Descent II

Descent II
DevelopersParallax Software
Interplay Productions (Mac)
R-Comp Interactive (Risc OS)
PublishersInterplay Productions
Mac Play (Mac)
R-Comp Interactive (Risc OS)
Directors
  • Mike Kulas
  • Matt Toschlog
ProducerRusty Buchert
Designers
  • Jasen Whiteside
  • Mark Dinse
  • Che-Yuan Wang
Programmers
  • Matt Toschlog
  • Mike Kulas
  • John Slagel
  • Jason Leighton
  • Che-Yuan Wang
Artists
  • Adam Pletcher
  • Jasen Whiteside
  • Doug Brooks
WriterRyan Garcia
Composers
  • Dan Wentz
  • Brian Luzietti
  • Larry Peacock
  • Leslie Spitzer
  • Jim Torres
  • Tim Wiles
Platforms
ReleaseMS-DOS
  • NA: March 13, 1996
  • EU: March 29, 1996
Mac OS
  • NA: August 1996
PlayStation
  • NA: May 15, 1997
  • EU: Mid-1997
RISC OS
  • WW: May 19, 2001
GenreFirst-person shooter
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Descent II is a 1996 first-person shooter game developed by Parallax Software and first published for MS-DOS by Interplay Productions. A version for the PlayStation was released under the title Descent Maximum. It is the second installment in the Descent video game series and the sequel to Descent. Like its predecessor, the player controls a spaceship from the pilot's perspective and must navigate extrasolar underground mines to locate and destroy their reactors and escape being caught in their self-destructions, while engaging and surviving infected robots, which will attempt to destroy the ship. Unlike other first-person shooters, its six-degrees-of-freedom scheme allows the player to move and rotate in any three-dimensional space and direction.

Descent II started as a project intended to expand the original using a compact disc's storage, and later became a standalone product, using an upgraded version of its predecessor's graphics engine. The game received very positive reviews from video game critics, who widely lauded the multiplayer mode and the inclusion of the Guide-Bot, a scouting robot that guides the player to their objectives. The PlayStation version's reception was rather mixed, with critics often disagreeing in their evaluations of its frame rate. A sequel, Descent 3, was released in 1999.