"Descent" Franchise Finally Returns To PC

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_okozNpxTOE

 

Descent Studios launched a campaign on Kickstarter to fund the development of a new Descent installment. The campaign is seeking to raise $600,000 before April 10 and has already reeled in 721 backers pledging $56,027. The game, called Descent: Underground, is expected to arrive in March 2016.

 

The original Descent was launched in Europe back in 1994, and then in the United States in March 1995. The big deal with this game was that it was one of the first to use polygons. Descent also boasted six-degrees-of-freedom combat in zero gravity, meaning enemies at the time could attack from any direction, allowing players to maneuver their ship in as many directions. The series has also spawned two sequels, Descent 2 and Descent 3, as well as a level editor and add-on content.

 

"Sadly, as consoles took over and PC games were pushed aside by publishers, great games like Descent were left to languish in obscurity. A whole generation of gamers grew up without Descent's heart-pounding, non-stop action, robbed of the true 6DoF space adventure that is their birthright," read the Kickstarter page.

 

According to the campaign, Descent: Underground is the first in a Descent franchise reboot. Heading the team is Eric "Wingman" Peterson, a popular developer known for his work on the Wing Commander series, Starlancer, and more recently, Star Citizen. Also on the team is Jason "Stormwind" Spangler (Star Wars: The Old Republic), Rob "Designoptamus" Irving (Wing Commander), Sergio Roses (Deus EX: Invisible War) and several others. Most of the developers on the team are also working on Star Citizen.

 

Descent: Underground will be based on the Unreal Engine (4) by Epic Games and will be a first-person shooter at its heart. The story will take place in a future where corporations have replaced national governments. These corporations have set up mining operations in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Essentially, players are defending their mines by fighting off rival companies trying to steal resources.

 

"We are bringing back that sensational feeling of fighting with six degrees of freedom while playing Descent," said Peterson, CEO of Descendent Studios. "But we aren't stopping there, we aim to take it up a few notches, by allowing players to dynamically change the map [and] customize their ships, to play as a part of a team or simply battle it out rogue style all alone. In addition, players will be able to create items and maps for the universe and get their own creations into the game."

 

Descent: Underground will also have a multiplayer component that offers up to four different modes. One of these is "Deathmatch Destruction" where players must destroy their enemy's drones, and "Capture the Asteroid," which sees the player defending five beacons on a single asteroid. Other modes include "Capture the Ore" and "Mining for Minerals."

 

The Kickstarter campaign revealed that players will begin with an unlocked WASP ship. Others that require the player to unlock include Auger, Goliath, Predator, Panzer, Typhoon, Shaman and Warlock. Each ship has three segments that can be switched out: the nose (sensor packages), fuselage (assault platforms) and tail (defensive countermeasures). These segments can be mixed and matched based on the gamer's play style.

 

"We are designing and building this game to allow maximum community collaboration," the campaign suggested. "Backers will be able to build their own maps, ships, logos, and weapons. Build something cool, submit it, and we may introduce it into the greater universe

[Max Norris]

Wow there's a blast from the past.. got my first 3D hardware accelerated video card because of this game, never mind being the first game to give me motion sickness.  Think I had my first taste of VR with this game back in the 90's as well, never mind the extra nausea that came with it, VFX1 I think it was.  Fun stuff.

[+Asmodai MVC]

This game would be AMAZING in VR.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

man they just keep resurrecting them classic games...

[Ryster]

These games were great. They came along at the same time as a revolutionary new game controller called a space orb 360. Basically a big rubber ball stuck on top of a game pad with buttons. You could push, pull, twist and rotate the ball, and the ship's motion matched. I have one still, but it has a serial connector so not much use now unfortunately.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceOrb_360

 

Wonder if theres a usb adapter and if this can make a comeback for Descent 4?

 

Edit: Ohhhh..http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheBestControllerForFPSASpaceTecSpaceOrb360ControllerWorkingWithWindows7UsingArduinoAndOrbShield.aspxhttp://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheBestControllerForFPSASpaceTecSpaceOrb360ControllerWorkingWithWindows7UsingArduinoAndOrbShield.aspx

[Guest]

That game made me super scared when the greenish alien wall textures started appearing. I was so freaking scared to go near one and always quit the game when I was about to reach those levels.

[123456789A]

I remember playing this game a lot. It was very decent.

[+Warwagon MVC]

[HeartsOfWar]

A group of us in high school programming classes would rush to finish that days' assignment so we could temporarily and illegally load the original descent on the school computers and play a few LAN games before the class ended... some good times

[+Warwagon MVC]

A group of us in high school programming classes would rush to finish that days' assignment so we could temporarily and illegally load the original descent on the school computers and play a few LAN games before the class ended... some good times

 

Yes, Network matches were a lot of fun.

[+devHead Subscriber²]

I used to love playing Descent, and then Descent 2 (also on a network with other colleagues) back in the day.  I had Descent 3, but found it was more about solving puzzles and stuff.  I'm looking forward to getting to play this one!

[dragontology]

I don't recall Descent 3. I thought it went from 2 to Freespace.

I found the first two to be difficult to control and navigate. I kept getting lost, and bumping into walls. Freespace was cool, but I had a difficult time with the controls.

 

I love the idea of flying, but haven't found a game that makes it as fun as I'd like, with the controllers I have. I think I'd enjoy having a flight stick and pedals, but I'm not into the flying games enough to justify the purchase. I'd rather have a wheel and pedals, and I'm not even into driving games (though, I would like to play Euro Truck Simulator 2 as it's meant to be played). Saints Row 3 and 4 had pretty good GTA-style flying, and the planes in Sonic All-Stars Transformed "just worked." Should it really be much more difficult than that?

[DeusProto]

It's always great to hear of a franchise coming to or returning to PC. PC gaming FTW. Newest console I own is a Wii and that's only because a friend gave it to me after becoming bored with it. And now it collects dust because I use my PC to play Wii games through the joys of emulation. 

 

I pretty much do everything on my desktop PC. Gaming, movies, watch TV with my HDMI cap card, etc. One box versus a dozen or so under my HDTV.