Descent to Undermountain
| Descent to Undermountain | |
|---|---|
Cover art: "Spellfire" by Clyde Caldwell | |
| Developer | Interplay |
| Publisher | Interplay |
| Designers | Chris Avellone Scott Bennie John Deiley Robert Holloway Steve Perrin |
| Programmers | Andrew Pal Robert Hanz |
| Artists | Robert Nesler Kevin Beardslee |
| Composers | Richard Band Rick Jackson Ron Valdez |
| Platforms | DOS, Windows |
| Release | January 15, 1998 |
| Genre | Role-playing |
| Mode | Single-player |
Descent to Undermountain is a role-playing video game developed and published by Interplay in 1998. Based on the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms, it casts the player as an adventurer out to explore the treasure-filled recesses of the Undermountain dungeon. The "Descent" part of the name refers to the game's use of the 3D rendering engine from the 1995 game Descent.
Descent to Undermountain had a troubled development cycle. The Descent engine turned out to be unsuited for a role-playing game, leading to ballooning budgets and protracted delays. Interplay decided to ship the game in time for Christmas 1997, resulting in a rushed product - although it failed to make even that deadline and actually shipped on January 15 of the next year. The game received very negative reviews and has been called the worst Dungeons & Dragons video game ever.