Descent on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Prepare To Start Your Descent.Sensory overload in 360° 3-D.Welcome to Descent™ - 27 levels of the most mind-bending, stomach-churning action game ever. Featuring true 3-Dimensional worlds with light source shading, texture mapping, 3-D morphing, directional sound effects and sizzling music, this is technology taken to the limit.

Descent is a classic, 6dof and action game developed by Parallax and published by Interplay Inc..
Released on February 11th 2014 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

It has received 458 reviews of which 443 were positive and 15 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.9 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Descent into these genres:

Classic 6DOF Action Shooter Old School FPS Space Retro 1990's Sci-fi First-Person Flight Co-op Difficult Singleplayer Adventure Pixel Graphics Nostalgia Multiplayer Great Soundtrack

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Descent through various videos and screenshots.

Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot
Descent screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows XP, 7, 8
  • Processor: 1 Gigahertz or faster
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 or better
  • DirectX: Version 7.0
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 32 MB available space
  • Sound Card: Sound Blaster compatible
  • Additional Notes: Please visit Interplay's support site for the optimal settings for Descent 3's setup.
MacOS
  • OS: OS X 10.6.8 or later
  • Processor: Intel Core Duo 2GHz+
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 64MB of video memory
  • Storage: 50 MB available space
  • Additional Notes: Recommended two-button mouse, or Apple mouse with Secondary Button / Secondary Click enabled.
Linux
  • OS: Ubuntu 16.04 or later
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz Processor
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 256 MB VRAM, OpenGL compatible
  • Storage: 50 MB available space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

April 2025
Old games were harder. Plain and simple. & this was one of the first PC games I ever played and the first I recall playing online, repeatedly getting whooped on my choppy 33.6k modem against my best friend on his 56k modem. It was a sad state of affairs, but an unforgettable time. Difficulty scaling is brutal. Anything above Rookie difficulty is extremely difficult. It's hard enough just finding your way through the maze, then the addition of the perfect/instantaneous hitscan of opposition forces makes higher difficulty levels almost impossible, the ubiquitous Class 1 Drillers & the red Super Mechs with their homing missiles being the most notorious. Drillers instantly damaging with their Vulcan cannons the moment you open a door or peek a corner. The difficulty spike when these baddies are introduced is insane. They're a bit unfair and these two enemies alone almost ruin the game. Add to that that shields become almost impossible to find makes higher levels unfun. (Apparently "Rookie is actually the 'normal' difficultly mode.) These gameplay elements are frustrating, so I suggest playing Trainee or at most Rookie to have an actual enjoyable playthrough of this classic 3D space masterpiece. Beat it with a final score of 2,247,385 on Trainee and had a blast doing it. Get rekt alien virus mining robots.
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Feb. 2025
It's a great classic game, especially with a joystick. It might be even better with a gaming keypad, too.
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Feb. 2025
A game about a glorious robot worker's uprising told from the perspective of the villain, a strikebreaking "Material Defender" sent by capitalists to end the robot worker utopia. Sounds right to me. This game can be confusing, disorienting and wildly spike in difficulty, but my goodness it was fun in the 90's and it's a blast still. It was worth pulling my joystick out of its storage box for this but it plays decently well on keyboard and mouse or keyboard-only, although the controls take some getting used to (kind of a mix of 90's FPS like DOOM and a flight simulator). As was the style at the time, levels all follow the same pattern: find blue key, open blue door, find yellow key, open yellow door, find red key, open red door, blow up reactor/boss, escape quickly. Always know where your exit is before blowing up that reactor! Having established that the game is an awesome 90's classic, the Steam release is... an overpriced DOSBox-emulated version. I mean, it plays the game as it was pretty much at release, which is fine by me, but $10 for a game that old with no QoL improvements is steep. There are better fan-made remasters that are better ideas, but if you just want to play it as-is and absolutely want it in your Steam library, then go ahead and buy! I wasn't disappointed. But if you want more, guides on Steam and elsewhere will get you many, many more levels beyond the 30 (27 + 3 secret levels) single-player levels in the base campaign and a better multiplayer experience.
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Feb. 2025
It is a great action retro game that thankfully is now available for all. I am so far on level 3 and loving this game again. I played it years ago and now get to play it again. In order to play it you need dosbox installed before hand. The first time I installed the game from Steam, it would not work so I uninstalled it, installed dosbox and now it launches fine. Remember to press F1 for all the keyboard shortcuts including how to save.
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June 2024
Well what can you say about the Classic Descent... I've been playing since its introduction in '95 along with Expansion in '96 World of Descent(?) with over 100 Player made levels. Yes, there are upgraded graphic Versions, but there is just a feeling and nostalgia of the original. How was I supposed to know that this game was going to influence my future in 3D modeling later in life? I can see and visualize in 3 dimensional space with spatial awareness. A career that spans nearly 30 years.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Descent is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.

Descent is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.99€ on Steam.

Descent received 443 positive votes out of a total of 458 achieving a rating of 8.93.
😎

Descent was developed by Parallax and published by Interplay Inc..

Descent is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Descent is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Descent is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Descent offers both single-player and multi-player modes.

Descent offers both Co-op and PvP modes.

Descent does not currently offer any DLC.

Descent does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Descent does not support Steam Remote Play.

Descent is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Descent.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 08 June 2025 19:29
SteamSpy data 10 June 2025 01:56
Steam price 15 June 2025 04:42
Steam reviews 12 June 2025 22:04

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Descent, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Descent
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Descent concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Descent compatibility
Descent
19.99€
8.9
443
15
Game modes
Features
Online players
3
Developer
Parallax
Publisher
Interplay Inc.
Release 11 Feb 2014
Platforms
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