The isometric world of Syndicate.

So you can imagine that this news caught my eye:

A modern update of isometric cyborg sim Syndicate is presumed to be the surviving half of a planned two-game collaboration between EA and Starbreeze Studios. As noted by Superannuation, EA filed three new “Syndicate” trademark registrations in August concerning “video game software,” “electronic computer games” and, in one case, “collectable toy figures.”

Rumors of a new Syndicate sprang up over a year ago, and a document from the U.S. Copyright Office recently linked the Syndicate name to both EA and Chronicles of Riddick developer Starbreeze Studios. While the publisher has never made an official announcement, original Syndicate designer Sean Cooper stated in June 2009 that several “misguided” attempts to revisit the sci-fi franchise had been made since it debuted in the early 90s.

Syndicate isn’t particularly related to Ultima in any meaningful sense, though it did boast an isometric game engine that would be instantly familiar to any fan of Ultima 7 or Ultima 8. The linear, mission-based storyline was far from an Ultima-like RPG experience (indeed, I don’t think you could classify Syndicate as an RPG, at least not one in the same category as Ultima), although the squad controls were somewhat tighter than even those offered by Ultima 6.

I haven’t added this to the actual Ultima 6 Project entry just yet, because it’s not the official release of the patch. Even so, grab it if you like.

It’s not really the sort of thing that would merit a standalone entry here at Aiera, but I’ve uploaded the mp3s to the site and present them here for your listening pleasure, good reader.

Part 1:

Part 2:

That said, not everyone enjoys the benefits of a) stable and/or b) high-speed Internet connectivity. As such, the Ultima 6 Project team have released a 10-part segmented ZIP version of their finished product for download, which you can now find at the project entry.

Team Archon is currently working on a patch (1.0.1) to address some problems with the 1.0 release, one of which will prevent you from winning the game. This patch will be compatible with your saved games from 1.0, and therefore all players should download and apply it immediately once it is released. We need your help to make sure that all players get this patch, as they will eventually get blocked and be unable to proceed without it. The patch is nearing completion and should be available before too long.

If you are already blocked, we may be able to distribute an early, “experimental” build of the patch to those who would like to try it (at their own risk). Make sure you save your game before applying the patch. If you have questions about this, we recommend that you post them in our forum. We will be making an announcement here and on Project Britannia when the patch is publicly available.

Aiera will be hosting the patch when it releases; if you need/want it before then, follow the link above to the Project Britannia forum and let then know.

If you’re looking for the Ultima 6 Project, you can find it here.

If you’re looking for Ultima 6 Online, you can find it here.

And may I just add that since the release of the Ultima 6 project, Aiera has served up nearly 1.5 binary terabytes of downloads. That’s within the span of a few days. Fortunately, my host has not yet served me with notice that I’m over my allotted monthly bandwidth…and to be fair, the billing/tracking cycle will reset in another three days.

But if you feel like dropping a few dollars into the tip jar to help pay for the hosting, you’ll certainly have my gratitude.

Spread the word!

On this, the 20th anniversary year of the release of Origin Systems Ultima 6, it is with much pleasure that we announce the 1.0 release of Team Archon‘s Ultima 6 Project, for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). Players will find a huge and exciting world waiting to be discovered:

• Travel throughout the lands of Britannia, exploring dark forests with bandits lying in wait, deserts and swamps teeming with monsters, and peaceful towns and villages filled with shops, old friends, and interesting people just waiting to give the player numerous and exciting quests to solve.
• Explore deep and dangerous caves and caverns full of treasure and hidden surprises. Bring your breadcrumbs to mark your trail, or be prepared to be thoroughly and completely lost, with your remains left to be found by future explorers.
• Sail the savage seas to explore remote islands, but be vigilant for there are sea monsters lying in wait for the careless traveler.
• Discover a hidden new world, far from Britannia.
• Encounter strange and exotic races, including the mysterious Gargoyles.
• Fight fearsome monsters, find pirate loot, solve a murder, and discover the truth behind the numerous attacks on Britannia’s towns.
• Learn the commerce of the land for fun and profit.
• Learn magical spells, search for magic reagents, and join guilds to gain special benefits.
• Those players with proclivities to the dark side can follow an “evil path”.
• And, last, but not least, ferret out the hidden Easter eggs.

Click on through to continue reading the press release. If you just can’t wait and have to start downloading the project package, click here for the project entry at Aiera, or visit the project website for additional download links.

Some screen shots to whet your interest are provided below:

The Bloody Plains, as shown in the Compendium

The town of Skara Brae, as shown in the Compendium

The Avatar and Companions fighting dragons and other nasty monsters!

The Avatar talking with a favorite character of many Ultima 6 players, a two-headed llama.

Magical islands waiting to be discovered.

Gargoyles attacking the party at one of the shrines in Britannia.

Gargoyles at market.

Gargoyles farming.

Treacherous jungles to be navigated.

Avatar under fire from a hideous Hydra!

And much, much more!

The player is provided with several important in-game aids to enhance the game play (see screenshots below):

A Journal, which records important quest information and which allows the player to add his own notes.

An in-game manual, the Compendium, which provides detailed information on the world of Britannia, and useful how-to instructions for playing the game. Like the Journal, this is not a static document, but is added to as the player progresses and explores new areas.

An interactive map system, in which players can add their own notes. The player starts with the world map, and as new maps are discovered or purchased, they are added to the map catalogue. Once the player has acquired the necessary equipment, the map will also show the current location of the party.

An Event Console, showing important game events as they occur, and a Status Console, which provides status of important supplies (reagents, food, lockpicks, ammunition), and information such as time and current karma. Both these can be toggled on or off by the player.

It should be noted that anyone using a previous version will have to uninstall it prior to installing the 1.0 Release, and start a new game.

If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums. We have set up a special forum for the 1.0 Release on the Project Britannia forums (http://www.projectbritannia.com/index.php).

To download the 1.0 Release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site at: http://www.u6project.com/ where you can also check out profiles of the Project team members.

It should be noted that we were not able to complete all the NPC portraits, but we will be setting up a method for players to add their own portraits to replace the generic silhouette portraits used on the remaining NPC’s.

About The U6 Project

The Ultima 6 Project was formed in 2001 by Sliding Dragon to develop a remake of Origin’s Ultima VI: The False Prophet with newer graphics and a more immersive engine. Soon assembled under the banner Archon, the team members, who hail from all over the globe, have set about recreating the world of Britannia, adding an enhanced storyline to bolster intraseries continuity and building on the Ultima legacy in a way that will please fans new and old.

You’re still here, good reader? Get thee to the project entry and download this remake!

Milestones:
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Tools:
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Tech Demo:
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Another Dungeon Siege-based remake, this high-profile (and high-tech) project aims to re-create Ultima 6, adding many of the same features to the game that Lazarus added into Ultima 5: enhanced music, expanded storyline, new characters and additional side quests.

The project has been in the works for a number of years, but their development pace has seemed to surge ahead in the last year or so; they’ve achieved several milestone releases since first being posted to Aiera, each one adding vast amounts of additional functionality to the game.