[jaegrqualm]

Not that you asked, but there's exactly one (popular) game that utilizes the same control scheme in modern times, Outer Wilds. Although it's not a shooter, it's quite a nice adventure game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/

There is, however, an outright continuation of the subgenre, in Overload.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

[kevin42]

Overload was mostly the same people who built Descent (I helped a tiny bit). Those guys are really good.

[tmikaeld]

One of the most polished "flight" games in VR too, extremely immersive and perfect controls.

[zibada]

Was surprised to find out today that in 2023 Overload modding community remade the complete Descent 1 campaign, definitely worth checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyMduxHsXko

https://steamcommunity.com/app/448850/discussions/0/38095358...

[OrwellianChild]

Super cheap on GOG right now... https://www.gog.com/en/game/overload

[nier]

There’s this review that stands out:

«I am the CEO of Orbital Design Studios, and am the designer behind the canceled "Descent IV" project in 2002. This game is a thing I thought I'd never see, aside from prototypes in my company's archives.

A very warm welcome back to Matt & Mike and all of the old crew of Parallax and Outrage Entertainment who have returned to create this long dreamed of and hoped for creation. Thank you for putting my regrets that D4 couldn't get made, to rest. Overload will stand for all time in its place.»

[jdshaffer]

Thanks for the head's up! I grabbed a copy. Not a big gamer, but it looks like a lot of fun. Thanks!

[CodeCompost]

I'm confused. This is another game?

[meekins]

Overload is awesome! However I wonder if some remnants of 90s game design like tight time limits and repeating enemy ambushes that make the game such a familiar and intense experience for the old school in reality disadvantage the game and the genre from reaching wider audiences.

There was also another classic Descent contender, Forsaken, that got remastared in 2018 to run on Linux and macOS in addition to modern Windows platforms. The original game was actually used as a graphics benchmark for early 3d accelerators due to its lighting effects.

That said, looking forward to playing Descent 3 on a modern platform!

[boomlinde]

Making it a 6DOF shooter at all probably severely hampered any chance of achieving mass appeal. If it had been 40-80 hour open world, character-based, third-person action adventure game, their chances would likely have been much higher.

[pixelpoet]

The Forsaken soundtrack was so good!

[marcellus23]

If we're including Outer Wilds, wouldn't almost every other space sim/pilot game also qualify? Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, etc. They all have 6 DoF for both rotation and strafing.

[entropicdrifter]

Yeah, really. Heck, even No Man's Sky and Star Wars Squadrons qualify and they're way more mainstream

[mvdtnz]

Other than the control scheme Outer Wilds really could not be more different to Descent.

[two_handfuls]

You are correct. It’s an awesome game though.

[always2slow]

Can't believe Sublevel Zero Redux isn't on your list!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/327880/Sublevel_Zero_Redu...

This game is such an underappreciated hidden gem.

[cyberax]

There also was a nice game called "Parkan" (and then Parkan 2), but it's not really well-known outside of Russian-speaking markets. It looks like it's available on Steam now.

[h0l0cube]

I'm probably in the minority, but I wish Overload kept the Mass Driver from Descent 3. Particularly handy in Monsterball.

Glad D3 is in open source now, because the Steam version has broken multiplayer. I'd be glad to have a multiplayer session again one day.

[octobus2021]

Adding my vote for Overload. I'm not sure if it is the same team that built Descent(s) but some of them were involved in level design of the originals. I believe music composers were the same.

I really enjoyed the story too, that was probably the first game I played through to the end, just to find out how the story ends.

I believe the team has long disbanded which is a shame, it is a very _decent_ product (ha!)

[spmurrayzzz]

> I'm not sure if it is the same team that built Descent(s) but some of them were involved in level design of the originals

Not the same exact team head-for-head but pretty close. Matt Toschlog and Mike Kula were both game directors on the original (and founded Parallax Software). They were the game directors of Overload as well and they're the founders of Revival, the studio that made the game.

[Shorel]

> I believe music composers were the same.

The midi Descent music (from 1 and 2) was to me the best game soundtrack in many years. Only when Portal appeared, it was removed from my top 1.

It is the only set of game related songs I enjoy using as ringtones =)

[ironSkillet]

I know what my next steam purchase is...thanks for sharing, never heard of it and I loved the Descent games when I was a kid.