.

** ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Creator/HPLovecraft , Creator/MontyPython and ''QBert'' are just a few that come readily to mind.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The sorcerer villain of the first game planned to sacrifice the Baron's daughter -- but only as a means to complete the ritual necessary to prevent an immortal, invulnerable demon from entering the world. When you kill the wizard and save the comely maiden, you unintentionally task yourself with discovering a new means to hold back a demonic, world-destroying murder-machine.

Two first-person ActionRPG spinoffs of the ''{{Ultima}}'' series, developed by {{Creator/Looking Glass Studios}}:

* AbortedArc: In an obvious SequelHook, in the second game Fissif claims that former Fellowship members are gathering on Buccaneer's Den. What they are plotting there is never revealed, as they didn't make an Underworld 3.

* PlotCoupon: There are eight artifacts in the first game, corresponding to the Eight Virtues, and which are necessary to defeat the demon.
** Some of them are quite useful, such as the Sword of Justice (mentioned above, it's an unbreakable, relatively strong sword in a game where repairing equipment is the primary money sink), the Shield of Valor (another unbreakable item, it's as good as a high-level shield), and the Taper of Sacrifice (a light source that will never burn out, though it provides the least amount of illumination other than darkness). The rest are just nice to have, but don't do anything.

* PurelyAestheticGender

* RodentsOfUnusualSize

* SchmuckBait: The first game has a dead end with a switch and a warning not to flip it. Doing so summons a rat for each flip. The rats do run out eventually, but you can summon a lot of them.

The first game is almost completely disconnected from the continuity of the main series, involving the Avatar DungeonCrawling through the eponymous Abyss with the goal of rescuing a baron's daughter. The sequel is more closely connected to the series, featuring [=NPCs=] from previous games and a storyline that takes place between the events of ''UltimaVII'' and ''UltimaVIIPartII'', and which fills in a lot of the [[BigBad Guardian's]] backstory.

** AllThereInTheManual: Despite no references in this game, the castle's sewers are actually a primordial dungeon, Hythloth, which was either there before the sewers accidentally opened it up or they were placed there to seal them off, depending on the story.

* PowerNullifier: The Guardian's spell has this effect on Britannia to an extent: any spell above the fourth circle (there are eight) cannot be cast, although wands, scrolls and potions still work fine.

* {{Defictionalisation}}: [[http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/compass/0305/2.html Apparently]], the Florida Department of Corrections encourages security guards to live by the virtues of the Guardian as outlined in Underworld 2. Evidently, no one told them that the Guardian is the ''villain'', and that his virtues are the groundwork for a fascist society.[[note]]This isn't political commentary either. From the bottom of the page: "These virtues were excerpted and adapted from "The Virtues of the Guardian of Killgorn Keep" created by John Hosie."[[/note]]

* {{Defictionalisation}}: [[http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/compass/0305/2.html Apparently]], the Florida Department of Corrections encourages security guards to live by the virtues of the Guardian as outlined in Underworld 2. Evidently, no one told them that the Guardian is the ''villain'', and that his virtues are the groundwork for a fascist society.

** ''CalvinAndHobbes'', Creator/HPLovecraft , Creator/MontyPython and ''QBert'' are just a few that come readily to mind.