Abandoned Control Room - GrandmasterJ

 

    Part of a map series that never got finished, explore the ruins of the Sven Co-op forums and fight zombies cosplaying as server errors. I'm guessing we're in the back end of the server because the map looks pretty bleak and sciency.

SCMapDB page

Author: JPolito

Date of release: 2019

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Abandoned Control Room

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | October 13, 2026 | 4064 characters

    The map description is about us players escaping the dead Sven Co-op forums, which is ironic because this is part of a cancelled map that was recovered by somebody and then edited to be playable by somebody else. Just like the forums, the map itself is resurrected for our amusement.

    The map itself reads like some sort of subway control room, I feel like I've seen this in a Resident Evil game. There is a room with a massive cracked TV screen that is really fun. There are lots of computer panels around and the monitors and keyboards are made out of brushes so they pop out and give an interesting depth to things. The map looks really good, when its not completely dark. I mean we do turn the power on halfway through so we can see but there are still pitch black hallways. Lots of enemies are flat black as well so they become incredibly difficult to see. They respawn too, so that problem doesn't end until you escape.

    At one point we go to a transmission room and we see a massive satellite dish in the distance with some volumetric lights pointing at it. It's great and we wanted to go there but the door was locked and nothing we did opened it. Then we turned the signal on and an interesting custom sound file started playing and a bunch of zombies started spawning and blinking in and out of existence in the air. I feel like something may have broken here.

    Players start with nothing and have to collect weapons as they go. The weapons are spread out through the level so when we die we have to gather them all up again. There is a crowbar, pistol, wrench, in that order, then a room with a shotgun, revolver and medkit. Yes, players don't start with medkits, that really slows down gameplay as we die to stupid stuff like falling and zombies. At one point I had just finished gathering all the weapons after respawning but then I fell down an elevator shaft, twice, and died. I demanded my teammate revive me so I didn't have to do that again.

    The map is laid out so that players push forward in a linear fashion, then turn on power to unlock various rooms where players flip switches until other rooms unlock. That is to say that players must travel down a straight hallway, do a lot of stuff at the end of this hallway, then return back to spawn to fight the boss and win. Enemies respawn, there are environmental hazards, and all the weapons are scattered at the end of the hallway.

    The enemies are all reskinned zombies including the final boss. They are various errors, the anonymous user popularized by 4chan, and some other computer related things. The final boss is some floating flat white dude that seemed to get stuck on something and didn't pursue us.

    The map looks great when its not so dark. It has great detail and an interesting style with the protruding computer screens that made things pop. The darkness was used with purpose as an obstacle for players to overcome and to hide map transitions which also hid respawning enemies. The enemies were all interesting the first couple times we see them but they respawn a lot and are annoying. I wish respawning was easier too. I don't understand why we don't start with medkits, I feel like it would have made things a lot more efficient. Dying and then having to walk through most of the level to re-equip is by far the worst thing about the map.

Pros:

• The map looks great and has good detail
• custom skins are always a good thing
• The big satellite dish was awesome
• I liked how the switches were labelled and clearly did things when flipped
• I liked the signal sound file

Cons:

• players don't start with medkits and I don't see how that improves the map
• weapons are scattered around the map and must be collected on respawn
• the boss seems to be stuck on something
• I don't like the pitch black transition rooms with respawning pitch black enemies

Score: 6 / 10