Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      Get angry! Wrath is a very simple level, in fact the included screenshot shows about half the level. Also the map description says the vortigaunts are endless but after about ten they stopped spawning in. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Wrath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 1880 characters     Wrath is a map by Robootto which contains a vortigaunt spawner, a chamber with four miniguns, and four vertical shafts filled with colored lights which players will fall through consecutively via a teleport trap if they attempt to use one of the few interactable parts of the map. The map is plainly textured, but features a look that leaves quite an impression.      Indeed, I wanted to play and review this map tonight because of how it caught my eye that RNG's map Disintegration of Time contains a chamber which so resembles this map. If you go to Disin...

      Get angry! Wrath is a very simple level, in fact the included screenshot shows about half the level. Also the map description says the vortigaunts are endless but after about ten they stopped spawning in. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Wrath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2023 | 1734 characters     This is a very short map with no game end. Players spawn in a red room with a vortigaunt spawner. It does hurt players the moment they spawn and it does respawn vortigaunts but there is a limit, probably ten or around there. So after we killed all the vortigaunts we tried in vain to break into the window of the room in the middle of the room. I decided to head through what looked to be a doorway and fell down a rainbow colored shaft, then hit a teleporter at the bottom and fell through another shaft. Four shafts in total and then I landed inside the room in the middle o...

      This map is a beta and ends abruptly. It also doesn't really have a story. However, it does contain eye gouging amounts of blue and some fun gameplay. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bluecell Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 2766 characters     Bluecell Puzzle is a Sven Co-op puzzle map seemingly abandoned by Keen. Much of navigation is based around using the barnacle, and the setting is wacky and neodadaist.      Worth mentioning that if you don't get the fixed bsp, this map is outright broken.      Bright, colorful, wacky corridors littered with crystals and corpses holding valuable weapons to pick up- that is what makes up most of Bluecell Puzzle. The environment has a lot of charm to it, even if it looks like MSPaint vomit with clipart crystals additive-moded into the scenery. That's one of the strengths of picking any ...

      This map is a beta and ends abruptly. It also doesn't really have a story. However, it does contain eye gouging amounts of blue and some fun gameplay. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bluecell Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2023 | 3923 characters      Here is an old abandoned map that plays pretty well for being unfinished. Of course looking at the map description I see that the original map's spawn is broken and when we tried the map we died immediately on spawn and had a message telling us "no spawn points available". So if you want to play this map you HAVE to get the fixed bsp. Maybe this map will get repacked one day and people won't have to deal with the confusion.      Players start off right in front of a barnacle and a deep pit into water. You could just jump down or you can grapple up and get a gauss gun. While the barnacle is not the foc...

       Sitting somewhere between a whole new experience and just being Black Mesa but monochrome, this map brings a much needed unique visual style to Sven Co-op. From monsters to lights, everything is either black or white. SCMapDB page Author: BuGi Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black & White (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 4261 characters      For clarity's sake, I am reviewing the July 21, 2019 update (by SC-Dynamite) of BuGi's Black White map. My understanding is that it's the most up-to-date fix with the least overwrought changes.      Black White is a stylish walkthrough map. It falls into the kind of surrealistic kaizo-action you might think of when you think of the Half-Quake series. Things are largely black and white, you mostly fight vortigaunts using boilerplate weaponry, and the map trolls the players with hidden traps and minor inconveniences. It feels a bi...

       Sitting somewhere between a whole new experience and just being Black Mesa but monochrome, this map brings a much needed unique visual style to Sven Co-op. From monsters to lights, everything is either black or white. SCMapDB page Author: BuGi Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black & White (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2023 | 3592 characters      Black and White is a tricky map where the solution to the puzzle is not always straightforward. All the visuals are simplistic monochrome black and white textures. Standard Half-Life textures are remade in this style but there is also plenty checkerboard as well. Enemies are reskinned to be black and white but blood is not, so red and yellow is the only splash of color you'll see besides sprays.      The map really reminds me of Half-Quake, the whole thing is designed to mess with your head. The first puzzle is pressing a button in ...

      Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original map author: Little_Otis Conversion author: Shinkichi Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2010 Maps in package: 13 Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 6245 characters      Black Operations: Special Forces is a walkthrough mapset which follows the exploits of a Black Operations soldier who gets in way over his head. Throughout there is setpiece after setpiece, lots of very inspired material, some puzzles, great action, and some exquisite aesthetics to tie it together.      Throughout this map players take on the role of a Black Op...

      Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original map author: Little_Otis Conversion author: Shinkichi Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2010 Maps in package: 13 Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 26, 2023 | 5947 characters      This map series is a conversion of a standalone mod by the same name. We follow a Black Ops soldier named Declan Walker whose job is to plant the nuclear bomb that takes out Black Mesa. The map description says we're getting back a mysterious briefcase from a Black Mesa scientist. Spoilers, but that briefcase is the nuke. We're also in Metro City but manage to plant the bomb in Bl...

