Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds

Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (or simply Ultima Underworld 2) is the sequel to Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. It was developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems in 1993.

Ultima Underworld 2 uses an improved version of the first one’s game engine, but is larger in size and scope. The world is much more interactive than the original, but keeps the first person perspective and nonlinear emergent gameplay.

The game is, of course, set in the Ultima universe and just like in the other games you control the ‘Avatar.’ Believing that the Guardian is defeated, you are invited to a celebration. However, like most evil baddies, the Guardian is far from down and comes back with a vengeance. After trapping everyone inside the castle the Guardian inadvertently opens portals to other dimensions. The Avatar must now travels to these dimensions and free the worlds from the Guardian’s influence in order to stop him.

As always, you can choose the gender, class, and skills of your Avatar. Borrowing from the first game, Labyrinth of Worlds also uses the same magic and combat systems. Branching conversations are also still present with the ability to choose different responses. Despite sales were not huge, the game snapped up high scores with critics and won Best Game of 1993.

Created in just 9 months by a small team lead by Doug Church and Paul Neurath, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds is not only always present in the list of the best RPG ever created, it is also often considered one of the best games of all time. Not bad.