Difference between revisions of "The Descent"
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Revision as of 16:25, 20 August 2010
Unusually, The Descent has original music and often rather amusing sound effects — and nearly all the visual elements, from the character to the background tiles, are ripped out of the demo games that came in the Game-Maker box. It’s really strange. I guess David Barras didn’t consider himself much of an artist.
Of course what matters is not the materials you have; it’s how you use them. And David Barras was very clever here. The game is droll and odd and a bit subversive. You’re a tall guy wandering through a dungeon, collecting treasure and shooting monsters — mostly floating eyeballs — with a very noisy handgun. The level design is often deceptive, and includes a few forced checkpoints so that you don’t have to worry so much about saving. There are odd touches like paintings that may be treasures, or that may turn into gaping mouths that bite you as you walk past. And then there’s the spellbook.
I’m not sure why it’s there, though its presence — as does the presence of many things in this game — feels ironic in a way that I don’t quite understand. It’s the only item in the game that you can pick up. When you do pick it up, you gain the ability to cast a spell. When you cast a spell, your character slowly intones his incantation. With Barras’ slight southern drawl, it comes out like “ALAIYAT SYET ZIT-SIT”. Of course if you reverse the wave file, you’ll find what he meant to say was “LLEPS A SI SIHT”.
