Descent

1001 Video Games

Descent appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cheats

If you used one of the cheat codes, you'd hear a female voice call you "Cheater" in a mocking tone.

Commercials

Commercials for the Playstation version of the game featured the celebrities Rodney Dangerfield and Jenny McCarthy.

Covermount release

A complete version of Descent is available on Classic Games Collection CD featured with the July 2000 issue of PC Gamer Magazine.

Development

The game was originally titled Inferno and was to take place in space stations rather than mines.

Enhanced edition

In the readme file included with the registered version of Descent, a "CD-Enhanced" version was promised to be released in the summer of 1995. Descent had already been released on CD-ROM, but the "CD-Enhanced" version was to contain new levels and enemies, a Redbook (CD audio) version of the game's soundtrack, and 3D-rendered cinematics. Unfortunately, this version was never released. However, Descent II was suggested to have been the CD-Enhanced version of Descent that they were talking about: it contains all of the features promised for the CD-Enhanced version, and retains most of the original Descent's gameplay (along with some new features like an afterburner, energy-to-shields converter, and headlights).

KALI

The very popular KALI online matchmaking program, which emulates IPX over the Internet was created in the sole purpose of bringing online play to Descent. Indeed, it grew quite bigger as the time went on.

Release

Descent was to be a shareware game, and Apogee Software (one of the most famous names in shareware games) was going to distribute it for Parallax. Unfortunately the deal fell through...Apogee didn't have the finances to distribute the game, and Interplay came in to save the game from being canceled fully.

The game was still released as shareware, where you could download the first seven stages and purchase the rest from Interplay directly or in stores. As a token of the appreciation, Parallax added a thank-you message to "Scott Miller and Apogee Software" in the credits for the game.

Novels

A trilogy of novels inspired by the game was published by Avon Books. They were all written by Peter Telep and first published in 1999:* Descent * Stealing Thunder * Equinox

Awards

• GameStar (Germany)
  • Issue 12/1999 - #50 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
• PC Gamer
  • April 2000 - #45 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll

Information also contributed by Cochonou, jnik, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Satoshi Kunsai, Scott Monster and Spartan_234