A fan is currently working on a new replacement engine for the classic RPG Ultima VII, which aims to bring it into isometric 3D while introducing a bunch of quality-of-life fixes.
Ultima VII, in case you're unaware, was originally released back in 1992 for DOS computers and eventually received a port for the SNES in 1994. It is quite often regarded as the high point of the series and even won our own reader's poll last year where we asked our audience to select their favourite Ultima game from a long list of Ultima titles. However, it arguably isn't the easiest title for modern players to get along with, spawning the occasional review from frustrated players who can't seem to adapt to its "rough corners".
In the past, there have been substitute engines like Exult, which have introduced a ton of improvements to make the game more playable, but now it appears another fan is stepping up to offer another way to alter your Ultima VII experience. This new replacement engine called Ultima VII: Revisited is the work of a developer Anthony Salter, who is also the creator of a promising retro RPG named Inaria. He is claiming to solve Ultima VII's greatest problem. Namely, that he believes "Ultima VII is a 3D world stuck in a 2D engine."
On his website, he explains:
"Every object in the world has width, depth and height, and the world itself consists of 3072x3072x16 tile blocks. Ultima VII was in development from 1990 to 1992 (shipping in April ’92), and even though software 3D was taking off at the time, it hadn’t been designed as a 3D game (even though it used a 3D world) and that contributed to its issues.
"But software-rendered 3D games with isometric perspectives started coming out very soon after Ultima VII, and every time I saw one I thought, “This is what Ultima VII should have looked like.”
He continues:
"My goal with Ultima VII: Revisited is to present the world of Britannia in a 3D engine, using a more modern (but not too modern) presentation. I will also be smoothing off some of the rough corners, like the inventory and combat systems. My goal is to create a new way of playing Ultima VII that will allow the gamer who posted the review above to understand exactly why Ultima VII is so amazing."
According to a post on Twitter, Ultima VII: Revisited 0.0.7 will be released very soon, and will be downloadable from the u7revisited website.
You can also join the u7revisited Discord to follow the project's progress in real-time.