Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       Appear in Dojo. Enemies rain from above. Hit them with your sword. SCMapDB page Authors: PU_1338 Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dojo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 26, 2026 | 2218 characters      Dojo is a really cute wave survival map. Players must use their swords (crowbars) to fight against ninjas (unarmed Male Assassins) for five waves to defend the dojo.      The map is very simple. There's no button to start the map, just a wave starting after an arbitrary amount of time. The map itself is a ring around a building with doors straight through it. Enemies are launched into the arena from above the outer walls. Their health is so low the crowbar gibs them. The only dynamic element is that after a few waves it adds Female Assassins (guns and grenades and everything) to the mix.      Then, at the end, it sends four VERY beefy melee samurai at the players. We wer...

       Appear in Dojo. Enemies rain from above. Hit them with your sword. SCMapDB page Authors: PU_1338 Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dojo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 26, 2026 | 1431 characters      Dojo is a short and sweet map about fighting off waves of assassins with only a crowbar retextured to be a katana. It's got some fun Kill Bill sounds and some cool samurai custom models at the end.      The enemies do have a lot of health, so the fight itself is a little bit of a slog, but we all get long jumps to start with so it is very easy to end up standing on top of the enemies and hitting down, usually gibbing them in the process. It is very fun. But also there are a lot of times when we spawn, swing about three times, and then die. It has its frustrating moments.      I think the real strength of the map is how much action it fits in a small package. If you want a shor...

       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 a...

      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 GrandmasterJ | April 19, 2026 | 2013 characters      So here I am browsing random maps when I see a map that looks kind of interesting. It's got a thumbnail with some historical art and we get a blurb about Albanians defending against Ottomans in a historical recreation, seems cool. But uh, the other screenshots looks like we're burning roaches with flamethrowers… . I install the map and the .wad is called turkroaches, uh ooh.      Then we start the map and the roaches are called turkroaches straight up in the map itself. I feel the need to say that I do not condone racism in any form and this map definitely felt off becaus...

       Hang out and wait in a lobby and amuse yourself with a giant sound system with lots of different music. This map is meant to be a waiting room so there isn't much else to do here. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v1337 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 6, 2023 | 2054 characters      Chillplace v1337 is a reconfiguration of the ideas in Chillplace v2 for a more streamlined presentation. Gone is the island with the tiny buttons on a boombox, and here now is the day of a bizarre structure which controls music, and beautiful mountain scenery. Some nicely utilized models for mountains give the impression of displacement.      For those unaware, Chillplace is a hangout map where players can vibe to music. Kinda like a virtual club. To that end, I think Chillplace offers a decently sized venue with enough of a fun vibe to hang out with friends. I also think ...

      Hang out and wait in a lobby and amuse yourself with a giant sound system with lots of different music. This map is meant to be a waiting room so there isn't much else to do here. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v1337 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 6, 2023 | 1509 characters      This is sort of a sequel to Chillplace v2 or maybe a remake. The goal is the same, as a sort of lobby or waiting room map. Besides pressing buttons on a massive sound system to play a staggering number of music tracks there is no gameplay. I noclipped around and saw nothing hidden either.      The scenery is pretty good looking though. We have some majestic mountains with incredibly stretched out textures. It looked pretty bad close up but it also gave the map a warped sense of scale that worked well with the scenery and dim blue lighting. There's also a chilling horrible monster...

      The only interactive feature of this map seems to be a big boombox that plays many sounds. The rest of the map is a tiny room that looks very interesting, the map is a lobby so there isn't all that much to do. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 1924 characters      Chillplace V2! If there's a Chillplace V1, I don't know about it!      This map is a chill lobby area with an island of blue grass and a big mystical tree with light shining from within. There's a lot of fun effects on display, like liberal use of sprites to create fun glowing particles and flowers, or additive gradient brushes to create the light burst from within the tree. There's a custom model of a horrible, unchill mothman with a gaping lower jaw laying beneath the tree, likely dreaming of mercifully departing its hideous existence. A stereo plays...

