Level Spotlight

Ambushed is a small multiplayer level made by !Kingpin. I like it for its structure and texturing, which looks somewhat unusual and very uniform, yet attractive.

Areneon - Neon Arena - by McAlpine is a very amazing sight with its completely monochromatic, neon style texturing. I found it fun to fly through it, and anarchy matches in this level should have a special twist. Descent going Tron.

Barathrum is a neat multiplayer level. While the texturing admittedly is a little bland, the layout definitely shines.

The archive contains both the Descent 1 and Descent 2 versions of this level.

Booyah sure is a spooky level with demon faces grimacing at you from the walls as you are sneaking through the twilight of dimly lit tunnels in search of your opponents ... you can also duke it out in well sized halls hellishly illuminated by glowing lava ... very well pulled off theme in a very well designed multiplayer level.

The name of Cheesecake is pretty misleading. This Descent 1 multiplayer level has a very techy texturing and looks really good. It has some pretty large spaces. You won't find it easy to disappear somewhere in case you're about to lose a fight, so you better be a good dogfighter here.

Gwar's Caress of Steel v1.5 is a larger multiplayer level with an ice theme. It's well done, with a lot of variety in architecture and well executed lighting. It doesn't contain Megas or Shakers, but they wouldn't hurt in here.

Coordination is another beautiful D2X-XL level made by Shadow Hyena. With this level, Shadow Hyena went a long way to polishing it with a couple of nicely applied effects and special features, like the purple lightning coming from some equipment generators in the main hall, or the steam coming from vents in a small chamber you can only reach and level via in-level teleports. As icing on the cake, Coordination has some awesome vistas where you can see a sky bristling with stars. The central dog fighting arena is surrounded by a wide torus circling it. Two tunnels lead to an observation room allowing to look at the outside of the level. Several in-game teleports connect the three otherwise disjoint parts of the level.

Crownpoint is a level made by Jeff250. What makes it stand out in my opinion is the sophisticated, minutely built level structure with its many pillars and beams and the naturally irregular ground on the ledge surrounding the central area, neatly put into scene by the carefully executed lighting. Invisible walls will drive you nuts when chasing your opponents.

D.A.M. by DavesHere is set in a medieval castle environment. Very nice custom textures including animated custom signs and great looking forcefields plus a very playable layout make this level a must see imho.

D-Day '97 is a neat little multiplayer level using the proven recipee of connecting some medium sized dogfight arenas with a good number of tunnels. Custom texturing give it a nice touch.

Dark Moods is a really great Descent 1 multiplayer level. It is both elaborately built and textured, with a lot of nice details and touches. Dark Moods offers a lot of different spaces and routes for all types of fighting. A true sight to behold.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ... Deck The Halls is a christmas level ... a huge house in the snow, a warm fire inside, and a lot of rather explosive presents make for a really original level. The christmas tree fires glass balls at you, and as you are Santa and ride a sledge pulled by deer instead of a pyro, you can also go through the chimney after you have delivered your presents to your opponents.

Defiant Stadium is the Descent 1 incarnation of the classical Stadium level we have all come to know and love - or hate. It is perfectly executed and offers just the same frantic tunnel ratting and wild dog fighting as all the other Stadium levels.

Dissent 2 authored by BuZzeRd is a small and fast multiplayer level offering great gameplay particularly for a low number of players or 1 on 1 battles. It's the kind of flat, boxy level offering only limited verticality, but it plays great - did I say that already? :D ? If you know Neptune, another great level from BuZzeRd, you may have noticed the similarities in design. You won't be able to hide here - hurry up and get those powerups, you'll need them already the next second! This version is minimally different from Dissent 1, but looks much nicer due to the custom texturing.

Draconis is a simple, yet well done level. The idea behind it is to pit you against one bot from every system Descent 2 plays in in kind of a tournament. The main fighting takes places in a huge boss room. Simple texturing and coloring, but with style, I must say: Black rock is a nice contrast to red lava. And then it has some starry sky outside, which always is a plus. A neat, brutal singleplayer level.

Dr. Moreau's Dungeon by Cameron Fultz and Nicholas Arnold features a huge area consisting of a castle with its dungeons, tunnels, towers, chapel and caverns plus a huge, irregular cave where the final boss awaits you. Lots and lots of custom textures. Very well done single player level.

