The Hotel - GrandmasterJ

 

    Welcome to The Hotel, not to be confused with Hotel, a horror adventure set in a single building. It's a simple map with a couple of surprises, some good and some bad. 

SCMapDB page

Authors: W00tguy123

Date of release: 2007

Maps in package: 1

Map review of The Hotel

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | April 25, 2026 | 3594 characters

    A horror map from 2007, 19 years ago, I did not have high expectations going in. But the map starts on a cutscene, a car drives in and the wheels are actually spinning! It takes a turn and … is it leaning into the curves? Did the map author model suspension in 2007????

    This map knows how to set atmosphere and create a scene. The opening cutscene instantly draws me in and we get a really nicely made cutscene every time we accomplish an objective. This did kill me a lot, as I was running from zombies as my teammates soldiered on. There are creepy ambient sounds, custom zombie models, and good mood lighting.

    The map looks a little rough unfortunately. This is totally what I expect a map to look like in 2007, big expansive areas with few details scattered around. There's lots of janky looking architecture, tight hallways with doors that will do damage when you block them, there are some floating objects around. But for how bad it looks it also looks kind of good with some really fun details, for instance I like the lobby a lot. It's got some lights arrayed in diagonal stripes on the ceiling, very interesting. The map may looks disproportional, have lots of textures that probably should have been different textures, and has a lot of empty areas, but it is still very atmospheric and is very interesting to look at. I'm not even getting into the detail mapping, which this map has and it makes all the textures look elevated.

    The actual gameplay itself is running from a zombie ghost in the lobby to the elevators and then trying to figure out the elevators. Let me save you some trouble, the button will call the elevator and using the doors will open them. This may sound simple but on the map page it clearly says that each time you call the elevator it goes to the next floor and will go to the bottom when it hits the top. But I didn't know that before playing the map so I was hitting the button, opening the door, seeing the elevator is not there and not coming, and then looking for other ways. Once you get to floor 2, just use the stairs. Sven does not do elevators well and this map is no exception. This is painful when there is a zombie in the elevator until players hit the top floor and get a crowbar. Then we have to find satchel charges to blow up a pile of dirt to get to a radio to call in your escape.

    Also there is an elevator on top of the hotel that seems to be nonfunctional, maybe an actual elevator that broke in some way. It does nothing.

    The map was fun and I liked it. It has a unique look where lots of geometry is simple and there are lots of obvious and glaring mistakes (not to mention empty or unfinished rooms) but also thought and care went into making things look strange and creepy. The cutscenes were great even though I died during them. I definitely think players need to read the map description, knowing how the elevators work and where the to find the initial objectives are incredibly important.

Pros:

• Really nice cutscenes
• good atmosphere
• lots of skill went into certain details, the intro car ride is amazing
• custom models and ambient sounds were really nice

Cons:

• Elevators are bad and necessary for progress
• There are lots of flaws in the texture work
• There are big empty areas, some entire floors of the hotel are empty
• Objectives can be very hard to find
• navigating the hotel is just bad

Score: 6.5 / 10