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Before Esoteric Ebb, before Disco Elysium, and before Baldur’s Gate, there was Ultima. One of the earliest CRPGs in our favored medium’s history became a sprawling series, and if you want to learn more about it, arguably the best way to do so is through YouTuber Majuular’s excellent retrospective series, which we covered at length right here on PC Gamer.
If you haven’t seen the Ultima retrospective series, each video breaks down the game’s history, analyzes and critiques its narrative, reviews it as an RPG in the context of its release, and weaves in the story of its development, including the antics of eccentric creator Richard Garriott, aka Lord British.
They are worth watching even if you don’t care about Ultima at all. Because it was there when the CRPG was being defined and for many years while the genre grew up, its influence can be felt all over the medium.
EverQuest wouldn’t look the same without Ultima Online, Larian founder Swen Vincke has long been obsessed with Ultima 8, first-person games were utterly transformed by Ultima Underworld, and so on. The games have aged and many of them are hard to go back to, but it’s essential context for the CRPG golden age we’re living in now. Ultima 8 isn’t considered the best game in the series by a long shot, but hey, it’s not the worst.
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