Welcome to Descent - 30 levels of the most mind-bending, stomach-churning action game ever. Featuring true 3-Dimensional worlds with light source shading, texture mapping, 3-D morphing, directional sound effects and sizzling music, this is technology taken to the limit.

You begin deep below the surface of Lunar Base I where an unknown alien race has taken over the chasm of the Post-Terran Mining Corporation. Lunge straight down mine shafts, twist around never-ending tunnels and fight your way past robotic menaces in an environment that's truly 360° 3-D...move up, move down, shoot everything everywhere. Hang onto your senses (and your lunch) as you drop straight down mine shafts on a ride that'll leave you spinning.

And what's the good of losing your mind if you can't share the experience with your friends? Descent invites you and your buddies to dive into the action together with head-to-head combat and cooperative two-player modem and eight-player network support.

• State-of-the-Art 3-D graphics including animating texture maps, 3-D animating monsters and morphing.

• Full 8 Player Network and 2 Player Head-to-Head Modem support.

• Full 360- degree environment...it's an all new twist to the highly popular genre.

• Multiplayer action with 8 player network and tournament mode.

• Outstanding artificial intelligence where the enemies and creatures actually learn, adjusting their actions based upon the player's.

• 3-D Directional sound effects and CD-quality musical scoring.

Source:

Unknown Source

IT IS D-DAY!

Interplay's DESCENT Hits Retail With Full Impact!

Retailers Break Street Date As Shipments Exceed 300,000!

Irvine, California, March 17, 1995-- Interplay Productions' highly anticipated title Descentsmashed into the retail channel today, D-Day, in the wake of the largest marketing campaign in the company's history. Interplay's Descent brings arcade/action gaming to the forefront as an original title for IBM and 100% compatible computers with 30 mind-scrambling levels in a 3-D first-person arcade/action game and a full 360-degree stomach-turning environment.

Currently #1 on the Internet's Top 100 Games for the sixth week in a row, Descent arrives on shelves with the full force of $1.5 million in marketing support, the largest marketing launch for a PC title in the history of the company, and quite possibly the industry. The launch includes a national TV, print and radio campaign. The marketing campaign also includes a partnership with Intel's Pentium line, a heavy-up in-store point of purchase campaign and more.

"Descent has far surpassed our initial expectations," said Jerry Luttrell, marketing manager for Interplay. "We knew gamers would go for it in a big way, but this kind of attention is unprecedented! The retail channel obviously couldn't wait as we have had numerous reports of retailers breaking the street date and selling it as early as March 15th."

With its outstanding and highly-advanced enemy artificial intelligence, Descent offers multi-player action with up to 8-person network play, head-to-head and modem support, tournament mode and death match. Another highlight of this advanced arcade/action game is the outstanding 3-D automap feature. These are just a few samplings of the exceptional features that gives players what they're looking for in a frenzied, hair-raising, stomach-turning action/arcade game.

The first glimpse gamers got of this hot title was the shareware version first released on December 21 via the Interplay BBS and other computer bulletin boards and on-line services worldwide. That's when the pandemonium began. Interplay's BBS has been constantly busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week since the shareware was uploaded. But gamers patiently waited it out until they could get in and download the shareware game that everyone on the net was raving about.

Descent, developed by Parallax Studios, is set deep in the mines of Lunar Base I where an unknown alien race has taken over the outposts of the Post Terrain Mineral Corporation. Players must rescue stranded hostages, destroy each command center and get out alive. Boasting 30 mind-scrambling levels, players must adjust as top becomes bottom and hang onto their senses as they scream straight down intense texture-mapped mine shafts in their fully self-contained futuristic sub-light fighter.

Players can expect to be outwitted by phenomenal artificial intelligence where enemies and creatures strategize against their human opponent, morphing and adjusting their actions based upon the player's. With a simple keystroke, players can access the outstanding 3-D automap to orient themselves at any time throughout the game. Additionally, light source shading and directional sound effects add a sense of reality to the game play. Multi-channel, digital sound effects and an industrial rock score screams as players plunge down the 3-D texture-mapped passages of Descent.

Descent was produced by veteran Interplay producer Rusty Buchert. His past achievements include Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space CD-ROM, Star Trek: Judgement Rites and BattleChess 4000.

Descent is available now for IBM and 100% compatible systems. A CD-ROM version with an additional 30 levels will be available in the third quarter. A Macintosh version is currently in production and will be available early fourth quarter. Descent is Interplay's first virtual reality game that supports the VFX-1 VR-Helmet by Forte Technologies and the Cybermaxx VR-Helmet by Vectormaxx.