      The only interactive feature of this map seems to be a big boombox that plays many sounds. The rest of the map is a tiny room that looks very interesting, the map is a lobby so there isn't all that much to do. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 2197 characters      This map is supposed to be a waiting room between maps, and I think it accomplishes that. The map is entertaining enough for about five minutes but then it gets old.      The map itself is a really fantastic looking grassy green hill with a big well detailed tree in the middle. The hill slopes down rather sharply and ends in a black abyss, rock cliff walls surround us on the other side of the abyss. We can't drop down because there is an invisible wall keeping us on top of the hill. There are a lot of invisible walls, they become problematic around the ...

       What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you! Explore Dracula's castle, which in this case means a smattering of respawning enemies and long walks through them. SCMapDB page Author: Gadabout Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castlevania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 4169 characters      Castlevania is a non-linear walkthrough action map for Sven Co-op which aims to recreate the feeling of a Castlevania game. The map is divided up into 6 sections: The introduction area, the hub, the underground, the chapel, the clock tower, and Dracula's arena. Aside from the hub and final arena, each section comprises of a collection of challenges and a boss.      These challenges take two primary flavors: platforming puzzles, and combat. Platforming puzzles in this map range from fair to tedious. Much of it revolves around barnacle grappling, which als...

       What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you! Explore Dracula's castle, which in this case means a smattering of respawning enemies and long walks through them. SCMapDB page Author: Gadabout Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castlevania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 3838 characters      I was really excited to play this map, I am a big fan of other game franchises shoved into the old school mess that is goldsrc. I haven't played much Castlevania, but the moment we started my teammate ran over to a torch, destroyed it, and then whooped for joy when it dropped ammo so I'm assuming this map nails it.      The map has two primary components, platforming and combat. Combat is against some low health enemies that respawn forever and quickly, mostly stuka bats and Barnabus, both very annoying. There is no armor anywhere so we die very quickly. Becau...

       Ride off into the perpetual sunset with some chill tunes. There is no time limit, no objectives, no secrets, or any goals other than chilling out.  SCMapDB page Author: Gruntzz Date of release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chill Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 1, 2023 | 2198 characters      Chill Ride is what it says on the tin: a chill track, some rides, and a track to ride them upon with great chill.      There's not much to say about this map so I'll make it brief: there's a track with very little detail on it, and cars that are very simple in shape. But those aren't what matters. No, the beauty of the map is in the chill beat, the funky skybox (which is very funky, btw), the fun way the cars just bumpercars around if they crash, and the chill shape of the track which lends to relaxed cruising.      Upon deciding we had seen most of what the map has to offer, we experimen...

      Ride off into the perpetual sunset with some chill tunes. There is no time limit, no objectives, no secrets, or any goals other than chilling out.  SCMapDB page Author: Gruntzz Date of release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chill Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 1, 2023 | 2062 characters      This is indeed a very chill map. It's a big circular track with a ton of cars that players can drive around in a big loop. The skybox is a delightful outrun style sun and there is some chill synthwave in the background. The track and car color is all brown which is a confusing contrast to the bright sky.      My teammate decided to splatter me so we drove head on and I disintegrated at the molecular level on contact. We did this a few more times with the same result before we eventually both died from the impact. I don't know how the impact on func_vehicle works so be careful of the lucky few with splatter pow...

      The map title is a misnomer, there is nothing to build and the puzzles are all platforming challenges. There are 12 challenges in total and all are easily accessible from the spawn room. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Build Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 28, 2023 | 3057 characters      What even is a puzzle map? What does the Sven Co-op community consider a puzzle map? I mean really, it seems whenever a map is considered a "puzzle" map it just means any map where you spend one minute not stubbing your toe on a monster entity. This map includes platforming, gimmicking platforming, trivia, invisible mazes, hidden progression switches, and tests of coordination skill. There's a few problem-solving bits, but overall I feel the majority of this map relies on extreme displays of goldsrc movement mastery over any puzzle-solving skills.      So, ...

