Eighth Ultima Online Expansion Launches Sept. 8

The next expansion pack for Electronic Arts' long-running PC MMORPG Ultima Online will debut as a digital download on September 8, developer Mythic confirmed today.

Bundled with 30 days of game time for $39.99 or available individually at $29.99, the Stygian Abyss expansion adds Gargoyles to the game's playable races, new enemies, and new areas, including the title's "largest dungeon area ever."

Subscribers will be able to sample the add-on through an open beta slated to run on the Retribution server from August 14 through August 23.

Those that buy the expansion between September 8 and September 29 will also get "multiple Alteration Tokens to transform current characters into Gargoyles, an exclusive gargoyle craftable pet, and decorative Stygian Abyss mob boss statues."

Stygian Abyss marks the eighth expansion pack for Ultima Online, which originally arrived in 1997 from Origin Systems. The game's seventh expansion, dubbed Mondain's Legacy and released in August 2005, recently became free to all subscribers.