1997

Descent to Undermountain
Published: 1997
Publisher: Interplay

Descent to Undermountain was Interplay's second foray into the AD&D universe. There were high hopes for this product when it was first announced. The basic premise of the game was that you were an adventurer in Waterdeep who had to undertake mercenary missions into a massive multilevel dungeon below the city called Undermountain. Undermountain is AD&D's largest dungeon, with more than a dozen levels of subterranean creatures and unexplored territory. In 1995, when the game was first announced, Interplay planned to use an updated version of the Descent engine to power this game. During that time, it seemed like this game would have the graphic flair and the content to deliver a good AD&D experience, which was sorely needed after SSI's final AD&D release, the disappointing Deathkeep.

Unfortunately, Descent to Undermountain was delayed, and by the time it released in 1998, it looked terrible. Although the Descent engine had looked good in 1995 when Descent debuted, it looked woefully inadequate by 1988. The engine was outdated, the graphics were unacceptable, and the gameplay was subpar. There was little in the way of a story and not enough side quests or NPCs to talk to. In fact, Descent to Undermountain seemed to eschew important RPG elements in favor of pure shooter action. Even then, the action wasn't fun. In every respect, Descent to Undermountain was deemed a failure, and Interplay quickly tried to forget it.

Read our review of Descent to Undermountain.

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