The third instalment in the series, Descent³, was released in 1999. It used an entirely new game engine based on polygonal meshes instead of Descent's cube-based engine it also touted support for outdoor areas, significantly improved AI and built-in support for Internet multi-player games.
The Descent series has always been a rather bloodless affair, both literally and figuratively. The combination of its stylized mine-shaft setting and an assortment of enemies composed solely of laser-spitting geometric shapes has given it a distinctly abstract feel - chess played on a tilt-a-whirl. Outrage has created a new engine, called Fusion, for Descent 3. While requiring a 3D accelerator, it allows the game, for the first time, to render outdoor terrain and includes lots of modern extras such as colored lighting and extremely realistic smoke and flame effects.

The new graphics are quite beautiful, and while remaining generally consistent with the sterile look of its predecessors, they add a welcome organic character to Descent 3's environments. The first time you fly your ship out of a tunnel into broad daylight and bank around to finally see the outside of the structure in which all Descent players have been entombed, you cannot help but be exhilarated.