As is this stinks. They claim "Singleplayer storyline missions" and often in the forums say "Epic singleplayer"
Right now as of January 2017 the only singleplayer is survival mode, and practice mode.

If you take a look at the forums you'll find out your only getting a prologue, not a full story.

"We are doing a prologue now, which is what we said in our Kickstarter, and if sales go well enough we will do a much bigger SP campaign, which will be released as DLC, although some people will be getting all the expansions free depending upon your Kickstarter backer reward level or status on our website."

So don't buy if you want singleplayer.

If you want multiplayer it's meh. There is only a few small levels, and the combat is drab.
But the main problem is on one is ever online, and I wouldn't expect this to change much.


As a side note, these devs are constantly removing comments on the forum. Chopping up conversations like poorly cut meat. If you say Overload (A game in development by the creators of the original Descent games) You'll get cut out, and banned.

Very tacky

I really don't want to write this review; I really really want to like this game. I love Descent. I have loved it since it first came out. I played all 3 of the originals, and still get angry when I hear Dravis' voice. Glad that idiot met his match.

I'm going to endeavor to give this a fair shake. I wasn't a Kickstarter backer, and I know that they are still developing it, including the campaign, despite numerous problems. I'm going to ignore that it's incomplete and go merely off of what is presented.

First, let's give it some positives. The graphics look good. The game has full HOTAS support. They made sure to incorporate some iconic weapons, like the Mega Missile (though I'm not crazy about the smiley face icon).

There's a lot of bad though. Yeah, it's a multiplayer only game right now. That's okay. But the levels... well, they don't feel like Descent. They're too open. Ever so slightly too big cooridors, and large rooms that just don't look or feel like Descent.

Okay, let's take the tutorial level. You go through a maze of boxes at first. I know they're trying to reacclimate people to the 6DOF feel, but it was just so... off. It looked like you were in the bowels of a large capital spaceship, and not like you were deep into active mines. Getting further into the tutorial, you run across your first enemy, and it doesn't appear to have any mining utility. It looks only like it's going to kill you.

Yeah, that's what I mean by that it doesn't feel like Descent. In the first game, they gave you layouts of all the bots you were going to come across. Yes, a lot of them looked threatening in and of themselves, but when you look at the schematics, you understand why it was developed that way. Well, with the exception of the eyes (especially on the Class 1 Drone). I appreciate they they gave a lot of ship options, but I almost feel like there are too many. It's too muddled for the limited maps that we're given.

Also, the alternate weapons, like the drills? Yeah I really hate those in concept. A Material Defender's ship isn't built to mine, it's there to destroy the infected robots. We have no business breaking rocks, we're there to squeeze through the caverns and blow up as much as we can.

The controls still need work. They're not fluid yet. You jerk around and slide way more than expected. It's another jarring thing that makes it unfortunately distinct from its predecessors. There are frame rate drops, and I've had at least one major crash. The AI on the computer drones is stupid right now. If it runs into you (big if), it can present a challenge, but only sometimes.

I'm a simple girl. I don't expect much but... This feels too much like Descent: Freespace (Star Citizen ripoff edition) and not Descent4: Underground. Hopefully if the campaign is ever released, I can be pleasantly surprised, and I'll take back my words here. I know the devs are trying. I have to say though... this isn't fun. And it's certainly not Descent.

I'm going to go buy Overload. Check out the free demo level if you haven't already. It's what this SHOULD be.

1.5/10

I'll get this out of the way: the work that the devs are doing is good and I think there will be a game here when it's all done. I will change my review when that happens.

But I can't, in good conscience, encourage people to buy this game because it has almost zero content. I think I've played maybe for 45 minutes and I've had this for at least a month? You can mess with a few bots in one map. There is no solo campaign and apparently there won't be one for awhile, which is what I look for in a Descent game, to be honest. I guess if you want just multiplayer?

Still, this should not have been released, in this state, with so little to do and expect people to pay $30 (regular price). This is pretty much a demo until something drastically changes.

The last time I played this, it was November 7th, 2015. I bought, installed, and played a few matches of the game, wondering what these boys had prepared for the next generation of Gamers. But after playing a few matches, I uninstalled the game and allowed it to collect dust within my collection.

My reason? I wanted to wait.

I wanted to wait for this game to become the game I hoped it would be. I wanted it to become something this new generation of gamers could pick up and enjoy, much like my early years of childhood gaming were. I wanted it to become something to revolutionize and shake the gaming world, much like Descent did when I was given a 3 dimensional world to explore and 6 degrees of freedom. And so, I uninstalled it and ignored ANY news about it.

