Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars have all returned to GOG, where they are free to download until 3rd September.

The Ultima Collection CD contains the same game versions as the Ultima I-VI series before (that is including the non-working Ultima II) plus the complete Ultima VII and Ultima VIII and a couple of videos featuring Richard Garriott explaining the Ultima timeline. As a bonus they included a DOS version of Richard Garriotts first game 'Akalabeth'. Explore UFC video games from Electronic Arts, a leading publisher of games for the PC, consoles and mobile. Join us, June 30th, 2021 at 2pm ET – if you can’t make it, don’t worry! You can always catch a replay of the stream on the Ultima Online YouTube Channel! See you in Briannia, UO Team.

Each game normally costs £4.39.

GOG’s announcement that it planned to delist the classic quartet from its digital store in late June at the “publisher’s request” (Electronic Arts) convinced a number of customers to snap them up.

Ultima Game Plus

Now, they’re back on GOG, alongside a message from EA:

“Syndicate and Ultima Underworld are back! It seems that 20 years on there’s still plenty of love for these titles so we’re pleased to confirm that effective immediately they’ll be available again on GOG, and we’ll be keeping them in the store for the foreseeable future. To celebrate this we’re offering these games as a free download for four weeks.”

Ultima Game Plus 2

According to PC Gamer, GOG is offering owners of either game a refund.

It’s unclear why these games were delisted from GOG in the first place. Blue Sky Productions’ Ultima Underworld is one of the most influential RPGs of all time. The 1992 first-person adventure, created by developer legends including Richard Garriott, Warren Spector and Paul Neurath, was set in a fully 3D simulated world that predated even Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls. Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds, developed by LookingGlass Technologies, followed in 1993.

Syndicate Plus is the 1996 re-release of the original Syndicate and its expansion pack. Syndicate is of course the isometric real-time tactical strategy game from Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog that came out in 1993. Syndicate Wars is the 1996 follow-up.

Produced by: Brad Hannah
Website:Ultima 5 Redux @ WordPress.com
Website:Ultima 5 Redux @ GitHub
Website:Ultima 5 Redux 3D@ GitHub

Ultima 5 Redux

A utility for accessing and interpreting Ultima 5 game data and save files.

Ultima 5 Redux – Alpha Demo (Windows)

The February 24, 2020 alpha release of Ultima 5 Redux, for Windows. Full installation instructions can be found here.

Ultima Game Plus Game

Ultima 5 Redux – Alpha Demo (OS X)

Ultima Game Plus 3

The February 24, 2020 alpha release of Ultima 5 Redux, for OS X. Full installation instructions can be found here.

Ultima 5 Redux is, per the developer’s description of it, “a remake of Ultima 5 with improved graphics and combat that utilizes original game data to ensure the core game is as close to the original as possible.” What that means, practically, is that Brad Hannah is using the Unity engine to take the original data for Ultima 5 to create a voxel-based, isometric 3D reworking of the game.

Ultima Game Plus Download

Or, rather, that’s one part of what he is working on. The Ultima 5 Redux project is actually divided into two parts: Ultima 5 Redux proper (which is a utility for accessing and interpreting Ultima 5 game data and save files), and Ultima 5 Redux 3D, which is the voxel-based remake.

Said remake maintains an overall old-school aesthetic; it uses the Ultima 5 tileset as the basis for its graphics. However, it does add a few more modern contrivances, including improved ambient and twilight lighting, voxel-based models, and will in due time feature a vastly improved UI for controls and conversations.