SCP: Descent

About

"SCP: Descent" is a first-person puzzle horror game where players descend an eternal stairwell, using a torch for light and pieces of chalk to save their progress. The game features stealth mechanics to avoid monsters attracted to the light, with limited saving opportunities, increasing the tension. The goal is to uncover the stairwell's mystery and find an exit, providing approximately 60-90 minutes of gameplay.

Genres & Tags

Indie

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 90 reviews

graphics4 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features solid jump scares and a creepy atmosphere that enhances the horror experience.
Puzzles are challenging and provide a good level of engagement, with optional hints available to assist players.
The graphics and audio quality are impressive, contributing to an immersive gameplay experience.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including game-breaking issues that can hinder progress and require restarts.
Many players found the game to be too short for its price, with a shallow story and underwhelming ending.
The enemy AI is poorly designed, often resulting in frustrating encounters that detract from the overall experience.

story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
38%
38%
The game's story is criticized for being shallow and vague, with many players feeling that it lacks depth and fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion. While some appreciated the Lovecraftian elements and found certain characters intriguing, the overall narrative is seen as underwhelming and filled with unresolved questions.
- “I really appreciated the Lovecraftian component; the little bits of story were intriguing, and the professor was a good character.”
- “Game still has a decent amount of bugs, story was pretty shallow and the ending was very underwhelming.”
- “I would not recommend playing this game and I should have done my research or played the demo before jumping into this insanely vague game... everything is vague... to the storyline... puzzles... and father.”
- “Story is all buildup and no delivery.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The graphics in the game are consistently praised for their spectacular quality and high level of detail, particularly in the design of monsters. Players also appreciate the art style and overall performance, noting that the visuals significantly enhance the immersive experience, although some feel the lore could use improvement.
- “The graphics are spectacular; the monsters are highly detailed and have surpassed far beyond my expectations. The voice acting is very realistic, but to those who are easily frightened, 'beware' this game is not for the weak.”
- “Besides the graphics looking great, the audio and sound are top notch.”
- “The SCPs, the graphics, art style, performance, and puzzles are all impressive.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised as its standout feature, creating a compelling and creepy environment that enhances the overall experience. Despite some technical issues, many reviewers feel that the atmospheric elements make the game worth exploring, particularly for fans of indie horror puzzle games.
- “The atmosphere is the best part about it and makes it worth it.”
- “Given all its flaws, the creepy atmosphere saves it and makes it worth checking out if you want a cool little indie horror puzzle game.”
- “I would give this a positive review for the atmosphere and general gameplay, but the bugs are just too much.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Overall, the gameplay is praised for its atmosphere and engaging elements; however, significant bugs, particularly in puzzle progression, detract from the experience and can lead to frustrating gameplay interruptions.
- “For some reason at the maze puzzle, I was unable to progress past it, which led to an hour of wasted gameplay sadly.”
- “I would give this a positive review for the atmosphere and general gameplay, but the bugs are just too much.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is notably poor, with multiple glitches reported that significantly hinder gameplay, including one game-breaking issue. Users have experienced the need to restart the game due to these technical problems, indicating a lack of quality control.
- “Quite short and could use some quality control as there were a few glitches that required me to restart the game in order to continue.”
- “Thirteen minutes in, five glitches that hindered the game notably and one that was game-breaking.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The optimization of the game has received mixed feedback, with users praising the graphics, art style, and overall performance, while expressing uncertainty about the quality of the voice acting—specifically whether it was AI-generated or performed by a real actor. The AI performance was noted as surprisingly good, though the Irish accent could use improvement.
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspects of the game frustrating and tedious, particularly in sections involving unscripted monster encounters and the repetitive task of searching for parts to fix an elevator.
- “The sections with monsters that aren't scripted fail to be more than frustrating, and the part where you have to look for parts to fix an elevator is incredibly tedious.”