It seems we’re on a streak of old-but-gold maps, and today in the spotlight is “Hall of Mirrors”from kilozombie’s“Cassettes” collection – a story-heavy campaign that focuses on unique level design and psychological topics delving deep into Ibzan’s consciousness. Oh, and there's Timur as well.
Fittingly enough for the level’s name, the first section is perfectly symmetrical, aside from the enemies being warped to different heights, which will make hitting the heads more difficult. The stage itself is pretty huge, with lots of small rooms, stairwells and interconnected vents that allow for quick navigation. The guns on the shelves are a neat touch, specifically because they’re pretty tricky to get.
After clearing the warped bar, you can explore a bit to find a familiar face, or acquire an Auto Grenade Launcher if you’re agile enough. When you’re done, just jump down the basement pit as prompted.
Once you land you’ll find that the fall has stretched you out this time, which will make aiming rather confusing. Tip: trust nothing but the reticle. At least everything else is back to normal now. This is where kilozombie gets the chance to flex his environment creation skills – floating cubes and snow are all well and good for otherworldly areas, but this area goes above and beyond with its scattered rooms, tears in the background, and distorted atmosphere.
Once you rid the place of enemies undead, you’ll move to the story segment of the level by picking a safe and obtaining a cassette, a fragment of Ibzan’s shattered and distorted memory. We’re not gonna delve deep into the story here, though, so instead I’d like to bring your attention to this ridiculously large God of Life.Maybe this whole situation is just an obscure Evangelion reference.
All in all, it’s a memorable level, with added difficulty in figuring out just where to shoot the warped enemies, although it's somewhat short compared to some of the other stages in the collection. However, they’re designed just right to make the entire playthrough enjoyable.
Continuing our nostalgic quest through old-but-gold maps, today we’re covering “Synthesis of the Soul” by Tahazzar! Not to be confused with its remake, “Synthesize the Soul”, which we'll touch upon later.
Tazz describes it as the first map he’s publicly released, and it’s an unbelievably strong start. Although it doesn’t feature any fancy scripting or gimmicks, it already shows Tazz’s trademark love for hard and enormous levels.
Here, you’re tasked with wiping out the patrons of a club, with a long bar area at the top, and various seating areas on the way up. Of course, any self-respecting bar of this size must have four bartenders, at least. Three are just for show, but the fourth is so good at his job that he can pour drinks while upside down. Now that’s talent.
Of course, where there’s bartenders there’s phylacteries, scattered all around, with some being closer to their owners and others not so much. As such, the level quickly turns into a fun little adventure, mainly consisting of fighting your way to the bottles with what little weaponry you have at your disposal. Unlock vents, shoot bartenders to tell where their bottles are, and scavenge for ammo – you’ll need plenty for this job.
Now, if you’re having trouble with this level, whether due to its difficulty or its performance issues, that’s where “Synthesize the Soul” comes in. It’s a remake of the level intended to address the problems of the original, with a reduced enemy count and map size, meaning it’s much less taxing on both your skills as a player and on your PC.
The original I personally find more enjoyable, but the remake is more focused and performs better. If you want a challenge, play the original version, while if you just want a more laidback taste of Tazz’s distinct mapmaking style, go for the remake.
If you’ve grown to like levels with branching narratives and paths, then today’s your lucky day, because this week we’re highlighting the final level in SockPuppet’s “Residue” collection – “No Strings Attached”! A teeth-clenching map that rewards those who go off the beaten path and look for secrets in more ways than one. You may think that reviewing the finale of a series out of nowhere is a bit odd, but we’ve actually covered a couple of maps from this series in the past, if you want to check those out.
Maps in the Residue series are heavily connected to one another, and this one’s no exception. Right off the bat, you’re presented with two paths depending on your actions in One Trick Puppet. Of course, you’re also free to just try every possible outcome, like we did.
Depending on the path, the difficulty will vary greatly – you’ll either get a series of relatively difficult stages or some completely unreasonable stuff, with the latter earning this map the reputation of being one of the worst cases of enemy spam.
With that said, the levels are never impossible – Sock leaves plenty of ammunition and weaponry to be found, either lying on the ground or dropped from specific enemies. There are often plenty of vents that can get you almost anywhere, letting you flank or retreat as necessary.
Not only that, but the harder parts of the level also prove to be the most interesting or visually appealing areas – detailed nightclubs,invisible traps guarding a Lich Arm (thankfully with graffiti to show their positions) or even a hideout of zombie looters which also has a nice window that you can smash on your way through.
Being a SockPuppet map, secrets and mysteries are a given, but in this one he goes above and beyond, ranging from small easter eggs to fully fleshed-out endings full of oddities and interesting scenarios. The ways of getting them are rather unique too, as you aren’t just running off the sides of stages looking for hidden cutscenes. Be sure to take some time to think about where or what these secrets could be.
…alright, there’s, like, one joke-ish ending.
All in all, it’s a fine exhibit from the golden age of DEADBOLT mapping that’s well worth your time, even if the difficulty of these maps can get a little over the top occasionally.
