EA unveils Ultima Online: Samurai Empire

EA has announced the latest Ultima Online expansion, Samurai Empire, following its unveiling at the EA Hot Summer Nights event in San Francisco this week. According to literature accompanying the announcement, Samurai Empire "marks a new era" in Ultima Online, transplanting the action to a new Japan-inspired Asian environment and introducing a pair of new professions that ought to set swords a-quivering: Samurai and Ninja.

Due out in November of this year, in the words of producer Anthony Castoro it delivers "what the fans have asked for, namely new professions, lands and skills," as well as combining "the European high fantasy of Ultima Online with the exotic Japanese culture of the Samurai and the Ninja." That means dungeons and environments rife with exotic beasts and unusual scenery, and of course new abilities to exploit.

Both of the two new professions sound quite enticing. The Samurai, on the one hand, wields the mighty Lightning Strike (a single attack with a 50 per cent hit bonus), the Whirlwind (which increases his powers as his enemies' numbers grow) and Honourable Execution (an attempt to eliminate an enemy with one stroke). The Ninja, meanwhile, uses a mixture of magic and stealth, using Smoke Bombs to vanish in front of people, Animal Form to evade detection and Mirror Image to confuse aggressors with multiple mirrored targets.

Samurai Empire will also allow players to customise their homes in new ways, building a simple dojo and gradually expanding it into everything up to a massive Japanese castle, and there will be countless new weapons, armour and clothing items and house tiles to get to grips with. For the moment though, you'll have to make do with these early screenshots ahead of the expansion's release this November.