Halloween Blackwoods - Dunkelschwamm

 

    Halloween blackwoods is one of a few maps made by a Chinese mapper known as GreenTea MiaoMiaoLe. Due to language and regional barriers that's really all I know of the mapper. This individual has made no less than four Halloween maps along with two non-Halloween but still horror-themed maps. This particular one is unfinished and it shows.

SCMapDB page 

Author: GreenTea MiaoMiaoLe

Date of final release: 2013

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Halloween Blackwoods

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | November 27, 2021 | 1548 characters

    I get the impression that this is a map that was rushed out the door in time for Halloween. I get the appeal of making an enemy an invisible, borderline-unkillable monster that you just have to maneuver around is. Ever since the original Alone in the Dark I think people had an understanding that frustrating situations where power is stripped from you are scary, and thus make for interesting horror games. An invisible enemy takes away the incredible power which our sense of sight gives us, and making the enemy incredibly hearty even against the high-tech firepower bestowed upon the power gives a sense of facing an unstoppable force. These are ingredients for horror, but together a recipe for good horror gameplay they do not make. An invisible enemy in horror gameplay often gives a tell through the environment, because a monster without a PRESENCE cannot be intimidating. Without that, the map exists as a fairly well brushed and textured scavenger hunt in the dark while invisible hands slap the player upside the head at random.

    If you have a Halloween themed server running, the atmosphere exists in a place where this map could earn it a place near the bottom of the maplist.

Pros:

• Good brushwork
• There's almost a really decent spooky atmosphere

Cons:

• The whole map is invisible enemies in the dark.

Score: 4 / 10