Descent 3 - Story

Story

The storyline of Descent 3 is shown through several cutscenes throughout the game, as well as in in-game mission briefings and debriefings.

Previously in Descent II, Material Defender 1032 had narrowly escaped the destruction of an alien planetoid he was investigating on orders of the megacorporation Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC). He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but without warning, a malfunction occurred with the prototype warp drive in the ship he was flying.

The opening cutscene to the game shows the Material Defender's ship drifting into the Sun. At the very last moment, just as his ship begins to burn up due to excess heat, a salvage vessel saves the ship. The Material Defender is extracted from his ship, and it is disposed of in the sun.

As the Material Defender recovers, he learns that he was rescued by the Red Acropolis Research Team. The director of the research team tells him of strange things that were happening in the PTMC, as well as the fact that one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot. What made the Red Acropolis suspicious of the PTMC was when they denied that they had ever employed him, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large anti-terrorist and police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action; they dared not mess with the PTMC.

The director also tells the Material Defender that while he was clearing the PTMC's mines of a computer virus, the PTMC were actually testing and modifying it. According to her, the virus was extremely advanced nanotechnology. She wants to stop the virus, and she wants the Material Defender for the job. After some persuasion and offers from her, he gives in. At this point, he is shown an animation that revealed that the PTMC had deliberately tried to kill him by disabling the warp drive on his ship.

At the end, the Material Defender goes in person and blasts his way into the office of S. Dravis. Although Dravis is almost cornered, the Material Defender is then grabbed by one of Dravis' protection robots. Before that robot can kill the Material Defender, the Guide-Bot shows up and distracts the guard bot with its flares. The guard bot fires back and damages the guide-bot, but this enables the Material Defender to escape and destroy the guard bot with his pistol. Turning back, the Material Defender sees that Dravis has been mortally wounded by the guide bot's flares while the guide bot recovers. The Material Defender then shuts off the virus, which disables all of the PTMC's robots. The CED is then able to destroy the Shiva Space Station, the PTMC's headquarters that orbit earth, while the Material Defender returns to Earth.