Actually there is a whole saga around Dr. Moreau, spanning several levels, but I found this one standing out from the others.

Excalibur by Hellfire lets you find yourself in a dimly lit environment, where cobweb darkens the openings in the walls and eerie lights cover the rock. Very atmospheric, well done level.

Tricord's Fusion Bunker is a neat midsized level built with the skilled player in mind. Despite its flat boxiness, this is an attractive level with lots of open spaces and short interconnections allowing you to go anywhere you want in a breeze. This level has an interesting weapon loadout: Apart from the standard superlasers plus a few Quads and the obligatory Fusions you will find a find a two Gauss cannons with loads of ammo, Plasma cannons and Spreadfire guns, but very few missiles of the rather powerful kind. Texturing and lighting are well executed.

I took the freedom to fix a few texture alignment and lighting issues in this version of the level.

Get 3D! is a marvel of a level. As the name suggests, it's maker has masterfully crafted complex three dimensional structures with the Descent 2 engine here. Rarely have I seen an architectural masterpiece like this level. It is absolutely impressive: One of the best three Descent levels in terms of architecture I have ever seen.

Hydrolysis Plant is the perfect water level for me. The sight of the water moving almost endlessly downstream in a perfect spiral, finally dropping into a long channel resting on columns of pillars makes me drool. Wide halls impress with their perfect symmetry. The whole level breathes serenity due to its dimensions and the never ending flow of water. Maybe not the greatest multiplayer level (though it might play well with a lot of players), but a sight to behold.

Instagon is a rather small level with a central hall with some pillars in it, surrounded by numerous corridors on several levels, offering a lot of attack and escape routes and place to duke it out openly. Texturing and lighting is very well, and this should be a fun level Neptune style, although probably a tad slower..

Jail Breakin by Whyzer features another prison level. It is even truer to the subject than Jail Break, featuring several prison areas like the cell block, shower room, yard with guard towers, and solitary. Custom textures all over create the proper atmosphere, and there's no lack of, err, guards. :D

Though overplayed, Keg Party by Mesmerist is one heck of a great multiplayer level. It's large enough to support 8 players, and allows for all styles of gameplay. Lots of interconnections and obstacles make for an intense game.

I have included Keg Party 99, a retextured version of the original, in the zip file.

Last Tango is Hellfire's attempt at a shaker level. As it should be for a shaker level, it is rather spacious with a large central hall. The level has a strictly symmetrical layout and features a very unique texturing, reminding of a medieval church. Even some weapons are custom textured.

In its purist simplicity, geometric rigor and intense coloring, Sepia's Marzipan is one of the most stunning masterpieces of Descent 2 level design I have ever seen. The entire mission oozes artistic inspiration, zen-like skill and the pursuit of utmost perfection. The author has reduced structures and textures to the essence of shape and color in a Descent level. Each accent of decoration has been placed meticulously to subtly enhance the sense of immersion the level's areas create for the viewer. There are only three other level authors I know of who have been working on a comparable level of Descent level building mastery: Darkhorse, Sirius and Kruel, particularly the latter being able to giving life and substance to a level with the apparently most simple means of geometry and texture.

Marzipan doesn't just offer astounding vistas, it also is a challenging multiplayer mission with carefully placed robots in almost claustrophobic locations and a couple of puzzles to solve in order to allow the player to proceed through the level. This level is pure pleasure from every perspective you look at it.

Memento Mori was built by Karash. It looks like a huge, ancient tomb. Texturing and lighting fit the theme extremely well, and the dimensions are monumental without being out of proportion.

Miranda CC Incident by SolarFusion is a rare and precious jewel: It is an extremely well crafted Descent 1 singleplayer mission! I found it very Descent 1-ish in every respect, be it texturing, structure or robot placement. Although symmetrical, Miranda CC Incident has such elaborate structure that it can be completely confusing. It is split into several areas, each with its own, distinct texturing. Everything fits very well together though, and the choice of color schemes is executed very skill- and tastefully. This is a great singleplayer mission with good difficulty and a pleasure to play and view.

