Descent: Underground has been officially in development for only six months since a successful Kickstarter campaign. It was a close call with the funding goal for the base project set at $600,000. However, 8,164 gamers pledged a total of $601,773 to fully fund the game.
As with any Early Access preview, the full game is far from finished. Plenty more content was promised during the Kickstarter by the developers and balancing tweaks are sure to be made. Due to this I will not touch on individual elements being over, or under, powered; instead looking at core mechanics which are unlikely to drastically change.
Born out of a love for the old space titles many gamers enjoyed years ago, Descent: Underground is a modern revival of a cult like game. Described by the developers as “not just a remake”, the game is already showing the core gameplay which made the original the much loved game that it was. The flight model is reminiscent of the original and it is this feature that made the Descent franchise stand out, even when it was first released back in 1994.
When players initially load Descent: Underground, many will jump straight into a quick online game. At the outset the game does, with mouse and keyboard, feel clunky in nature. Despite having six degrees of freedom, the turning speeds makes it quite hard for new players to instantly zoom through levels; around the sharp right angled corners. While I have been informed that the game is easier with a Joystick, utilizing a mouse and keyboard players will be hit with a steep learning curve to master even basic flight. While other space or flight titles go for similar intuitive controls, the most distinctive feature of Descent: Underground the six degrees of freedom, and the accompanying learning curve, makes it hard to instantly love the game.
Maintaining a player base is an issue which many indie titles face; when they look towards the longevity of a game. Those who played the original may have some advantage over new players but with the time since the last Descent title this advantage will be minimal. On the other hand, backers of the Kickstarter and early adopters of Descent: Underground will certainly have the advantage. They will have time to pass through the learning curve, with everyone playing starting in the same approximate skill bracket. As a result of this, gamers will find that time will have to be invested early on. Otherwise, a decent chuck of the player base will have mastered the basic flight controls and be able to easily win against new unskilled players. This may put new players off the game in the future and slowly kill off the player base but there are features to ease new players in if they don’t mind playing offline.
To help players to master the controls and additional features, the game already offers free flight mode and the chance to compete against bots. I found this to be a necessity to gain a limited amount of skill: which enabled me to get stuck into object based game modes, with little thoughts of being at a disadvantage.
The issue with both the free flight mode and against bots mode is that neither give the player the same sense of fulfilment as online. Even getting one ship kill against players after a number of deaths gives a higher sense of achievement than taking out a handful of bot controlled ships. When single player is properly implemented I’m sure that this will change. Nevertheless, with the game in its current state I would be surprised if many players spend much time at all against AI.
Descent: Underground shows some potential, but its steep learning curve will put off many players. However, if players are willing to stick with the game within hours they will be flying around at speed and enjoying some fast paced, hectic, gameplay. Considering that the game was only fully funded six months ago the core of the game is incredibly in a playable state. As additional content comes online along the development process the game will undoubtedly improve from the solid base it currently has.