Source:

Press Release

Descent - the most mind bending, stomach-churning action game ever. Featuring true 3-Dimensional worlds with light source shading, texture mapping, 3-D morphing, directional sound effects and sizzling music, this is technology taken to the limit.

You begin deep below the surface of Lunar Base 1 where an unknown alien race has taken over the Post-Terran Mining Corporation. Lunge straight down mine shafts, twist around never-ending tunnels and fight your way past robotic menaces in an environment that's truly 360° 3-D.

Source:

Back of Casper (PS1) instruction booklet

360 GRAD ACTION

3000 MEILEN/H SPANNUNG

300 METER UNTER DER ERDE

DESCENT’

TIEF UNTEN IN EINEM RIESIGEN MINENSCHACHT AUF PLUTO: EINE BÖSARTIGE AUßERIRDISCHE RASSE BEREITET DIE ZERSTÖRUNG DER ERDE VOR. NUR EINER KANN SIE AUFHALTEN - SIE! ABER SEIEN SIE VORBEREITET. AUF DIESEM SCHWINDELERREGENDEN HÖLLENTRIP DURCH UNGLAUBLICHE 3D SCHÄCHTE UND ENDLOSE TUNNEL MÜSSEN SIE BIS AN IHRE GRENZEN GEHEN.

FÜR PC UND CD ROM

Source:

Advertisement in PC Games, December 1994 (German)

What are you waiting for? "This game kicks a hell of a lot of ass!" - Fire Boy1 - AMERICA ONLINE "With the six-degrees of freedom, true 3-D game engine, Descent has set the new standard that all other 1st person shoot-em-ups must now live up to." - Joe Saloga, Compuserve 72712,450

"Descent Kicks BUTT!" - Rick Johnson, Compuserve 74431,1624

"Doom with a Jet Pack... It's not like playing an arcade game, it's like being in one." - Electronic Entertainment

"Descent is superb." - Apogee

"The sensation of speed is amazing, and the 3D texture mapped graphics make this game a genuine joy to behold." - PC Gamer

"It's Doom with a twist, a turn, and a gravity free flip." - Computer Gaming World

"Played it... and I have one thing to say. Wow." - Sir Ryck AMERICA ONLINE

"If you still have Doom loaded on your HD you're just wasting space." - Big Joe d, AMERICA ONLINE

"Fantastic graphics, incredibly 3-D animation, support for modems and LANs, music, you name it. The best I have ever seen." - John Yardney, Compuserve 70563,2311

"Wow! At last! A true Doom KILLER!!!!!!!" - Patrick Simmons, Compuserve 72017,2374

"The nasty computer game with graphics that change as if the player is moving in three dimensions." - The Wall Street Journal

"Descent is an incredibly game. Descent is to Doom as Doom was to Wolfenstein." - Al Hunt, Compuserve

"The weapons are awesome, the game play is awesome, the motion sickness is awesome..." - Eric Rose, Compuserve 71221,2660

"Cool game, just need to find my Dramamine to play it." - Mike Hulen, Compuserve 74023,3004

"Holy Bat farts, Batman!... I have never experienced an enemy intelligence anywhere NEAR the way these robots act. they peek, they fire, they chase you, they take cover, they wait." - Monty Peralta, Compuserve 74147,33

Sensory overload in 360° 3D.**

Welcome to Descent(tm) - 30 levels of the most mind-bending, stomach-churning action game ever. Featuring true 3-Dimensional worlds with light source shading, texture mapping, 3-D morphing, directional sound effects and sizzling music, this is technology taken to the limit.

You begin deep below the surface of Lunar Base I where an unknown alien race has taken over the chasm of the Post-Terran Mining Corporation. Lunge straight down mine shafts, twist around never-ending tunnels and fight your way past robotic menaces in an environment that's truly 360° 3-D... move up, move down, shoot everything everywhere. Hang onto your senses (and your lunch) as you drop straight down mine shafts on a ride that'll leave you spinning.

And what's the good of losing your mind if you can't share the experience with your friends? Descent invites you and your buddies to dive into the action together with head-to-head combat and cooperative two-player modem and eight-player network support. **Challenge yourself and experience what everyone's talking about!

Coming March 17th to a store near you. For IBM and compatibles.**

(Source: inside back cover, "Wetworks" issue #7, April 1995.)

Source:

magazine advertisement - MS-DOS (US)