Underworld Ascendant is a single-player, first-person RPG — although multiplayer gameplay is a stretch goal of its ongoing Kickstarter campaign — and a sequel to the legendary fantasy RPGs Ultima Underworld & Ultima Underworld 2.

OtherSide Entertainment’s aim is to deliver a vivid imagining of an underground fantasy realm; The Stygian Abyss is meant to be a vast world unto itself, and as much a character in the game as any of the monsters and NPCs that populate it. The Abyss should come alive with bustling underground societies: enclaves of human renegades scavenging for survival, villages of the mysterious shambler ‘mushroom people’ performing arcane rituals, dwarven factories producing the finest arms and armor. And, of course, players will face monstrous creatures like the ripper; stay clear of mass migrations of ravenous rotworms; and avoid lurkers in their watery haunts.

Additionally, players will be able to alter the environment to their advantage. Changes players make will ripple across the game’s reactive, ever-changing ecology, producing startlingly unpredictable results.