Lowlander is a retro fantasy RPG by Flat Black Films. The Gurk games look back to 8-bit consoles; Lowlander looks back to the early Ultima games by Richard Garriott. Its store copy asks the player to "return with us to the days of yesteryear, when 8 colours were enough, and the pixels were individually detectable to the human eye."
It launched on iOS and Android in January 2015, arrived on the Mac App Store that November, and came to Steam on September 26th, 2023 at $4.99. The mobile versions are $1.99.
Features#
- One-handed portrait controls
- Roughly 8 hours of content
- Save and resume anywhere; no in-app purchases
- A brighter, more natural palette than Ultima's, but still only a handful of colours, animated water, and almost no sound
Story#
You begin as a nobody wandering the land, take service under King Shebastian, and work your way toward a confrontation with the sorceress Azamon.
Concessions#
Lowlander drops the party, it focuses on a single character.
Inspirations#
- Ultima (the early games)
Related Games#
External articles#
- 'Lowlander' Review – More Highs Than Lows — TouchArcade, January 22nd, 2015 (4.5/5)
- Lowlander: A Retro-Style, Ultima-Inspired iOS Game — The Ultima Codex, January 2015
- Lowlander (By Flat Black Films) — forum thread — TouchArcade forums
- Lowlander — MiniReview
Screenshots#