> They're plotting against you - Descent's aliens are like no others.
> They use artificial intelligence to learn your move, adjust their
> tactics and ambush you from all sides. The full 360-degree 3-D
> environment will keep your head spinning. Whether you're
> annihilating aliens alone or hooking up with a network of other
> players, explosive, multidirectional play, spectacular sound effects
> and sizzling weapon systems will keep you in command.
>
> ? Macintosh Multimedia & Product Registry Volume 9, No.4 - 1996

Featuring a full 3D engine a year before [Quake][1] was released for
the Mac, Descent is the brain child of Michael Kulas (Ultima
Underworld) and Matthew Toschlog ([System Shock][2]). But unlike those
last two games, Descent is all about blowing things up. Robots, doors,
reactors, other players?you name it. Descent has many elements of
space & flight simulators, though it's not a space/flight simulator;
it's an FPS. In fact, despite the game's combat being done from Pyro-
GX space ships, the game gives you the ability to strafe left & right
(also up & down). This makes Descent a truly unique gaming experience.

Descent was substantially improved in the transition from DOS to Mac
OS. Its screen resolution more than doubled (640x480 vs 320x200), and
its MIDI music became studio-quality CD tracks.

The version uploaded here also includes The Levels of The World add-on
on the disk. This add-on consists of various fan made levels that were
submitted into a contest. Of course, not all fan content made it in
the add-on. For those honorable mentions, check out [this thread at
GOG.com][3].

Details of each download (from ameath's comment, with updates made) :

#1. The Descent installer and accompanying data files, obtained from
the data partition of the CD. It does not include the CD Red Book
audio soundtrack. This download is useful if you just want to obtain
the data files (HOG and PIG) to use with DXX-Rebirth/D2X-XL, but will
use your own audio files for the in-game music. It is also useful for
those who cannot mount the bin/cue images of the full CD to otherwise
obtain the required files.

#2. A Toast/ISO image of the data partition of the MacPlay CD
(Descent.toast) which also contains additional fan-made levels
("Levels of the World"). It also includes the audio soundtrack from
the CD ripped to MP3 format. This would be the quickest way to get up
and running with DXX-Rebirth/D2X-XL while also having access to the
original soundtrack (albeit in a "lossy" format).

#3. An exact BIN/CUE image of the original MacPlay CD release of
Descent. This will be useful if you want to burn a copy of the image
to CD and run the game using classic Mac hardware.

#4. An exact BIN/CUE image of the British pressing of the original
MacPlay CD "Bundled Software" release of Descent. As above, this copy
is suitable for burning a mixed media CD / exact copy of the original
disk and will allow the user to listen to the original CD Audio while
playing. Apparently some emulators (Basilisk II and Sheepshaver?)
support Bin Cue, meaning these files are also ideal if you're using
those emulators to play. Well, Sheepshaver anyway, as Basilisk II
doesn't emulate a suitable host machine for Descent.

#5. The Descent soundtrack, in MP3 format.

#6. Additional fan-made levels, entered in an "Anniversary Edition
Levels Contest".

#7. The data files used for in-game sound effects that come with the
PC release of Descent. This is required when using the Mac version of
the graphics (HOG) file in DXX-Rebirth/D2X-XL, otherwise there will be
no in-game sound effects. This is because the original Macintosh
release had the sound effect contained inside the application as
individual resources (as was common in Mac games of the time). The PIG
file that came with the MacPlay CD appears to be a "dummy" file that
contains no useable sound effects. Fortunately, the PC PIG file is
confirmed to work perfectly alongside the Mac HOG file when using DXX-
Rebirth/D2X-XL.

#8. A saved game editor, which will only work in Classic MacOS.
Probably only useful if you are running Descent on classic Macintosh
hardware.

#9. DXX-Rebirth is needed to run Descent on the modern macOS. Up-to-
date builds for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs are available at Mac
Source Ports (<https://macsourceports.com>). Slightly older builds for
PPC and Intel 32 bit are available at the [project's homepage][4].

#10. Levels of the World was an "official" release of what were
determined to be the best fan-made levels available at the time.
(<https://www.mobygames.com/game/macintosh/descent-levels-of-the-
world>)

#11. A demo of Decent, including only the first couple of levels.

#12. A patched version of Descent designed to support early GPUs
available in the late 1990s, such as 3Dfx Voodoo and ATI RAGE cards.
It will only be useful when used with original classic Mac hardware
with access to those specific cards. If you want to experiment with
enhanced graphics on modern Mac hardware, [D2X-XL][5] is available (at
least on Intel Macs) but it has a very steep learning curve (and also
a Windows-only level editor).

#13. Same as #11 but just the 3Dfx patch by itself.

#14. The sound track from the Demo.

BIN/CUE disc image (600 MB; includes CD audio soundtrack in full
quality)
[Download from Mega.Co.Nz][6]

The source code has been released [here][7].

See also [Descent II][8] and [Descent 3][9].

Compatibility
Architecture: PPC

Minimum Requirements

 * PowerPC 601 processor
 * 8 MB of free RAM (3 MB can be virtual memory)
 * 18 MB of free hard drive space
 * 640x480 display with 256 colors
 * Mac OS 7.1.2

To run this in Mac OS X, you'll need the [DXX][10] or [D2X-XL][5]
engine.
Although Descent can be installed in SheepShaver, it runs much too
fast.

For a version of this game with OpenGL hardware acceleration support,
click [here (Wayback Machine)][11] for Mac OS 9 and [here][12] for Mac
OS X.

  [1]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/quake
  [2]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/system-shock
  [3]: https://www.gog.com/forum/descent_series/bunch_of_descent_12_levels_from_two_interplays_1997_contest/post1
  [4]: https://www.dxx-rebirth.com/
  [5]: https://www.descent2.de/
  [6]: https://mega.co.nz/#!Ep9UXbaR!EZ03_EodEY61bvzpKJsBc2hLxdZUHfTjmRX1XlmOCIA
  [7]: https://github.com/osgcc/descent-mac
  [8]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/descent-ii
  [9]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/descent-3
  [10]: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com
  [11]: https://web.archive.org/web/20131224000354/http://www.descent2.com/mac/
  [12]: http://www.descent2.de/

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