Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is a 1985 PC (DOS / Windows) game from Origin Systems, originally released on Apple II in 1985, catalogued here for 6 defining game mechanics.
PC (DOS / Windows)1985Originally Apple II 1985Complexity 80/1002D TopdownCult classic
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, first released in 1985 for the Apple II, is the fourth in the series of Ultima role-playing video games. It is the first in the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy, shifting the series from the hack and slash, dungeon crawl gameplay of its "Age of Darkness" predecessors towards an ethically nuanced, story-driven approach. (via Wikipedia)
The game mechanics of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Turn Based CombatCombatCombat resolves in alternating discrete turns; all player actions are fully processed before the enemy acts.
Economy Buy SellResourcePlayer earns and spends currency at merchants; price and value decisions are meaningful.
Inventory ManagementResourcePlayer holds a collection of discrete named items with defined slot limits; deciding what to carry is a meaningful choice.
Level Up StatsProgressionDefeating enemies or completing tasks accumulates points; reaching thresholds permanently increases player stats.
Dialogue TreePuzzlePlayer chooses from branching conversation options; choices affect relationship state, information revealed, or world flags.
Open WorldWorldPlayer can navigate most of the game world from early on; content is gated by player capability, not physical access locks.
Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.
Study the source
Freeware + open-source engine (GPL-3.0 (engine), freeware game). EA released Ultima IV as a free download (2011); xu4 recreates the engine (repo archived/read-only since 2025). https://github.com/xu4-engine/u4