Descent to Undermountain
A rushed D&D RPG using the Descent engine.
Descent to Undermountain is a role-playing video game developed and published by Interplay, released in 1998 for MS-DOS and Windows. It is based on the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms and uses the 3D rendering engine from the 1995 game Descent. The game received very negative reviews and has been called the worst Dungeons & Dragons video game ever.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Interplay
- Designer
- Chris Avellone
- Scott Bennie
- John Deiley
- Robert Holloway
- Steve Perrin
- Programmer
- Andrew Pal; Robert Hanz
- Artist
- Robert Nesler; Kevin Beardslee
- Composer
- Richard Band
- Rick Jackson
- Ron Valdez
- Released
- January 15, 1998
- Genre
- Role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The player character, an adventurer in Waterdeep, seeks employment from Khelben Blackstaff, the city's high mage. Blackstaff reports that people have been disappearing, and some return from Undermountain with frightening tales. He assigns quests to uncover the cause of renewed activity in the dungeon. It emerges that the Flame Sword of Lolth, an artifact granting control of an undead army from the Abyss, is buried deep within Undermountain. The Drow seek the sword, and the only way to subdue its power is to reassemble the Spider Amulet, broken into eight pieces scattered throughout the dungeon. Lolth is the final boss.
Gameplay
Descent to Undermountain uses the same game mechanics as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The player chooses one of six races and four classes, with multi-classing available, affecting statistics that determine action success probabilities. The Yawning Portal Inn in Waterdeep serves as a hub for trading with NPCs between quests. The dungeon is explored from a first-person perspective, with real-time combat mixed with puzzles. Defeated enemies may drop items or gold coins, and loot can be found on dungeon floors, tradeable with merchants in Waterdeep.
Development
Descent to Undermountain was developed by Chris Avellone, Scott Bennie, John Deiley, Robert Holloway, and Steve Perrin, with programmers Andrew Pal, James Gardner, Robert Holloway, and Chris Farenetta. The title derives from the use of the Descent 3D graphical engine. It was not the first PC RPG in 3D, but it was the first to use 3D characters instead of 2D bitmap sprites. The Descent engine presented difficulties; creative director Michael McConnohie noted that the collision spheres were designed for craft, not close combat with bipeds. A networkable four-player mode was planned but cut due to time constraints. The cover art, "Spellfire" by Clyde Caldwell, had previously been used for Ed Greenwood's 1987 novel Spellfire and Westwood Studios' 1992 game Order of the Griffon.
Reception
Descent to Undermountain met with widespread criticism. Its choice to adapt the Descent engine for a role-playing game forced extensive code changes. Designer Eric Bethke blamed bugs, weak enemy behavior, and ugly visuals on a premature release, labeling it a textbook case of a game shipped too early. Julian Schoffel of Australian PCWorld deemed it "woeful" and pinned hopes on Baldur's Gate to salvage Interplay's reputation. GamePro slammed its dated graphics, glitches, and tricky setup, though they liked the level layouts, ultimately feeling the game remained incomplete; they scored it 2.5 for graphics, 4.0 for sound, 3.0 for control, and 3.0 for fun. Conversely, Ahmed Kamal Nava of the New Straits Times hailed it as 1997's best role-playing game. Next Generation gave it one star, criticizing the visuals and interface but calling its character creation the finest digital adaptation of the Forgotten Realms. GameSpy noted its sole achievement was making players forget the prior two years of poor Dungeons & Dragons titles. Interplay itself acknowledged the flop with a Fallout 2 easter egg: a Magic 8 Ball that could answer, "Yes, we KNOW Descent to Undermountain was crap."
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