Descent (unreleased video game)

Descent
Developer(s)	Descendent Studios
Publisher(s)	Little Orbit
Director(s)	Eric Peterson
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Linux macOS PlayStation 4 Switch Windows Xbox One
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Descent (formerly Descent: Underground) is an unreleased first-person shooter game developed by Descendent Studios, and the prequel to the 1995 video game of the same name. It is the fourth installment in the Descent series. It was successfully funded via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter in 2015 and temporarily released on Steam as an early access title the same year. Descendent Studios signed a deal with publisher Little Orbit for financial support. The game was expected to be available in 2019 on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but Little Orbit sued the developer in early 2020, accusing it of breaching its contract and failing to meet deadlines. In turn, Descendent Studios filed a counter lawsuit alleging that Little Orbit failed to fulfill its own obligations and that it was impossible to implement features suggested by the publisher and still meet the deadlines.

Premise

Descent is set in 2136. In the game, Earth's natural resources have been depleted, threatening the stability of human society and civilization. Space explorers were sent across the galaxy to find a new home planet for humanity to evacuate to. None of them has returned, and the people then turn to harvesting asteroids as their only hope of survival, leading to starfighter skirmishes over possession of the most profitable and life-sustaining ones.^[1]

Gameplay

Descent is a first-person shooter game in which the player flies a spaceship through mines and caverns on asteroids. The ship is free to move and rotate in any direction and is not bound by gravity. The game includes four multiplayer modes, some in which players fight one another or work together in single-player missions.^[2] According to Ars Technica, Descent has many features similar to the original, including tunnels leading to large rooms, power-ups and energy stations at which to recharge one's energy level for ammunition.^[3]

Development

As early as 1998, Volition announced intentions to develop Descent 4, which would have been a prequel preceding the events of the original Descent. However, because of the disappointing sales of Descent 3 and the company's lack of interest in continuing the series, it was canceled in favor of developing a fantasy role-playing game. It morphed into a new project called Red Faction as Volition continued where it left off.^[4][5][6]

New plans to develop a Descent installment were set forth in November 2014 when several former developers for the game Star Citizen, led by Eric "Wingman" Peterson, announced the formation of Descendent Studios with the goal of working on a Descent-like game called Ships That Fight Underground. The company struck a deal with Interplay Entertainment, who approached it the next month and granted it a license to the Descent trademark.^[7][8] In March 2015, Descendent Studios unveiled a Kickstarter campaign for Descent: Underground, a new prequel using Interplay's existing trademark rights to the Descent franchise. The studio began production after the Kickstarter campaign successfully funded in April, raising US$601,773 against the $600,000 goal, with continued funding on its website.^[9]

Descent: Underground demonstration and merchandise at RTX 2015

Descendent Studios first showcased Descent as an early demo at RTX 2015, allowing for use of virtual reality headsets. According to the developers, the game was well-received and played by hundreds of people.^[10][11] Descendent Studios relied on testing the game, which is powered by Unreal Engine 4, with its crowdfunders rather than its own staff to assure the game's quality,^[12] and it aimed to produce a "Triple-I" game, or a video game of AAA standards with an indie budget. On October 22, Descendent Studios released an early access, multiplayer-only version of the game on Steam, with a single-player campaign being in development and due after the early access phase.^[3]

Descendent Studios pulled the game from Steam in September 2017 to speed up its development, as well as add a single-player mode. Later in 2017, the company partnered with Little Orbit, who agreed to publish the game, being responsible for its funding, marketing and distribution. At the time, Little Orbit announced planned versions for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, macOS and Linux.^[13][14] The game was also announced for the Nintendo Switch in October 2018, when the publisher began taking pre-orders, offering more content as a bonus to those who pre-ordered it then or had crowdfunded it or purchased it while the game was in early access on Steam.^[2] It was also available for pre-ordering on GOG.com, being sold with a free copy of Descent 3 for a limited time.^[15]

Descent was slated for launch in early 2019,^[16] with only one beta test to take place before then, but problems arose in May that year when the two companies claimed the rights to the Descent name. Eric Peterson believed that Little Orbit had no money for marketing the game, and Descendent Studios was contractually not allowed to publish it itself.^[17] Little Orbit initiated legal action against Descendent Studios in January 2020, accusing the studio of breach of contract, negligent representation and libel, seeking at least $2 million in damages from the studio. Little Orbit later stated that Kickstarter funds could not be refunded to backers, preorders made with Little Orbit were being refunded, and that the studio had stopped all development, but that the publisher was hopeful the franchise could be revived. In response, Descendent Studios filed a counter-lawsuit alleging that Little Orbit had not paid it enough money per its own commitment and that Little Orbit's demands for a new API and console ports made it impossible to release the game in time. (As of March 2020), it is seeking $60.6 million in punative and compensatory damages and legal expenses.^[16]

References

External links

• Descendent Studios' website (archived)

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