Ultima IX: Ascension

About

Ultima IX: Ascension is a single-player RPG where you return to the world of Britannia to stop a corruption spreading across the land. As the Avatar, you face the Guardian, a force twisting the eight sacred virtues, by exploring dungeons, recovering stolen relics, and purifying shrines. Combat mixes real-time strategy with spellcasting while dialogue and moral choices shape your path. The world feels lived-in with towns suffering from plagues and warped ethics, pushing you to restore balance through action and introspection. The game’s standout moment comes when the story reveals the Guardian is your own shadow self, forcing a climactic choice that redefines the series’ legacy. Released in 1999, it remains a fan-favorite finale for its layered storytelling and emphasis on ethical dilemmas over brute force. With no modern remaster, its original PC version still runs on emulated systems, drawing praise from retro RPG communities for its bold narrative risks and dense worldbuilding.

Storyline

In the beginning of Ultima IX, the Avatar had somehow returned to Earth for an unspecified amount of time before getting back to Britannia. The game starts just after the end of Ultima VIII, in which the Avatar is transported to a Guardian-controlled Britannia. He arrives in Britannia on a mountain overlooking the Guardian's keep in Terfin. The Avatar is transported to Stonegate by Hawkwind the Seer (from Ultima IV), who informs him that great columns have appeared throughout the land, and their malignant influence has caused plagues, famine, and other natural disasters. Under their power, the people of Britannia have twisted the Virtues into mockeries of their true meaning. The Guardian is helped by Lord Blackthorn, who leads the Wyrmguards and forces the people to obey the Guardian. As the quest progresses, the Avatar learns that the Guardian has stolen the Runes of the Virtues and twisted them into the glyphs that form the heart of each of the columns. Most of the game consists of traveling through the dungeons to recover the glyphs and visiting the Shrines of the Virtues to meditate and cleanse them. Eventually, it is revealed that the Guardian is nothing other than the dark half of the Avatar himself, and the only way to save Britannia is for the Avatar to ascend to a higher plane, taking the Guardian with him. The player is able to accomplish this via an Armageddon spell cast behind a Barrier of Life, which takes the Avatar and the Guardian to a higher plane out of Britannia.