The Gate of Sosaria
Produced by: Red Dragon, Ultima Mercator
Website: Ultima Mercator @ Facebook
A short, playable demo of The Gate of Sosaria.
This remake of Ultima 1 began by using a custom game engine. Within a short time frame after beginning work on the project, Red Dragon implemented much of the overland of Sosaria, and had also begun work on building and dungeon interiors. As can be seen from the screenshots below, the developer was using Ultima 7 graphics as a stand-in.
Red Dragon did intend to make some changes to Ultima 1’s story; the intent was for the game to begin on Earth, for example. You, as the Stranger, would encounter a gypsy, and then a mysterious glowing door that would appear amidst a circle of stones. Through the door, you would find Britannia (Sosaria, rather). Upon your arrival in Sosaria, after finding your way to Lord British’s castle, Mondain would attack. Lord British, in this retelling, would then task you with ridding the world of Mondain’s menace,
As of 2014, Red Dragon opted to cancel the project. However, as of at least 2022, Ultima Mercator has resurrected it, this time using RPG Maker VX as the underlying engine. Mercator has even released a short playable demo of the remake in its current state.
That is pretty cool, love it!
Cancelled?! Fuuuuuuu….