E3 2018 Preview: Descent
Going into my Little Orbit’s Descent demo at E3 2018 I went in with zero expectations. Not being all that familiar with the 1995 version of Descent, which was a 3D first-person shooter featuring six degrees of freedom gameplay, I honestly did not know what to expect. I knew there was a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, raising over $600,000 USD and a fall 2018 release on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 but make no bones about it, I was going in blind. Yet at every E3 I walk away from a demo grinning from ear to ear and Little Orbit’s Descent was one of those experiences.
This new version of Descent is not a remaster of the original but rather a reimagining of the classic 90s title. According to the dev team, it has been created and designed for a new generation of gamers, and features what appears to be a pretty robust single-player experience. And all at a lower cost as the game will ship cheaper than other AAA games on the market.
At E3, we had a chance to get our hands on a small sample of the single-player experience. In terms of the game’s storyline, the earth has run out of resources. As a result, pilots must travel to the Asteroid Belt between Earth and Mars in order to obtain resources to bring back to the planet. Unfortunately, these asteroids are owned by evil corporations who have turned these mining missions into a twisted entertainment center where you have to battle against other pilots to collect resources and survive.
Silky Smooth Controls
Descent will include at launch 20 different unlockable ships in four different classes, each with their own skill sets. Ships are customizable where you can swap out things like the nose, wings and skin. The game will also feature a progression and upgrade system.
Using the Unreal 4 engine, decent looks great and much cleaner than I expected. Our demo took place in an underground environment where I was peppered with a variety of enemies. The controls felt smooth and I was able to maneuver my ship without much difficulty at all. It had a retro feel but at the same time, it had modern mechanics which made the combat enjoyable.
The single player will include side quests, puzzles, and boss battles, so there is truly something for everyone. We are told there will be over 15 missions included so it appears the campaign will be beefy.
In addition to the single player, Descent will eight multiplayer modes with four available at launch. Anarchy, survival, corporate war, and co-op modes will be the core modes available when the game drops, with more to come following release.
Descent is slated to release by the end of 2018 for Windows PC, Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4.
