Battle of Albulena - Dunkelschwamm

  


    Do you like history? Do you like Albania? Then you might like this map, a recreation of a famous (to Albanians maybe) battle from history! Defend the fortress from . . . cockroaches?

SCMapDB page

Authors: Grunt

Date of release: 2024

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Battle of Albulena

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | April 19, 2026 | 2727 characters

    What a map.

    So, on a superficial level, we're fighting a bunch of low-health roaches with a wrench (and subsequently, a flamethrower) to keep them from breaking through a gate. There're some great features: the flamethrower is a scripted weapon, there is a health bar prominently displayed above the gate (though that makes it hard to see from a near defensive position), and a counter in the corner of the screen tracks how many roaches we must defend from.

    The roaches are fun to smash and roast, and there's enough to keep it tense. My buddy and I lost the first time around, but after regrouping and trying again found we could just hold the enemies back. There's a really fun fake-out that happens if you lose, too. That said, they can be hard to keep track of and it isn't entirely clear how close they need to get to the gate to damage it. At best it feels like popping bubble wrap, but most of the time it's mostly worrying that more are sneaking through than I realize but I don't have the time to turn around and look at the gate's health.

    The brushwork is pretty and effective. The hills and castle are more effective than what I'm used to in Goldsrc.

    I will say that the flamethrower is a bit of a drag because as a client on a lan connection it was lagging badly, displaying as a slideshow while the rest of the map functioned totally fine.

    That finishes my review of the map in terms of what I understand: gameplay, feel, etc.

    What I'm not entirely sure about is what this map's message is. There are some cultural references that I do not understand as a dumb American. I will say that from my position of ignorance referring to the Ottoman forces during the 1457 Battle of Albulena as Turkroaches is hard to read as anything but a pretty charged propagandistic message steeped in derision for a whole people. Given that I do not know or understand the history here, I will leave my comments on the subject as this dry observation of what I saw.

    Overall, if you don't mind possibly pushing an anti-Turkish message there's a fun brief distraction in this map.

Pros:

  • Good inclusion of enemy counter and gate health
  • Satisfying crunch to the roaches
  • The flamethrower was a neat addition that makes things different
  • The brushwork painted a nice scene
  • The loss screen was a neat fakeout

Cons:

  • Not always clear where the roaches need to reach to cause damage to the gate
  • The flamethrower, while neat, lagged for me as a client
  • I think this map might be racist or something?

Score: 4.8 / 10

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