Pretty similar to Beyond Belief. While ultimately not as good due to inferior design and architecture, they both play equally good IMO.

This is especially true in the second half of the maps; the early maps are more average. Maps themselves range from 2 and a half to 4 stars, gets 4 stars overall for its length and overall enjoyment factor.

Also it's very much like another "Dimension of the Doomed", but a few good modified monsters and a modified weapon - and a surprise tacked on at the end - I won't spoil it! Old school fans should definitely play this.

I agree with the post by MegaQuaker, though I'm tempted to rate it higher then Beyond Belief. Come to think of it, if you were to put Beyond Belief, Soul of Evil (1) and the Final Descent together with a new start map you'd have a new and improved version of the original game.

About the design, it may not look like some of the graphical masterpieces we've been spoiled with over the years, but it doesn't look bad either. Some ceiling look really nice, curved and textured. The lights are rather cool too, with lots of variation and shadows. I really like the open stairs with the light coming from behind, they create nice shadows.

I was able to find all the secrets, (something that really pisses me off when I can't ...), they were well done, but they did often give you a little too much power sometimes. You can do stuff without a Quad and a Megahealth too, only it takes a little longer.

There will always be people bitching about the rating, so I will do so to and say this is an excellent release, still good fun after 10 years.
Of course you can't really say what release is better then the other.

By the way, the author, Mike Wilberforce, has a site dedicated to Unreal single player maps. He''s made quite a few of them too. It's at

http://www.unrealsp.org/

You say you think it may be better than Beyond Belief, which is fine, but you don't explain how. I'd be interested in how you arrived at that conclusion.

Hi.
I replayed Beyond Belief and it's also very good. But this pack is more unique with it's new(ish) monsters, the statues and new weapons. But like I said before, you can't really tell which is better, I just wanted to point out that this is a very good pack too, because I think "Nice" doesn't quite do it justice.

I sort of agree, the maps are merely nice but as an episode it's just a bit better than that. Found it well worth my time to play through, enjoyed it all especially the later maps.

I was disappointed at the beginning of the game, because the maps were too simple and dull. However, the second part of the game was hilarious. Modified monsters were pretty good, and I fell in love with that modified machine gun. I rated this pack of maps with five stars.

really enjoyed it. some people may be put off by the odd scale of some of the areas in the first few levels. however there are nice areas in every map; sometimes they are a little low detail, but they are always nicely textured and what is there is good. the new weapons and monsters are nice and fit in well. it was just a little more difficult than the standard episodes, and had a very nice flow imo that saw me play through it in one day. i rate it a 4, the only weak point being the issues of construction noted above. i recommend this to everyone.

This is really good! Maybe the maps don't have as many details as other packs released at the same time, but gameplay is entertaining. The whole episode feels polished with a solid boss fight at the end. Personally, I would count this towards the classics.

this is quite a bit of fun. easier than expected on hard skill, but it is nice to live through an entire map! like another said, very dimension of the doomed. the modified monsters were quite enjoyable. i was a little disappointed in the boss fight at the end, but not enough to downrate at all. i thought the construction was quite nice for the time as well. i'm going to play beyond belief to see how this compares, if i can make one at all.

turns out, i prefer Beyond Belief. i've replayed BB recently, and this today. in the first few levels, i remember a lot of back-and-forth between areas, with little, if any combat in between. i've reduced my rating as well. however, i still enjoyed the later levels, and still deserves praise and a play or two.

Great episode. Played it again today. Too bad I missed secret level, but for an episode made in 2000, it is really good.

I'm "fed up" with bigger and bigger levels, just in order to push engine limits.

Very underrated episode, in my opinion deserve 5 stars, very well done levels

Played the first two levels. I don't get the comparisons to Beyond Belief. BB's architecture and layout feel purposely off-kilter to me. These levels are much more symmetrical than anything in BB. Visuals are plainer and secrets are easier as well. If the rest of the maps are like the first two, I'll give this a 4/5--consistently well-crafted but IMO not one of the greats.

Mike Wilberforce (Hellscrag) really likes small rooms with a river running across the middle and a little bridge!

Well, this is really very good -- I don't understand how I never came across it before. Back in 2000, when it was released, it would have been wonderful: essentially a whole additional episode for Quake, similar in length, difficulty and feel to the originals.

In 2016, of course, it feels relatively pedestrian: far too easy on Hard, where an astonishing amount of spare ammunition is provided. The brushwork is functional rather then elegant, in the 2000 manner, and the combats lack the variety and creativity of the best modern maps. But there is a substantial piece of work here, fun to blast through, and with enhanced version of some standard monsters that really work well -- not least the eponymous Hellscrag.

So even by modern standards I rate this a solid four stars. Well worth playing.

Oh, I never figured out how to open the Nightmare entrance on the start level, even though I pressed the button in the Easy corridor. What did I miss?

I never did find the entrace to the secret level, Lair of Nether Spirits, so I just map des1m8'd my way into it and played through. Most enjoyable, and very much of a piece with the other levels in the pack.

For anyone else trying to find that level the legitimate way, I am pretty sure the entrance is in The Graven Stronghold (des1m4), based on the fact that when I finished the secret level it plonked me into THe Fallen Palace (des1m5).

@Mike -- To open the nightmare entrance, one has to visit the easy, medium, and hard sections first. You mentioned the plaque in the easy hallway. The medium and hard sections each have a plaque like that as well (in each case, it's above the teleport). Shoot all three plaques, and the stone wall in front of the nightmare teleport will disappear.

Ah, nice -- thank you!

I verified that this works.

A shame I didn't find it myself, really, since one of my main criticisms of this pack is that it was too easy. Oh well -- I will know for another time.

this is still really fun to play.

I'm really pleased to read that people are still discovering and enjoying this pack!

Back in the run-up to the release of Descent, I tested it extensively with friends, including in coop and deathmatch mode. Their feedback really helped me to improve the design of the first few maps beyond their most basic first incarnation.

This was not my first single player mapping effort, but it was the first that I released online. Sadly I have lost those early mapping efforts, one or two of which had more ambitious concepts than the first few levels of Descent.

Hellscrag,

Good to see you here! One of the earlier commenters mentioned that you make Unreal maps. I used to love Unreal back in the day, so I checked them out and thought they were great, especially the Tashara's Cove pack. I still haven't finished Descent, but your Unreal maps are superb.