Sven Co-op Map Reviews

    Buro is a prologue to a map series that was never made, which is a shame because it is a beautiful map. The map is very nicely designed bank filled with assassins that ends when players enter the vault. SCMapDB page Author: Alex546 Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Buro (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 15, 2023 | 2488 characters      Buro is an action map which takes place in a bank being attacked by special operatives. The players counterattack, intercepting the blackops assassins. Players spawn with random loadouts of useful boilerplate weapons- revolvers or deagles, shotguns or mp5s or m16s or uzis. It adds an annoying bit of spice that makes every spawn awkward.      The map is very form over function. Each room is certainly evocative of a real life location that blackops massns and fassns have been dropped into. Rooms and hallways are often awkward for accommodating multiple players, and progression is mostly linear. There&

      Buro is a prologue to a map series that was never made, which is a shame because it is a beautiful map. The map is very nicely designed bank filled with assassins that ends when players enter the vault. SCMapDB page Author: Alex546 Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Buro (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 15, 2023 | 4747 characters      When my teammate and I first started this map up we both took one look at it and agreed it was beautiful. Then my teammate said "time to give it a bad review!" and I wished upon a star that he was wrong. I haven't decided on a number score yet, but I will say that the map had a lot of good with a little bit of bad.      After a lengthy and cinematic cutscene my teammate and I are dumped outside a bank. He reads the message of the day which informs us of our mission but I don't bother and instead start poking around spawn. One thing that only became apparent when we started fighting i

      This map is a visual as well as an architectural mishmash. Players must navigate the unusual level design and appearance to find giant floating blue orbs. Collecting ten out of twelve will end the map. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2012 Maps in package:1 Map review of Boredgasm (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 16, 2023 | 3390 characters      Boredgasm is a scaven ger hunt map where players search for some (not all) blue orb sprites in a dadaist maze of Keen's nightmares. Memes and internet randomcore plaster the walls in such a way as to evoke seizures if not properly con ditioned on multiple tabs of imageboards while mainlining adderall.      The maze is pretty wacky, with all of the intentionality of the Backrooms. Halls twist and turn, indents and apparent doors lead to nowhere (at least in our playthroughs) and occasionally lead to death traps. To assist in navigation, players are given a near-complete arsenal (no power weap

      This map is a visual as well as an architectural mishmash. Players must navigate the unusual level design and appearance to find giant floating blue orbs. Collecting ten out of twelve will end the map. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2012 Maps in package:1 Map review of Boredgasm (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 16, 2023 | 3211 characters      This map has a lot of author credits and is labelled as unfinished. Plus the main author, Keen, is known for his wacky mish mash of artstyles. The result is a crazy melange of twisty hallways, secret doors leading to secret areas, and some unique and tasteless art.      We start off more or less in the middle of the map, from the map description I know we have to look for blue orbs and press on Picard's face, but none of that is communicated in-map. We spent a good long time exploring all the crazy nooks and crannies and finding orbs before running out of places to find and pressing on Picard'

      Here is a beautiful map with a really well done intro sequence. According to the map description it is abandoned which is a shame since what has been completed is pretty good and well polished. SCMapDB page Author: Vector-T (now known as I-ka) Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa: Getaway (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 10, 2023 | 6990 characters      Black Mesa Getaway is a seemingly abandoned map by I-ka, or VectorT. To save time off the wall of the text that's about to unravel, I will begin with my summarized thoughts: Black Mesa Getaway, while unfinished, offers a slice of tense, simple, beautiful gameplay that utilizes many decisions which I principally disagree with in ways which I subjectively agree with. If you're uninterested in deeper analysis, I'll see you at the bottom paragraph.      Let's unpack that: first, Black Mesa Getaway is unfinished. Indeed, Black Mesa Getaway is a map which con

    Here is a beautiful map with a really well done intro sequence. According to the map description it is abandoned which is a shame since what has been completed is pretty good and well polished. SCMapDB page Author: Vector-T (now known as I-ka) Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa: Getaway (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 10, 2023 | 5419 characters      When we started this map I was convinced it was a converted Half-Life mod. We start in an incredibly dark room and press a button to begin the map proper, after which we are treated to some very nice cutscenes. We have a great pan down a hallway with a fight between human grunts and alien slaves frozen in time, electrical arcs and bullets frozen in the air. Then I actually decide to read the map description and I find out that this is the author's first ever map.      After the intro (complete with some G-man voice lines!) we start in a small room, we both head right int

    This map was built to play a way that Sven never really supported. So it was abandoned. It's a box (or two) full of headcrabs for a project that was cancelled due to the main concept not working out. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crablegs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 11, 2023 | 1278 characters      Crablegs is a map for Sven Co-op. It features two darkened arenas with floating water surfaces in the center. Each arena is a cube with inaccessible catwalks with infinitely spawning headcrabs. The player has no flashlight, so facing the headcrabs is a nightmare. To make matters worse, players spawn with a revolver drawn which is a terrible weapon for fighting headcrabs in the dark. Switching to the crowbar helps, but it doesn't help anything of particular note because there doesn't seem to be any end to the endlessly spawning headcrabs.      Maybe with a lot of players fighting the h

      This map was built to play a way that Sven never really supported. So it was abandoned. It's a box (or two) full of headcrabs for a project that was cancelled due to the main concept not working out. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crablegs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 11, 2023 | 1481 characters      This map consists of two rooms, each with the shallowest puddle in the middle in which headcrabs pour into endlessly via a hole high up in the wall. There is another platform up around where the headcrabs appear, it even connects the rooms which are otherwise cut off from each other. There is no way up there unless players want to create a tower.      Players start with crowbar, medkit, and revolver. Then they get buried in headcrabs. If I've learned anything from this map it is that headcrabs can be real dangerous if you need to fight 50 of them at once.      Also, we don't have flashl