2 months have passed since that night, and I decided to give this game a second run. Just to see how our Dev boys are doing. I installed it and I could already feel worry building. What would I find? What improvements had come about in my 2 month absence? What new and exciting things had been added?

I had seen a few things people had replied on my previous review so I had SOME idea what to expect. But I wasn't ready.

Loading up the game was much like it was before. I waited until my PC loaded up the game and prepared myself. But nothing could prepare me.

When the game launched, I caught glimpse of that beautiful vessel from yesterdecade. The Pyro GX, now redesigned and renamed "The Torch", made every sense of nostalgia in my body go wild. Memories of flying through various mines alongside my older brother and dad came rushing back after seeing it spinning like a new car on a turn table. I knew I had to play. Screw being tired, it was time to fly. I loaded up the Torch and took her for a spin in multiplayer.

DEAR. LORD. IN. HEAVEN.

HOW LONG HAS THIS ITCH BEEN IN ME THAT I NEVER KNEW IT NEEDED TO BE SCRATCHED?! I never realized how difficult it was to track a target in a full 3 dimensional, Zero G enviorment. I forgot that I had to remember what it FELT like to fly around with a mini armory strapped to my back. I HAD TO REMEMBER HOW TO FLY USING THREE DIRECTIONS!!

As for a review, here you go:

It's not done.

The game is no where NEAR done yet. There are still more ships to add, more weapons to test, and possible new things to add to the game that the Dev boys have yet to think up or unveil. I'm not even sure if there are afterburners yet. But I only played one match and didn't look up the controls. I needed to fly the Torch, I can look up controls later.

But what is there is SOLID NOW.

The variation in ships is a great expansion of what was tried back in Descent 3, and I like the fact that the Devs are working on skins for the ships, giving a bit of variation in looks, but keeping the ships unique.

The gameplay I experienced was a blend of close quarters shoot outs and large room gun fights, each displaying the vast difference between being shotgun close to your opponent, and across the room dodgeball.

The weapons FELT like they did in previous games, making me instantly remember how to fly and shoot. Althought my aim could use some vast improvements.... That's on me tho.

The LOOK of it was EASILY up there with games of present day, giving it that shiny new car look and feel, but keeping the 6DOF gameplay I loved as a child.

The sounds were spot on, as well as the music. Can't wait to hear the full stuff. Also as a request to the Devs. Think we could get some more of that metal music like Descent 2 had? I can't find the song name but I think you guys will know what I'm talking about.

Results: Even with this game being Early Access, I will DEFINATELY keep it installed this time. I don't think it's QUITE worth the $30 price tag right NOW, but if the Devs keep up the work like they have in the past 2 months, I could see the price being WELL worth it.

Keep up the excellent progress gentlemen. Hope to see this on Xbox marketplace some day.

I have had this game for at least a year or more in early access. I bought it because I love the first ones, and wanted to support this game. Still no Single Player. Sadly to say it feels like a cash grab. Hopefully I can review this if it's ever finish and is a solid game.

Ex-Star Citizen (hahaha!) devs bought the licence to Descent and made a pretty basic multiplayer game. No idea how on earth did they manage to get the naming rights from Interplay when you even can't get the originals on GOG nor here anymore.

Anyway, it's a boring, lifeless Descent clone. It's even been bundled while in EA, that's how I got it. At least you get the changelogs which are Star Citizen-level hilarity: "This build is our trial of unbaked dynamic lighting as a possible performance improvement (and download size shrinker!)." etc.

If you're looking for a proper Descent game, try Overload. It's being developed by ex-Interplay people who know what they're doing.

Not much progress in the last two years. UI is still programmer art. Visual direction is amateurish, performance isn't good, and the look and feel just aren't Descent and don't gel well.

It's hard to recommend this when Overload is better in every capacity besides not yet having multiplayer.

Dont do it, go check out Overload...

Too much focus on multiplayer here, and somehow no focus whatsoever on replicating the original Descent games...

I understand this is still being developed but I am disappointed... In the description did not say the solo player was going to be like arena area fighting... I expected this to somewhat have story or mission based in the single player. If I had know about this...probably would not have bought this.

It should have a better description for the single player stuff. If the single player is going to be without missions or some type of story base. They could have just left it as Multi=player.

As of right now...I would not recommend it.

Barely six months into development, and we already have a playable game in the style of the Descent series, with some new features in place and many more to come.

What it's not:

- a pure remake
- a complete game (yet; this is still early access)

What it is:

- FUN!
- a unique flight model (unique to the Descent franchise as a whole)
- a fitting successor to the classics

Play it, and remember to give feedback and report bugs at descendentstudios.com