Browser game · Free to play
DESCENT INC.
You've signed a contract with a deep-space mining company. Its survey teams have found a galaxy whose planets are built in layers, stacked like sediment, and none of the company's equipment can scratch them. They did find one thing: refined material from a layer makes tools that can cut the layer below it. So that's the job. Dig out enough to pay your way down, then do it again.
- Plays on
- Phones upright or sideways, tablets and desktop
- Controls
- Tap a rock and the miner walks over and digs it
- Saves
- As you go, and your rigs keep earning while you're away
Layer 1 · Regolith
Dig it out, cash it in, buy a better drill, go down. Then do it all again, a little deeper.
You're done with a layer once you can afford to leave it. There's no timer to wait out, and every swing of the pick moves a number you can watch climb.
- ExtractYou tap rock and your miner digs it out, until the hold is full.
- RefineWalk it back to the refinery and it turns into company credits.
- EquipBuy a drill rated for the layer below. Nothing else will cut it.
- DescendFill the passage bar and the ship takes you to the next site.
- RepeatEach layer is denser, rarer, worth more and less forgiving.
Layer 2 · Ferrite
There are ten sites on the contract, and each planet brings something new.
KESTREL-7 is the training ground. Planet one brings mining rigs you place on cleared ground to earn while you dig elsewhere. Planet two adds mine track and carts, planet three brings heat and the coolant suits to survive it, and the generated planets after that let you hire a crew.
Site ten is TERMINUS. Past that, the planets just keep coming, and so do the numbers.
Between sites the company buys your gear back at half price and sells you more at the next one. Your rank is the only thing that carries over, and it's the thing that makes each new start a little easier.
Layer 3 · Aurum
Small surprises in the rock.
Most of the time you're just digging, which is why it's nice when the rock surprises you: fault lines that bring down a whole row, crystal finds and rich veins, timed survey rushes, hidden caves, relics you can send off for assay, and a daily quota that keeps a day streak going.
“Management would like to remind you the exit is upward.” The company mascot, on arrival at a new layer
Layer 4 · Cinder
Break the right rock and a cave opens up.
Every so often an ore rock gives way to a hidden cave. Step inside and you get a short game with its own rules, played by the light of a lamp that's running down. Whatever you knock loose comes back up with you.
Something for the locker.
Set a record and something new turns up in your locker. There are suits and helmets in a dozen colours, things to wear on top, from a survey flag to a propeller to a crown, and a companion who follows you down the shaft: a cave bat, a survey drone or a robo-pup.
It's all for looks, so your miner ends up looking like yours.
“Your first hire. Their contract is nearly as good as yours.” The company, on hiring your first crew member
Your contract
The ship's warming up whenever you are.
Descent Inc. plays in the browser on your phone or computer, with nothing to install. You'll start on KESTREL-7 while you learn the ropes, and after that it's a question of how far down the contract takes you.
If something feels off, or you just want to tell us how deep you got, write to [email protected].
