Otherside Entertainment demonstrated some of Underworld Ascendant behind closed doors with the press at PAX South last weekend. The developers decided to follow that up by releasing some footage of the behind-the-scenes work going into their upcoming RPG being put together by industry veterans Paul Neurath and Warren Spector.

The video clocks in at just over a minute and it discusses the philosophy that Spector, Neurath and the rest of Otherside Entertainment are employing to bring Underworld Ascendant to life, which is supposed to be the naturally evolved successor to Ultima Underworld. You can check out the video below.

We don’t get to see much of the game on display, but we do learn a little bit about the philosophy being used for how the puzzles, world, and gameplay are being crafted.

The developers explain in the video that traditionally most games have puzzles or challenges setup with very structured solutions in mind, usually with players ordained to carry out the task in a specific manner. However, Otherside Entertainment is intent on giving intrepid gamers the tools to progress through the game as they see fit and overcome the challenges set before them using creativity and out-of-the-box problem solving skills.

Otherside wants to revive this kind of emergent gameplay element in Underworld Ascendant as players journey deep into the Stygian Abyss once more.

In the brief footage depicted in the video, we see how players can use magic to move objects around, physically manipulate the environment to turn it into a weapon, and get creative with how the combat plays out.

It’s still early on in development so we’ll have to wait for some more footage to find out exactly how the game will play out and what sort of gameplay mechanics will be present in the full game.

You can follow the development of Underworld Ascendant by hitting up the game’s official website to learn more or you can wishlist the game over on the Steam store page.