Ultima VII is considered by many to be not only the best game in the Ultima series but also one of the best RPGs ever made. However, some aspects have not aged well since it was first released back in 1992 for DOS computers, and modern players have often found it a difficult game to get into.
The game’s dedicated fans have been determined to keep Ultima VII playable for modern games and there have been substitute engines like Exult, that have made multiple improvements to the game. Now another fan is creating a replacement engine that offers a different solution, namely bringing the game into isometric 3D while introducing a bunch of quality-of-life fixes. Ultima VII: Revisited is the work of developer Anthony Salter, also the creator of the retro RPG Inaria who believes the problem is that “Ultima VII is a 3D world stuck in a 2D engine.”
Speaking on his website, he stated:
“Every object in the world has width, depth and height, and the world itself consists of 3072x3072x16 tile blocks. Ultima VII was in development from 1990 to 1992 (shipping in April ’92), and even though software 3D was taking off at the time, it hadn’t been designed as a 3D game (even though it used a 3D world) and that contributed to its issues.
“But software-rendered 3D games with isometric perspectives started coming out very soon after Ultima VII, and every time I saw one I thought, “This is what Ultima VII should have looked like.”
……………….
“My goal with Ultima VII: Revisited is to present the world of Britannia in a 3D engine, using a more modern (but not too modern) presentation. I will also be smoothing off some of the rough corners, like the inventory and combat systems. My goal is to create a new way of playing Ultima VII that will allow the gamer who posted the review above to understand exactly why Ultima VII is so amazing.”
Salter also revealed on a post on Twitter, that Ultima VII: Revisited 0.0.7 will be released very soon, and will be downloadable from the u7revisited website.
Ultima VII: Revisited 0.0.7 will release very soon, I just need to clean up some crashers. Not only is the whole project now built on Raylib but I think it looks even better!
And if you miss the old pixelated look, just press the space bar! pic.twitter.com/ucVoomVrBq
— Anthony Salter – 451 (@ViridianGames) July 29, 2024
