REVIEW – It’s not a coincidence that the title uses the term “disposable”, because there’s not much point in playing it (even years later). On the other hand, it’s a cheap indie game, which is one of the most expensive products of the studio (Celeritas Games) (so far they’ve done mostly VR-oriented stuff, especially demos).

The Descent, a horror walking sim set in the Rockwell Mine, immerses players in the harsh lives and disturbing encounters of coal miners. Play as an investigator unraveling a mystery in your hometown.

Deep

The Descent (we won’t capitalize it, it’s a stupid trend) is set in the late 19th century in Rockwell Mine, a town that specializes in coal mining. You can say Red Faction as soon as you hear the word mining, but it’s different in genre (only the first-person perspective is the same), not to mention in quality and content (despite being released over 22 years ago). So you control a detective who grew up here and returned after graduating from journalism school to find out what the hell is going on at the bottom of the mine. There are a lot of accidents, people disappear or die for unexplained reasons, and the authorities can’t do anything about it. All investigations so far have been in vain, because the truth is out there, or at least down there, so the mine has been closed. The term “walking sim” in the Steam synopsis also tells you that it is a walking sim. And it’s not the fancy kind, because very often the gameplay consists of being in the dark with a strong green filter, finding a key and/or a note, and suddenly the door opens and you can continue.

You may not like the graphics, but it’s safe to say that it will be green. The atmosphere, on the other hand, is more positive, because it can create a lot of tension in the player, who will be able to feel it, because the jumpscares are not always timed right, and it is not always in our perspective, but you have to take into account that your character is slowly sinking into madness. But there is also a gas mask that we have to put on sometimes. The way this is done is a bit strange, as it would have been better to use a different filter instead of having it cover a small part of the screen in the middle (true, F1 games also have some halo covering, but that’s what the specific camera view does). What about the enemies? Well, they’re not much of a threat to us, since it seems impossible to die in The Descent (it should have had a different name, since Parallax’s ’95 FPS, Descent, differs from Celeritas Games’ product by only one letter. Maybe it would have been better to call it The Descent Into Rockwell…).

Deeper

The Descent isn’t that bad in some ways. The sounds and their design didn’t seem that bad, but we’re not sure what approach they have. Even if the story seemed unrealistic and bizarre, it could be that we are not talking about natural sounds here, but pre-recorded ones. However, there are no complaints about their quality. But perhaps the developers have not used the mine’s potential to the full. It is true that some games tangentially reach such a place in the genre (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, for example), but none of them is completely set in such a place. But perhaps the biggest flaw is that the game has no replayability.

It doesn’t seem realistic that someone would play through it a second time just to find all the notes. Furthermore, there is only one ending to The Descent, which can be reached in just over an hour (and therefore understandably without a save system; you can choose your levels from the menu), and this can be shortened because the game doesn’t really tell you where to go, so wandering is somewhat part of the gameplay (the word gameplay should be in quotes). At least the green filter can be hidden if you don’t use night vision goggles but a flashlight. The lighting was good, the assets mostly so, but there is not much to talk about in terms of variety, and some models seemed to be of questionable quality.

Deepest

At times like this you have to think about how to rate The Descent. For quality, a 4.5/10 would be realistic, but for the price it deserves more, and it didn’t come across as a cheap, crappy asset flip, so you could call it a fair game, cut down by length and a complete lack of replayability. That’s why it’s 5/10 stuff, nothing more. It needed more craziness, easier inventory access, and then Celeritas Games might have deserved a weak 6/10.

-V-

Publisher: Celeritas Games

Developer: Celeritas Games

Style: Horror

Release: January 5, 2024.
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