Poll What's The Best Ultima Game?

The ultimate Ultima

by Damien McFerran Mon 18th Sep 2023

One of the most famous Western RPG series of the '80s and '90s, Ultima is a franchise which means a great deal to players of a certain age. Since the release of the first game on the Apple II in 1981, millions of adventurers all over the world have been captivated by Richard Garriott's iconic creation.

But which Ultima is the best? That's something we're aiming to answer with this poll.

Some would argue that Ultima actually began with 1979's Akalabeth: World of Doom, but we've gone with 1981's Ultima (which was retrospectively titled Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness when it became a series rather than a single game) as the origin point (no pun intended there).

We've included all of the mainline games as well as the spin-offs, such as the Ultima Underworld series and Ultima Online. We're also rolling in expansion packs with their respective mainline entry here, so, if you're a fan of Ultima VII's Serpent Isle expansion, you'll need to be voting for the base game in our poll.

It's also important to note that, despite often being very different from the home computer originals, we haven't split off the console ports and remakes in this list. If you're a fan of those games, please vote for the original game in the list below.

With all that said and done, cast your vote below – you'll directly influence our final ranking!

What's the best Ultima? (142 votes)

Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (1981) 0%
Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress (1982)1%
Ultima III: Exodus (1983)6%
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985)18%
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1988)10%
Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990)9%
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire (1990) 0%
Ultima: Runes of Virtue (1991) 0%
Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (1991)1%
Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)25%
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)7%
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993)2%
Ultima: Runes of Virtue 2 (1993) 0%
Ultima VIII: Pagan (1994)6%
Ultima Online (1997)9%
Ultima IX: Ascension (1999)4%
Lord of Ultima (2010) 0%
Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar (2013) 0%
Underworld Ascendant (2018)1%

Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.

1
BionicDodo
Mon 18th Sep 2023

I had to vote for Ultima IV as the Master System version had a huge impact on me as a small child. My brother bought it (and boy was it pricey!) and the different classes and terrain and general size and complexity of it blew me away. Not to mention the books and maps that came with it! I bought Ultima Underworld 1&2 CD collection in the EA budget range for PC years later but they already felt a little old fashioned by then so were harder for me to really get attached to as an impatient teen. I also played some Pagan at that time but I mostly took the GTA approach and just messed about in the world, blocking people into rooms with items and getting in trouble. It was fun but never gripping or awe inspiring like Ultima IV was.

2
Daniel36
Mon 18th Sep 2023

Ultima 7 for me, though Online gets a very honorable mention.

3
Hydra_Spectre
Mon 18th Sep 2023

Underworld Ascendant is basically Disappointment in The Game of Life: Ultima Edition.

4
Daggot
Mon 18th Sep 2023

This is a hard one for me to vote on. My first Ultima game was Ultima III: Exodus on the C64. Spent so man weekends at my friends' house playing all night long. Looking back we didn't really know what we were doing, and didn't quite follow the story, but man we had an awesome time gathered around the breadbox eating pizza until 2am. LOL.

Then you move forward to Voodoo Memory Manager. The game really pushed the tech and expanded what the game world could do/contain. Not quite open world, but you get a sense that's kind of the idea they had but not quite realized like we have today. It really pushed the RPG genre. So, man, not sure how to vote. I might still go with 3 just for it being the first major wide release.

5
Qwiff
Tue 19th Sep 2023

For me, Ultima V, because it was my first. But VI and VII (part 1) are close seconds. I can't really choose between these three.

VII was groundbreaking at the time, because it paved the way for open world games. The world-building still holds up, but the gameplay's strength lies more in exploration and discovery. The real-time aspect was new and exciting, but, in retrospect, the turn-based combat from the previous games provided better gameplay.

After being acquired by EA the series went downhill pretty fast. Serpent Isle's second half was basically cut short. After that, I never bothered to finish the remaining games in the mainline series.

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