Oh, and if you’re ever feeling like flexing your level design muscles on a smaller scale…
A member of our community, LittleHorn, is making a campaign of his own, and one of the cooler features is having a “room contest” thing, where you get to… well, design a room! Contests, even. So, if you feel like you’re up for the task, join here.
The contest shown here is over, we're just showing it as an example of what to expect:
And while we’re at it, don’t forget that we (the DEADBOLT community) have our own official Discord! The invite URL can be found in the Discussions section, but we'll link it here as well.
Map of the Week #55
Hey everyone!
Today we’re making up for the delay with a huge submission – “Downtown”by Classic_Cheese18! It’s a long set of levels, focused on getting the Reaper into all sorts of situations whilst cleansing the undead.
Right from the start, we’re introduced to a mechanic that we’re honestly surprised nobody’s really used until now – a level select screen! It’s very useful for large, multistage maps as you won’t need to repeat hard gameplay segments you’ve already completed just because you took a break. Neat!
And you should prepare yourself for hard gameplay segments, because boy there’s plenty of them.
As the title suggests, you’ll be making your way through interconnected areas that ramp up in difficulty as you progress, like huge warehouses, mini-skyscrapers and even a train section! Each of the eight levels is rightly packed with enemies and opportunities for taking them out, which is never an impossible task even with a standard revolver.
The maps in this level are also comparatively larger than Cheese’s previous levels, but the quantity doesn’t mean the quality suffers, as all the maps are super pretty, and they feel very polished and fun to play, with enough enemy variety to keep you on your toes. Yes, this includes Technicians, so watch your step.
All in all, these eight maps are sure to test and entertain you.
Continuing our quest to document all the forgotten relics of the workshop, today we’re highlighting “Spooky Night”by john_fungus1!
This time we’re to infiltrate a set of buildings overrun by the Dredged, and the keyword here really is “infiltrate” above all else – when wielding nothing but the Revolver, the surplus of Technicians and Sergeants will quickly stop you in your tracks if you’re not careful.
Thanks to the combination of vents spread throughout the level, the plethora of enemies you’re going to face, and the provided weaponry (especially once you steal a Sergeant’s sledgehammer), this rather small level quickly turns into a fun and memorable experience as you try to find ways around your limited pool of ammo (again, the sledge is the way to go here).
There’s also the scaffolding, which kind of reminds me of a crane, which means this is automatic MotW material. It’s good to see that the author hasn’t forgotten the most important part of any workshop map.
Since activity’s died down a little on the mapmaking front, we’ve decided to review a few older levels, and today in the spotlight is “It Gets Worse”by SockPuppet, who is going to teach you the art of dodging in an intense trial by fire.
Be wary that this one is considerably harder than the maps we usually review.
The premise of the level is simple enough – for every enemy that you kill, an extra sniper starts firing at you. Darkness is your best friend here, as stepping into the light will result in a chaotic and hilarious dance as you attempt to evade a whole squad of snipers gunning for you.
The experience isn’t flawless, of course. For one, ammo management is as crucial as ever, especially if you start with the revolver, and keeping a cool head and a steady aim is difficult when you need to sidestep a bullet with each passing moment. But hey, a good challenge is exactly what drives the most proficient of reapers.
This week we’re covering “Directional Input”by SockPuppet, a part of his “Prisons & Lands” series that aims to explore the boundaries of the editor. It’s a bit of an older map, but it’s no worse off in terms of quality.
Puppet was one of the first, if not the first, to make use of branching narratives as a major element of a level, and this is one of the shining examples of the potential of the mechanic. It doesn’t seem too complex at first, with only two endings (both labelled as “bad”) that both consist of playing a level and a slightly altered version of it.
That is, until…
After finding an alternate path, you’re left to explore all that the map has to offer. Follow clues given in bad endings, keep your objective in mind, experiment, and uncover all that the level has to offer.
So last week’s DNA may have been a pretty major release, but that’s no reason to laze around, so we’re back to our regular schedule, with “Baskerville”by Tahazzar, whose name should be very familiar to you at this point.
And before you ask, yes, hounds are definitely present in this level.
“Baskerville” is somewhat reminiscent of one of Tahazzar’s previously highlighted maps, “Ghost Recon”, as it follows a similar structure of playing around enemies rather than focusing on combat. This one is a lot more fun, though, as it has plenty of visual clues to enemy locations, an intuitive layout, and requires you to outsmart your foes rather than simply try to avoid them.
This time you’re up against invisible read: super tiny hellhounds, known here as poltergeists. Because of their small incorporeal nature, you won’t be able to shoot or melee them. Your only tools for getting past them are your noisy attention-grabbing revolver, conveniently easy-to-shoot-out lights and even more conveniently placed doors, which they can’t open.
Overall, it’s a fun puzzle level with interesting mechanics.
It’s not every day a custom map introduces a new enemy type, after all!
…and beware of the poltergeists’ more unusual behavior.
Map of the Week #50 - The Greatestest Map Ever
Hey everyone!
The time has come, and after all the cryptic teasing we finally present you… Deadbolt is not Available in Your Country! Or DNA, if you’d prefer. A one-man project by Alex Pine more than 9 months into the making, the magnum opus of our community, featuring wacky pop-culture references, community in-jokes and, rest assured, the spiciest of memes.
