Wing Commander Easter Egg Discovered In The Stygian Abyss (October 21, 2014)

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Andi Green spotted a little known secret tucked away in Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. A set of runes includes a defiant Kilrathi message from the future! "Thou canst not defeat the Drakhri!" The old-timey English was obviously reworded slightly, but Drakhai (Kilrathi Imperial Guards) ended up becoming Drakhri (medium fighter). Both emerged in Wing Commander 2, but they're definitely not the same thing!





There's the pessimistic reference to Wing Commander II deep in the Stygian Abyss.

While Origin was working hard on Wing Commander 2, a separate team was developing the original Ultima Underworld title to be "the first continuous-movement, 3D-dungeon, action fantasy." Both games were actually rereleased on a special combo disc to cross-promote the series in the early days of CD-ROM. The Stygian Abyss managed to make it out the door before first person competitor Wolfenstein 3D, and the group behind it would later go on to produce System Shock.

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Original update published on October 21, 2014
 
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The Drakhai actually first appeared in Secret Missions 2; they replace the ace system in that one.

Even though they were released near each other in their final forms, John Carmack actually credits Ultima Underworld for Wolfenstein's existence; he developed the engine after seeing an Underworld tech demo. (Which could have been as early as 1990; Blue Sky sold themselves to Origin with a demo at CES that summer!)
 
Nice! I love Ultima Underworld--and WC 2, obviously. :)

Question: That screenshot, is it taken off a real CRT monitor or some version of Dosbox? If a CRT, which one--model/dimensions, etc?

If Dosbox... more details, please. I'm currently trying to perfect my Dosbox to look as close to a CRT as possible and, surprisingly, have made great progress using things like SweetFX with the Daum build. But it never is perfect, it can always get better.
 
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