Game Mechanics

Known Game Mechanics
While the game has not been released yet, there are many game mechanics confirmed to be in the game.

Flying
Flight mechanics in Descent: Underground will be reminiscent of the Descent series, where fighting occurs in tunnels and small to medium sized rooms, rather than in large rooms or in outer space. The game is said to be less of a hardcore flight sim, leaning more towards an arcade style flyer. Descent: Underground aims to be control-agnostic, so that any control (or combination of controls) will work with the game, such as keyboard, mouse, flight sticks, game controllers, HOTAS, etc.

They have a way to combat vertigo while flying that sounds very much like auto leveling.

Virtual Reality
VR support will be included, with support being included for the VR types Unreal Engine 4 supports.

Mining
Much of both the lore and the game play in Descent: Underground will revolve around boring for resources. It will work like voxel mining. There will also be the possibility to mine underwater or in lava, although your ship will not be able to stand mining in lava for extensive periods of time.

In addition to lava, there are other dangers in mining, such as gas pockets, methane, and more. Some will be dangerous, some will contain valuables, and some will open up secret areas.

Tunneling
In addition to boring for resources, you can also bore tunnels, which may reveal special resources or powerups. Tunnels could also be used to bore into the enemy base. It will also be possible to set traps in these tunnels, or for enemies to trap or crush ships in the bored tunnels.

Radar
There may be a limited form of radar in a game, where scout ships can give positions of resources, or maybe fuzzy positions of enemy ships.

Environmental Hazards
In addition to tunneling, there will also be destructible terrain, such as stalactites, that you can use to find powerups or pals, or to damage other ships with.

Probes
There will be a variety of destroyable probes in the game, which are small NPC ships that a player can control. These can perform tasks such as explore, scout, assist in fight, or even bore tunnels.

Gravity
Like Descent 1 and Descent 2, Descent: Underground will ship with no gravity. It is possible that in future phases of the game that gravity will be introduced. A passing mention of "gravity maps" has been made, but no details given.

Cloaking
Stealth mechanics are being explored. It is expected they will be either time-limited like the traditional Descent cloak powerup, or will require you to consume mined ore that would otherwise be used to return to the harvester for rewards later.

Communication
Players will be able to communicate via chat in-game. There will also be audio taunts, similar to Descent 3. It is unclear as to whether they will be custom taunts, or taunts approved by Descendent Studios.