Announcing Ultimate ADOM, Coming In 2018
One of the oldest roguelikes on PC still going today is ADOM, standing for Ancient Domains of Mystery. Originally published in 1994 and continually updated since then, ADOM contains randomized dungeons filled with over 460 monsters and more than 840 base item types to collect, as well as 47 spells, 41 skills and 100 talents to learn.
ADOM is old enough that there’s a version which runs in DOS ASCII graphics. Now the makers of the game, who’ve been publishing it for 25 years, have announced Ultimate ADOM, a new version of the classic that will play like the original, but with vastly improved graphics.
“Time and time again, I considered writing a true successor to ADOM,” says creator Thomas Biskup. “However, its 25-year-old codebase – with a rather complex internal architecture – usually got in the way of a straightforward sequel. And so the idea for Ultimate ADOM was born – the most recent attempt to create the ultimate roguelike RPG based on Unity / C#. With a truly multi-platform programming environment – including support for all modern platforms and a customized Entity-Component-Architecture that I developed over the past 12 months – Ultimate ADOM will be based around one generic game/rules engine with ultimate customizability for different platforms and play styles.”
This graphically souped-up version of ADOM won’t be out until the fourth quarter of 2018 — a year from now — but the current plan is to have it available on a wider variety of machines than just the PC. Windows, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS and Android are all mentioned in the press release as targets.
In the meantime, if you’ve never tried out the original ADOM, it’s still purchasable on Steam as always and still works on modern PCs. The deluxe version costs $14.99.