Underworld Ascendant - Interviews

The latest update for Underworld Ascendant brings us links to several interview and a Q&A the devs did with their fans.

The Links:

• Quarter to Three Podcast - An in-depth discussion about Underworld Ascendant with OtherSide's Paul Neurath and Joe Fielder and QT3's Tom Chick. (Starts around 07:09.)
• RadarRadar Podcast - GamesRadar's Ludwig Kietzmann talks with Paul and Joe about Underworld Ascendant's player-authored gameplay and much more. (Starts around 41:27.)
• An Early Look at Underworld Ascendant - IGN's Jared Petty gives his thoughts on the game after seeing the latest footage and chatting with Paul and Joe.

And one of the seven answers to fan questions:

slayerming2: In the original Kickstarter, you called a certain character a thief, but it seems like in the more recent video, it's called a rogue. Are you moving away from the original idea? How stealth focus can you play, if you want to be as stealthy as possible?

We don't have specific character classes in Underworld Ascendant per se, such as a Thief or Rogue class. Rather players can gain skills and abilities that fall broadly into combat, stealth, or magic categories. The player can choose to bear down in one those categories; creating a character who is very adaptable in physical combat situations, or is able to creep into areas to get the lay of the land and sneak past tough opponents, or unlock the "source code of reality" with runic magic. Or they could mix and match, say, creating a powerful mage sort who also had a few stealth skills, enabling them to better sneak into an area, see what challenges await, and prepare just the right spell.

It's all about player choice -- and since you can't exceed at everything, you'll have to decide where to focus. Skills and abilities will be distinctly different enough where you can play through multiple times and potentially have a very different gameplay experience. (Paul and Joe talk about this more in the Quarter to Three podcast here.)

On your question of stealth focus, stealth in our game will feel a little different than in other games, thus the use of the term "rogue." We'll get into exactly how later on, but since our lead designer Tim Stellmach was the lead designer on the original Thief at Looking Glass, I think we can safely say stealth will be a distinctly fun experience in Underworld Ascendant.

Thanks Kristoph.