    We go back to Black Mesa to fill the shoes of a naive scientist who thinks the military is here to save everybody. We go back to Lambda core to get our revenge for some reason. SCMapDB page Author:Zorbos Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Betrayed (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 2, 2023 | 6730 characters      Betrayed is an action walkthrough map for Sven Co-op. It features a very Black Mesa (specifically Lambda Core) aesthetic, though with even more hallways.      Players begin with a handgun and not much else, but quickly move their way up to grenades, uzis, an MP5, snarks, a shotgun, a SAW, and a gauss gun. There's a lot of ammo given, but it's given in backpacks or otherwise out-of-the-way pickups, so until the players get an arsenal in the checkpoint spawn, there's a lot of backtracking around slowly for weapons. The snarks in particular are the most egregious example, as they require a lengthy crawl throug

      We go back to Black Mesa to fill the shoes of a naive scientist who thinks the military is here to save everybody. We go back to Lambda core to get our revenge for some reason. SCMapDB page Author:Zorbos Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Betrayed (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 2, 2023 | 5242 characters      In this map we go back to Lambda Core. This is pretty much what the map description says and what the level is. Lambda Core already exists so I am not sure why we are redoing it, this map is certainly not better than it.      Players start off by infiltrating the facility from the outside, down an elevator and into a series of hallways. There are a lot of enemies and they usually have really high health, occasionally there is a glowing monster with really really high health. After about three different kinds of hallways we come to a room with forcefields blocking doors. This map is an abandoned beta so only two of th

      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 Keen map- you'll always get interesting, strikin

      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 focus on the map you do need i

    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 environment before entering a new

    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 something happening, this map uses

       I don't see a lot of maps really use the barnacle to it's full potential, so I was very excited when I saw this map. Then I read the map description, it is abandoned because the author didn't think it was fun, oh well. SCMapDB page Author: TruckStopSantaClaus Date of final release: 2020 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Course (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 17, 2022 | 2768 characters      Barnacle Course is an unfinished obstacle course map based around the Barnacle. It was supposedly unfinished because the author did not believe the concept was proving to be fun.      The map is themed like the Half-Life Black Mesa Hazard Course, but with a bit more flare with their use of burning lava in their barnacle test course. Along there way there's some fleshy growths with sideways xen grass which is a lot of fun. None of it really adds up to a good feeling whole, but everything is fine as individual separates. Nothing in this map fee

      I don't see a lot of maps really use the barnacle to it's full potential, so I was very excited when I saw this map. Then I read the map description, it is abandoned because the author didn't think it was fun, oh well. SCMapDB page Author: TruckStopSantaClaus Date of final release: 2020 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Course (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 17, 2022 | 2818 characters      This map was abandoned due to the author not thinking it was very fun. That is not a very promising sign and after playing the map I have to agree.      The whole map is set up around the barnacle, pretty obvious from the name of the map. The map is pretty standard wide Black Mesa hallways with barnacle grapple points, the first 'puzzles' of the map are just barnacling to platforms in lava down a hallway. The most difficult parts are the vertical sections because if you barnacle straight up then chances are you will just fall straight down

       This map series has been cut short and abandoned due to a very unfortunate loss of files. What we have here are two maps of story build up, one map of gameplay, and one map with credits, all unpolished. SCMapDB page Author: Skals Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 4 Map review of Bad Day at Work (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 15, 2022 | 4338 characters      Bad Day at Work is a release of four maps of an unfinished series. Players tour a very modern looking lab complex, tour a very modern looking lab complex during an alien invasion, and tour a very decidedly unmodern alien invasion during a lab complex.      There are four maps, but one is an intro, two have gameplay, and the last one is such a non-sequitur cutaway to aliens before an abrupt map end that it plays off like a joke. So, I'll review the first three maps.      The first map is very atmospheric and interesting looking. The lab complex looks very different from most Black Mes

      This map series has been cut short and abandoned due to a very unfortunate loss of files. What we have here are two maps of story build up, one map of gameplay, and one map with credits, all unpolished. SCMapDB page Author: Skals Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 4 Map review of Bad Day at Work (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 16, 2022 | 6206 characters      Unfortunately this series has not been completed. According to the description there was a much bigger plan in place that was canned due to losing important files, so now we get an unfinished and abandoned half a map series. Also this is my second time trying to write this review, I accidentally hit the back button when I was almost finished which means I lost my review. Ironic that I lost my review while trying to review a series abandoned due to file loss.      There are four maps in the set, the first map had no enemies, it was just to set the tone and gives players a moment to experien

      Play a Sven Co-op map while it is being generated! This is a strange marriage of Roguelike and Co-op FPS that is really cool to experience, but unfortunately has been abandoned. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Automap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 21, 2022 | 3763 characters      Automap is an abandoned map project for Sven Co-op that I think was really novel and almost works. Unfortunately, it doesn't. So, if you're looking for a recommendation, I recommend only trying this map out with friends if you're looking to run multiple iterations on the map before you get something nearly playable. But, when it does work, it's really quite neat.      The generator places players in a starting room and generates a map out of various possible pieces. When it works, it creates these funny tunnels full of a hodge podge of enemies that you're given a random strange loadout that you need