    Agog means to be very eager to hear or see something. Be agog for this map as it has interesting visuals, puzzles, combat, and some very impressive sequences. Mind the eye strain. SCmapDB page Author: RNG Date of release: 2009 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Psychic Agog (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | January 22, 2023 | 3527 characters      Psychic Agog is a seemingly "beta" map release by RNG. It's been in this state going on 14 years now, so I think it's probably safe to presume RNG's interests have moved on and we can take a look on what this beta release stands to say on its own now.      The map is an action walkthrough with the slightest, slightest hint of a puzzle element. Players traverse a surreal (but not THAT surreal by RNG standards) illusion world which exists as some sort of experiment. Players traverse the initial stage by exploring an open area and solving tiny contextual puzzles in the environ...

    Agog means to be very eager to hear or see something. Be agog for this map as it has interesting visuals, puzzles, combat, and some very impressive sequences. Mind the eye strain. SCmapDB page Author: RNG Date of release: 2009 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Psychic Agog (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 22, 2023 | 3584 characters     This map is just a beta and is unfortunately never going to be 'finished', however it is still playable and is fairly polished as well. The first half has some trippy scenery followed by some space zombie fighting with cube gathering.      The map starts us out in a big black and white grid field with some basic but evocative geometry. large cubes dot the area along with some floating and gyrating cubes above, some interesting towers and some buildings with obvious purpose. This is a puzzle, an escape room of sorts and it is pretty fun. Each time we solved a piece of it there would be...

      Three almost identical lanes with obstacle courses. Run like the Terminator! Then longjump back and do it again, the map has no end. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Terminator Run (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 14, 2023 | 3033 characters      Terminator Run is an obstacle course map for Sven Co-op by robootto.      Robootto's pretty infamous for maps that don't really see their concept through, but I think Terminator Run is an example of a Robootto map that makes a lot of sense to me- it's a simple 3-person obstacle course with 3 (nearly) identical courses side-by-side, each a different color. Parallel to these courses are windowed corridors which spectators can traverse with ease.      When the map begins, players use a glass door which slowly lowers. It lowers so slowly that players with more experience with the engine will know exact...

      Three almost identical lanes with obstacle courses. Run like the Terminator! Then longjump back and do it again, the map has no end. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Terminator Run (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 14, 2023 | 2029 characters      This is a very straightforward map, players spawn in front of three colored lanes with an obstacle course to the other end of the map. There is a blue, red, and green route but they are all the same, except for blue becuase it does not have a shotgun at the end and the other two do for some reason.      The obstacle course itself is fairly simple, with bars blocking the way that must be jumped over or crawled under, some other simple platforming challenges, and the one I really failed at which was the ceiling ladder. At the end is a big drop into the last stretch to the finish line. As I mentioned before, red and gr...

      This map is one big sudoku puzzle. Players spawn cubes with numbers on them via a well made machine complete with deadly doors and neat visuals. The puzzle is the same every time. SCMapDBpage Author: Puchi Date of release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beat this (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 14, 2023 | 2292 characters      Beat This! is Sudoku played using the silly block physics in Sven Co-op. I thought this was going to be an incredible randomized sudoku game, but my teammate confirmed it was the same puzzle the on retrying. Approach a console and spawn a block with a number from a UI. Place the block where it is missing in the sudoku puzzle. Stand on a glass platform overlooking the puzzle to get a better view of the whole thing, and use the laser of a deagle to point to others solving the puzzle. Shoot straight through the glass barrier to mark spots to remember where you wish to place blocks.  ...

      This map is one big sudoku puzzle. Players spawn cubes with numbers on them via a well made machine complete with deadly doors and neat visuals. The puzzle is the same every time. SCMapDBpage Author: Puchi Date of release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beat this (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 14, 2023 | 2204 characters      This map is sudoku. Players spawn in elevator looking things to a big room with a big sudoku board in the middle of the room with holes for the answers. Up top there is a glass platform players can walk on to get a bird's eye view of the board. At the far end of the room is a panel that players use to summon cubes with numbers on them to complete the puzzle. Place the cubes in the correct holes and win! There is also some fun music to boost your morale.      All in all, the map isn't hard. I can imagine with quite a few people that the puzzle would just fly by. When cubes fall i...

