While reminiscing about the venerable Ultima franchise from Origin Systems, most long-time gamers will remember leading the Avatar on a quest to improve the kingdom of Britannia by asking random citizens for their names and jobs, delving into harrowing dungeons, and exploiting obscure glitches to murder the immortal Lord British. A few might even remember flying spaceships and bouncing about through time in the earliest games, but I bet even those dedicated superfans are unlikely to recall which game had the Avatar team up with the likes of Marie Curie, Sigmund Freud, and Teddy Roosevelt to fight off Martian plant monsters.
Give up? The game was called Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2, and man, was it weird!
The year is 1893. The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Astronomer Percival Lowell’s colossal space cannon is poised to hurl a huge bullet-ship to Mars. Then disaster strikes! The cannon discharges a day early with dozens of history’s leading figures aboard. Unprepared for the rigors of Mars, the accidental space travelers have little chance of surviving. You must rescue the stranded expedition or history will be forever changed
A bizarre turn for a fantasy-themed RPG franchise? You bet, but back in the heyday of Origin Systems, everything those guys touched came out gold. The two Worlds of Ultima spinoffs were no exception in my household, which is why I’m especially glad to see them being handed out free of charge by our friends over at GOG.com!
Check out the full press release right here for complete details.
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