Ok, so I have been looking at both Doom and Descent. From what people have told me and what I've read, they possess nearly identical gameplay with the only major difference being one is science fiction and one is high fantasy. Is this true? Also, what rules are different between the two? Has anybody played both? Which is better? Thanks.

They're both from the same designer, and they share many similarities indeed. I have both, didn't actually play Descent yet (as I just got it for Christmas and am still painting those Doom minis):

• Both use a modular board - Doom's is built on the fly, Descent has the layout set out from the start (for time reasons I guess) - with puzzle-like pieces
• Both use custom, very awesome, dice for damage and range, where one roll of different colors determines the outcome of an attack and different combinations of dice are used to represent different weapon/attack profiles (long-range and weak, or long-range and strong, or short-range and strong, that kind of thing)
• Both have very well-sculpted miniatures that go with them and cry out "paint me, paint me!"
• Both use similar rules for movement and attacks
• Both have several hero players (1-3 for Doom, 1-4 for Descent) fight one "evil" player
• Both use cards for the invader player / overlord, that allow actions against the heroes
• Both use a spawning system that adds monsters in addition to the ones in the scenarios

Descent came after Doom, so some of the rules are a bit more refined. Also, Doom apparently didn't do all too well (which I don't understand, it's great) and thus there won't be any further expansions beyond the first it seems, while Descent still gets expansions every so often.

There are a few differences between the two as well though:

• Descent has more of a role playing focus than Doom - while Doom has generic marines fighting the evil monsters that just have some few unique skills, Descent has heroes with different amounts of wounds, movement points, and focus on melee or ranged/stealth or magic attacks. Campaign play in Doom is slightly more involved out of the box (although Descent already uses character levels there), Descent has an expansion (Road to Legends) particularly for campaigns
• Doom is harder on the heroes - the invaders win regularly, while in Descent, usually the heroes have a rather easy time (although this can partially be attributed to the rather tough campaign that comes with Doom)
• Doom uses ammo, which makes the weapons awfully prone to not work in critical situations (because you just used your last ammo token) - making the atmosphere pretty intense and transporting the horror from the shooter to the board game
• The Doom rules are slightly more compact
• Scaling works differently - Doom has more or less monsters, Descent has stronger or weaker ones, for different numbers of players

Overall, the two games really are pretty similar, the main difference is the theme. Theme however also includes tone, doomed SciFi marines vs. heroic High Fantasy heroes.

Myself, I bought Doom first, mainly for budget reasons, but got Descent as well now partially because I realized that they really are both similar enough to conclude that if you like one, you'll like the other, and different enough to make having both very worthwhile.

Well, they both have dice... (:

Personally, I think the difference is atmosphere. Doom is a tense desperation to escape, while Descent is a fight between good and evil. Doom marines fear for their lives while Descent heroes cinematically cut through minions like butter. As a Doom Invader, I can gleefully set monsters against the poor marines, but as a Descent Overlord, I have to find every single way I can to stop these heroes before they get their goodies from the treasure chest!

I bought doom because i am a major fan of the theme of the Computer games (especially doom 3).

For me it came down to theme.

So i bought both!

I own and have played both.

I got Doom when it was first published mainly for the Sci-Fi theme (which encouraged my partner to play) but also because I wanted a modern hack and slash type boardgame like the old Space Crusade and Hero Quest games now long out of print by Milton Bradley. It fit the bill perfectly and really does manage to convey the feeling you get when you play the first person shooter on the computer - monsters are constantly spawning and you are racing to get out or reach a certain objective. I like the fact that the person playing the monsters (the invader) is actively competing against the marine players and either side can win. If you are into Sci-Fi this is definately the way to go. The only down side is it looks like there will be no more expansions (there is one already published which is also good value and a worthy addition).

When Descent was released later I was very excited because I could see how well the Doom rules would work in a fantasy setting and fantasy is my personal favourite. I have the basic game and the first expansion (well of darkness). However, whilst I love it, it does lend itself more to being role-played rather than being a straightforward hack and slash and each game can take a significant amount of time. It seems the person playing the monsters (the overlord) is more of a dungeon master than actively competing with the heroes - although this will depend a lot on how you choose to play it. The good thing is that it has a lot of expansions already and there are probably more on the way, with a lot of fan support. So if you get into it it will last you a long time.

On balance for me I think both are great but I play Doom far more often.

I am sure you will have a blast what ever game you choose