        Hot sand, cool waves, a Mai Tai and/or Piña Colada, these are things that would complete a fun experience at the beach. This map is loosely themed on the Normandy beach landings of World War II and for some reason feature lots of closed off hallways. SCMapDB page Author: MysticMDT Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beach Experience (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 14, 2023 | 4889 characters      Beach Experience is a map with a lot of bunkers and trenches, but only one beach. Storm a beach, steal war documents, and explode turrets! Is it any good?      The map is broken into a few recurring elements: combat with HECU helmed by an heavy weapons grunt, taking down over-HPed grunts standing beside mounted machineguns they are ostensibly firing, combatting giant "anti-air" (and yet unable to aim up or down) turrets, and stealing war documents. To approach this, the players are equ...

      Hot sand, cool waves, a Mai Tai and/or Piña Colada, these are things that would complete a fun experience at the beach. This map is loosely themed on the Normandy beach landings of World War II and for some reason feature lots of closed off hallways. SCMapDB page Author: MysticMDT Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beach Experience (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 14, 2023 | 2677 characters      Beach Experience is supposed to be a World War II themed map loosely designed around a certain famous beach landing. It had a beach in the first section but the rest was some winding mineshaft style hallways and a couple of bunkers.      Players are dropped off into a room with some class selection doorways around. We have Sniper, Medic, Soldier, Demoman. All players start with 5 grenades and a crowbar, the medic and demoman get the uzi and shotgun for weapons while the sniper gets a crossbow and ...

      With a name like Black Mesa Space Basement this map had better be a wacky adventure! It certainly has a lot of wacky custom models and a crazy map layout! SCMapDB page Author: Forastero Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa Space Basement (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 1, 2023 | 3175 characters      Black Mesa Space Basement is a short walkthrough map that makes the most of each encounter by making each enemy's health bar as dense as a neutron star. Most of the charm comes from the spectacle of the enemies faced, and they are faced in mostly simple succession.      First, we fought some zombie skeletons with what we thought was too much health, then some vortigaunts led by a vortigaunt with too much health, then some xenomorphs with probably a bit much health, and the process continued like that. Eventually, the map culminates in a battle with an apache with waaaaaay t...

      With a name like Black Mesa Space Basement this map had better be a wacky adventure! It certainly has a lot of wacky custom models and a crazy map layout! SCMapDB page Author: Forastero Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa Space Basement (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 1, 2023 | 3133 characters      Black Mesa Space Basement sounds like wacky hijinks, and it kind of is. The level itself is nothing special, some standard Black Mesa hallways, computer rooms, and textures, with tons of props and furniture cluttering everything up. The main feature of the map is the heavy use of new models for the various enemies players must fight. Some models where red skeletons, some were Half-Life 2 antlions, there was a couple of xenomorphs, and even the yellow robot lifter seen once in the opening scene of Half-Life.      Players start out in a room filled with weapons and ammo. This is ...

      Don't jump down! Or do because besides hunting for hidden weapons all the gameplay is at the bottom of a pit. There is no end game trigger so this map is best for sightseeing.  SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Splatter 3 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 1, 2023 | 2260 characters      Robootto does it again with another Sven Co-op map. Relax, sit back, fire weapons endlessly into the pit of despair. Is there anything worthwhile at the bottom of the pit? If you find finding the answers to questions its own reward, then possibly!      Explore the above-pit world, which is a semi-decently brushed and not-decently textured cave interior filled with tau-or-tripmine-only reachable ledges. Don't worry- you get both! By crawling the cave, players can nearly complete their arsenal: a tau gun, snarks, tripmines, machineguns, grenades- the works.  ...

      Don't jump down! Or do because besides hunting for hidden weapons all the gameplay is at the bottom of a pit. There is no end game trigger so this map is best for sightseeing.  SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Splatter 3 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 1, 2023 | 1702 characters      I spawned in front of a sign that says "Don't jump down!", which is the same as what is written in the map description. In order to progress in the map you have to jump down.      There isn't a lot to this map, players spawn in a large, cavernous room that looks like a cavern. A deep pit exposes respawning enemies, most notably a gargantua. There are plenty of weapons scattered around the room but none of them really help in getting through the bottom of the pit, the enemies spawn too fast and the best garg killing weapon is a crossbow. There is a door down there tha...

      This mission has two separate maps, the first one players must take and defend an area. The second map is more of a typical walkthrough map where players clear hallways and reach an objective to end the map. SCMapDB page Author: Buschbaum Date of final release: 2022 Maps in package: 2 Map review of BB Rock Shelter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | December 10, 2022 | 3660 characters      BB Rock Shelter is a (as of yet) two-part map series for Sven Co-op. The first follows an attack-defend playstyle, while the second is a walkthrough map. Both employ a vanilla sensibility in large, sprawling natural environments with heavy use of sloped terrain. Players are given many assault weapons (assault rifles, shotgun, SAW, explosives), but virtually no accurate long-range weaponry, making the maps very action-first.      The first map involves storming a hill bunker full of grunts. The area leading up to the bunker is mos...