Ultima 1 First Age of Darkness

Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness - the 1986 fantasy role-playing game
for Commodore 64 from Origin Systems.

Travel across the lands of Sosaria to defeat the evil wizard Mondain by
mastering dungeons, space flight, and time travel in a pioneering open
world RPG.

Core loop
- explore towns, castles, and dungeons to gather clues and gear
- fight monsters in turn-based battles for gold and experience
- purchase transport like horses, aircars, and ships to reach new lands
- complete quests from kings and ultimately destroy Mondain’s gem

Systems and items
- character creation - choose race, class, and stats via dice rolls
- weapons and armor - upgrade through merchants or dungeon loot
- transport modes - foot, horse, ship, airplane, and spacefighter
- time gates - travel to the past to confront Mondain directly

Level design and feel
A vast, tile-based overworld mixed with first-person dungeon mazes.
Top-down travel gives way to grid-mapped interiors and random encounters
that defined the RPG template for years to come.

Why it is notable
- foundation of Richard Garriott’s landmark Ultima series
- among the first RPGs to combine space combat and fantasy elements
- groundbreaking non-linear world and player-driven objectives

Tips
- grind gold in early dungeons to afford transport quickly
- save before entering dungeons; ladders can spawn near monsters
- raise hit points by paying at castles between quests

At a glance
Year - 1986
Developer - Origin Systems
Design and programming - Richard Garriott (Lord British)
Graphics - Denis Loubet
Music - simple sound cues only
Publisher - Origin Systems
Genre - Role-playing adventure
Players - 1
Controls - Keyboard - optional joystick in port 2 for movement