Neptune by BuZzeRd is a true classic; rightfully as it is an awesome multiplayer level. It's a pretty small one story level, containing two larger rooms for dogfighting and a good few tunnels. Fast gameplay full of surprises guaranteed.

Padlock is a stadium type level: A big central arena, with tunnels and a smaller hall at the periphery. It has a nice structure with hexagonal shapes and inclined ramps. The texturing makes you feel in a medieval castle or dungeon. Good connectivity and layout should make this a fun level to play.

Pray pits the battle in kind of an eerie, deserted temple! Good structure and very nice custom texturing make this level stand out. It's a bit large though, so rather suited for 6 to 8 players.

PTMC Academy is the work of Andrew Morse who goes by the nickname of Valiant. It's a huge level with a lot of different areas and bots to fight, and some truly nice architectural ideas.

GRFMSTR's Pyroball is an attempt at a baseball court. It comes complete with an outside area. It is using almost exclusively custom textures. Very well done and unusual.

Serpentine Castle is a very 'Kruelesque' level, and the author states in his readme file that that is what he intended. Though not as refined and polished as Kruel's levels, it is pretty impressive. For multiplayer, its layout might be too linear, but its definitely worth a look.

Shaker Henge is one of the many levels Gengi has produced. Gengi has his Descent roots right with Parallax themselves, where he was a level designer in the days of Descent and contributed levels to the original Descent 1 'First Strike' campaign. Shaker Henge is a really cool idea and is what the name suggests: It resembles Stone Henge with its huge monoliths forming a huge circle on the battleground in the center of which Gengi has built his own private temple for appropriate Earth Shaker worship. The level is very open and there is no place to hide from an opponent, and the monoliths are a cover of dubious value from an Earth Shaker's explosion blast ...

The archive contains Gengi's original level and an XL variant with a huge, starry skydome perfectly fitting to it.

Space CTF is the stunning execution of the idea to put Descent in open space and let players battle among the stars and amidst of huge space ships. The level is humongous, so flying through it feels like slow motion, but to speed things up a bit there are two in-level teleporters close to each spaceship bringing the players to a shield and energy recharge station near the other (enemy) spaceship. The idea is baffling and the result is impressive. I have converted the level to XL format and added a few XL features to make it look and work well in D2X-XL.

Sweet Revenge by Hellfire is a spacious level. It's almost completely custom textured, using textures from Quake and Unreal, giving it a gloomy, uncanny appearance. Some transparent, impenetrable walls are nicely used to separate a few areas of the level from each other. Find a secret passage to get some extra goodies.

Thunderdome is a multiplayer level made by (LL)Dark, a German level designer. It's a stadium type level with a huge open area in the middle. I found both structure and texturing outstandingly well done, featuring a lot of detail and smooth curves with an acceptable cube count. Nice custom textures and good connectivity make for a great multiplayer level also supporting flag and hoard games.

Total Insanity 1 features a gray and red rock theme. It is composed of several parts that seem to be somehow stuck together and that range from an area with narrow tunnels to wide open halls. Connectivity is good, and even though the level parts seem to have a distinct separation from each other there are enough routes and hideouts available.

Total Insanity 3 is a composition of monochromous gray tones and striking red textures, which looks very good. This level is a tad larger than the previous one and offers more halls and caves. Verticality is still very local, bound to these halls. Again, this level shines with very strong contrasts due to the lighting.

Total Insanity 5 is almost completely red, accented only by very bright light sources, and is pure verticality: You will have a lot of maneuvering between different levels of this mission.

As the name already suggests, Marc 'LordDeath' Hanson's Vertiginious (D2) is a very vertically oriented level with lots of wide shafts leading up and down and connecting the various parts of the level. Very atmospheric texturing with just the standard D2 textures, well done lighting and a good structure with the right mix of halls and tunnels and great connectivity make this level a must have.

Yar's Revenge (D2) is a medium sized multiplayer level with a strong emphasis on verticality and a somewhat complicated structure - fortunately some tunnels are deadends where you can just collect some valuable powerup. Well done architecture, custom texturing and lighting by Marc 'LordDeath' Hanson (maybe you have already noticed some similarities to Vertiginious).