The big selling point of Citadel Studios’s in-development MMO Legends of Aria is that it allows its players to run entirely moddable custom servers, making it arguably the ultimate in sandbox MMOs. Some enterprising players have taken full advantage of Legends of Aria’s custom server capabilities to go back to the roots of sandbox MMOs by creating Legends of Ultima, which aims to be something of a spiritual successor to Ultima Online.
According to the server’s official subreddit, Legends of Ultima aims to recreate the feeling of UO circa its first expansion, The Second Age, though the devs say they intend to implement features from other eras of the game’s life as well. As the Legends of Ultima server is being created by way of, and exists within, Legends of Aria, it’s not an exact replica of Ultima Online, nor do the devs intend it to be.
Instead, the idea is simply to use the world and systems of UO as a foundation with which to bring “the ‘sandbox MMORPG’ playstyle of Ultima Online into the modern era.” Obviously, in order to play Legends of Ultima, players must own Legends of Aria — which can be purchased from the game’s official site and will be available on Steam in December of this year — but beyond that, there are no additional costs. If you’re an Ultima Online fan who owns Legends of Aria and wants to check out what Legends of Ultima is up to, you can find out how to join the server and get started on its official site.