With 30+ handcrafted endings to explore, you’re gonna find yourselves in all sorts of wacky situations, meeting different characters and getting into ridiculous levels of meta narrative, as well as maybe (just maybe) dying a lot. Though we believe that every single person who reads these is a master at DEADBOLT and needs not fret about anything.
It starts off fairly benign, with the player tasked to play Alex's latest level and review it. But as you give feedback, more and more choices unfold, until it starts getting out of hand and suddenly you're doing GoL-knows-what.
Making friends with an army of household appliances? Solving the trolley problem? Ripping off a popular pixel indie game with moral choices in pursuit of the perfect level? Freezing to death in deep space? Blasting Hopoo Games through the window of a high-rise building? All that and more.
With the plethora of possibilities (easter eggs notwithstanding, and oh boy there's plenty of them) you can expect practically anything from DNA - it's up to you to experiment and uncover all of its hidden secrets.
Even we haven't come close to finding everything at the time of writing, so we urge our readers to combine their powers and inspect every nook and cranny of this behemoth of a level - with a whopping amount of almost 150 .nc files in total, the combined file size of the level is more than 30MB! For reference, the combined filesize of Deadbolt’s entire campaign, including the hard mode variations, is just over 12MB. If that seems too much, feel free to join the DNA Discord server, where people will share the hidden details they’ve discovered.
It’s also something of a love letter to the workshop scene and even parts of the community outside of that. Nerds like us would recognize jabs at the edgy storylines,narratives with branching paths and we definitely can’t forget memes like, well, hopoo's lifelong desire to destroy any and all memes, or the forever-haunting experience of feeling like a villain in this game. While some of these could be very minor, it shows the love and care that were put into creating this, and, alongside laughing and sitting with the widest grin the entire time, we could feel genuine heartfelt emotions while going through this exotic experience.
It feels like we’re running out of things to say, so let’s just do a quick summary.
This map is one heck of a complex project, providing a pretty rich experience, although with drawbacks like having to go through stuff all over again to see alternate routes, but the process is fairly short. It also had brilliant comedic moments that had us laughing at almost every dialogue scene, whether it be simple wit, or references to the stuff that the limited circle of us remembers.
We greatly anticipated this project and thoroughly enjoyed it while testing and writing this here MotW for it, and we’re sincerely hoping that you’ll have as much fun with it as we did.
also hopoo pls play it lol
And that concludes the 50th installment of Map of the Week! One heck of an anniversary for sure. It’s kinda baffling to realize that we’ve reached this number over the course of, like, a year and a half now? And while there are always occasional ups and downs, we are happy to have been at your service all this time and will continue to, as we aren’t burnt out just yet.
Today in the spotlight is "Security Shamblers" by Roadman 1 (pvpbendy), which combin̵̸̷̕es the titular zombies with one of the most feared, infamous, and challenging enemies in the game - zombie cameras!
When combined, t̡hey pose a serious threat - the hanging heads now act as shambler heads, meaning they can seeandshoot you as well as screaming to alert the entire level if you get too close. If that's not enough, they've also got grenades attached to thei҉̶͘r heads, so don't shoot them from too close if you don't want to be caught in the blast! Thankfully, put toget̛͢͞͏̸her with a generously placed 10mm, killing the shamblers results in plenty̵͝͏̷͡ of ammo being dropped, more than enough to deal with every enemy in the level.
While fun and challenging, one issue I have with this level are the abundance of indestructible lights. While it's understandable that they're there to make the shamblers more deadly - their vision wouldn't extend far past the standard zombie cam vision cone otherwise - but I still wish the solution wasn't to axe shooting out lights entirely.
Despite that, the map's still a great deal of fun. While the grenades may be traps meant for you, you can still use them against your enemies, made easier by the 10mm Pistol provided right at the start of the stage. In the end, Security Shamblers is a pretty decent map with a cool concept from a newcoming mapmaker that’s a lot of fun. I͠ ͝c͟a͠n't ͏wái̧t to s͝eé ͟mor̷e f̧̀͝r̶̛͞o͢҉m̷̀͘ ͜͏t͠h͠e̷̴m̕ ̛̕͟t͢he̵͏ḿ̨͜ t̴҉̷̕h̕e̵̵̛͢m̛͜͞҉͜ ̛ţ̛́h̵́͡҉̢é̶̀͟͏m̨͏̨ ̢̀t̴̢͘͘h̵͜͞͡͡ȩ̷̸ḿ̸̧̀҉ D̵̶̢͞N̷̶̛͠͡A͞҉ ̸͢͡D̡̢N̴͟A̸̡̨̨͟ ҉͢҉̷D͜҉̕͠Ǹ̶͢҉A̴̕̕ ̶͘͝͏҉Ḑ̷͜͝͞Ǹ̴̛̀͞AA̵̵̧Á̴̕͢A̸҉̴́À̷̡͢A̵̧͡Á̴̧Ą҉̢A͏̸̡̛Ą́͟A͜
