Descent is a first-person shooter developed by Parallax Software, the studio Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog founded in 1993, and published by Interplay Productions. A seven-level shareware version appeared on 24 December 1994, and the full game came out in the UK on 3 March 1995 and in North America on 17 March 1995.
Apogee Software first signed the project but left after about seven months. The game began as Miner and was pitched to publishers as Inferno; Kulas said development took about 21 months and cost roughly US$450,000. Its 30 levels, 27 regular and 3 secret, run across the Solar System from the Moon to Charon.
Guinness World Records recognizes Descent as the first fully 3D first-person shooter, and it is credited with starting the six-degrees-of-freedom subgenre. A PlayStation version by SoftBank came out first in Japan, on 26 January 1996. In late 2015 the game was pulled from GOG and Steam over a royalty dispute; it returned to GOG in November 2017.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Descent | MS-DOS | Mar 17, 1995 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| NA | Descent: Levels of the WorldOver 100 levels from an Interplay design competition plus one Parallax level. | MS-DOS | Nov 22, 1995 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| NA | Descent | Mac | December 1995 | MacPlay | 1 |
| NA | DescentEurope March 1996. | PlayStation | Mar 12, 1996 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| NA | Descent: Anniversary Edition | MS-DOS | March 1996 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| NA | Descent I and II: The Definitive Collection | Windows | Oct 29, 1997 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| WW | Descent (shareware)Shareware demo with seven levels. | MS-DOS | Dec 24, 1994 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| EU | DescentUK release. | MS-DOS | Mar 3, 1995 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| JP | DescentDeveloped by SoftBank. | PlayStation | Jan 26, 1996 | — | 1 |
| EU | DescentRISC OS port; 32-bit update in 2003. | Other | 1998 | R-Comp Interactive | 1 |
| WW | DescentGood Old Games open beta launch title; withdrawn in late 2015, back on GOG in November 2017. | Windows | Sep 8, 2008 | — | 1 |
| WW | DescentSteam release; also withdrawn in late 2015 and later restored. | Windows | Feb 13, 2014 | Interplay | 1 |
Also known as: Miner WW1Inferno WW1
Box art by region
NA Descent
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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AudioPlayStation
The PlayStation version has a new industrial soundtrack instead of a direct conversion of the PC music.1
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GraphicsPlayStation (PAL)
Maximum criticized the European PlayStation release for its letterboxed picture.1
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GameplayMS-DOSMacintosh
On MS-DOS and Macintosh, up to eight players can compete or four can cooperate, including cross-platform games between the two systems.1
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
How to run it today
The GOG edition runs the DOS game in DOSBox on Windows 10 and macOS, and the Steam edition supports Windows, Mac and Linux. Parallax released the source code in 1997 under a non-commercial license.2
Reception
PC Gamer US gave the MS-DOS version 96% and named it Best Action Game and Best Multi-Player Game of 1995. Interplay estimated about 900,000 shareware copies in circulation by March 1995, and the first two games together sold more than 1.1 million copies by June 1998.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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