Descent: Underground resurfaces with a shorter title and more single-player focus
Getting lost underground is SO Descent
For a while, I'd forgotten about free-floating FPS Descent: Underground - turns out it had just gone radio-silent for a retooling, announced here. Still being worked on by Descendent Studios and now backed by publisher Little Orbit, the game is now just called 'Descent', and is now a more single-player oriented game, diverging from the originally multiplayer-centric Underground.
It'll be entering beta testing in November and is due for a 2019 release, and will be a free upgrade (along with all pre-order DLC) for Underground's early access owners and Kickstarter backers. Below, two new teaser trailers.
I must admit feeling a little nervous looking at the re-debut trailers below. The story trailer feels a little stiff and abrupt, and the combat shown in the gameplay teaser feels marred by stuttering performance and some odd-looking effects. Still, it's nice to see a six-degrees-of-freedom shooter with a solo campaign bearing the Descent name again. Fingers crossed. Little Orbit are at least offering a decent 'welcome back' package for returning Descent: Underground owners, including a multiplayer season pass, plus additional single-player DLC missions down the line.
Even if NuDescent doesn't turn out great, at least we have the excellent Overload - a spiritual successor to the Descent name, developed by many of the original team. It even got a little bit of DLC recently, adding a new set of campaign levels created by the players using its powerful level editor. As a huge fan of the original Descent and someone that's picky about his old-school shooters, it's the real deal, and if the soon-to-be Descent 2019 can offer similar thrills? Well, everyone wins. Especially the 8,164 people who backed the game when it was Kickstarted back in March 2015.
The newly title-trimmed Descent will apparently begin beta testing in November, and is due for launch in early 2019. You can find more info on its official page here.