      The map title is a misnomer, there is nothing to build and the puzzles are all platforming challenges. There are 12 challenges in total and all are easily accessible from the spawn room. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Build Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 28, 2023 | 4521 characters      I don't know why this map has 'Build' in the title, I was expecting some sort of building mechanic and I was excited to see how that played out. Unfortunately the map is a series of ultra hard platforming sections. I'm always a little nervous reviewing these kinds of maps because I am very bad at them and I don't want my personal failings to reflect on the map. But I played for a half hour with zero progress made and when I started cheating I discovered a lot of really annoying gimmicks.      So the map itself is a big grey hallway with 12 doorways each wi...

    Breaking the tradition of the previous two entries, number three ditches the elevator and goes for a straight up platforming map. Visit beautiful Wing Fortress from Sonic 2 and confront Eggman inside. SCMapDB page Author:Beather Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakfree 3 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 30, 2023 | 3066 characters      Breakfree is the third and, afaik, final chapter of the Breakfrees by Beather. You wouldn't think so without the map name, as aside from the Sonic reference there isn't much connecting it to the previous maps and their elevator gimmick. This is probably for the best, as it means this is the most playable of the breakfrees years later.      If you've played Wing Fortress Zone, the penultimate zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Sega Genesis/Mastersystem, you know what much of this will be. High winds blowing you around, fans that you hover above, bottomle...

      Breaking the tradition of the previous two entries, number three ditches the elevator and goes for a straight up platforming map. Visit beautiful Wing Fortress from Sonic 2 and confront Eggman inside. SCMapDB page Author:Beather Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakfree 3 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 30, 2023 | 3430 characters      Breakfree 3 is the third and final map in the series, this time instead of going up an elevator shaft like the first two we get to platform over a big airship. My teammate told me the level is based on Wing Fortress and then showed me a video of the level and I can agree that this is indeed a recreation of a Sonic 2 level.      We start in a room with a minute long timer before the map starts. There are things that look like buttons here but these are lies and do nothing. When the minute is up we get teleported onto a plane, well my teammate made i...

      The sequel to Breakfree is more of the same. We don't have to go back down the elevator and there is now a boss fight! Unfortunately the biggest obstacle is still the elevator mechanic itself. SCMapDB page Author: Beather Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakfree 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 29, 2023 | 2270 characters      Breakfree 2 is the sequel to Breakfree. Visually, it is a huge upgrade with liberal use of Sonic 2 textures and an Eggman model for the scientist to match the Sonic 2 music. The music is the exact same.      This time around the map is split into two parts: the annoying elevator part, and the annoying boss part. The annoying elevator part is somehow more annoying than the previous map, offering large brushes that shoot from out of unpredictable places in the wall at a faster speed than players can dodge. There are also similar grinders and rotating br...

      The sequel to Breakfree is more of the same. We don't have to go back down the elevator and there is now a boss fight! Unfortunately the biggest obstacle is still the elevator mechanic itself. SCMapDB page Author: Beather Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakfree 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 29, 2023 | 3293 characters      I'm getting something of a crisis of conscience with the Breakfree series. I just played Break Go, which was inspired by this series, and gave it a higher score than the original based solely on how much I exploded on the elevator. Elevators in Sven Co-op are very dangerous and throughout this map we were constantly exploding for no reason.      So I'm going to try to judge this map without taking into account how many times I was randomly killed by the floor. We start off and the map is fullbright, just like the first one. We hit a button that is hard to ...

    The title gets us ready for boss after boss in some sort of a rush, but instead we have a bunch of teleporters to arenas filled with normal enemies with lots of health. There is also a button that needs two people to press it and that completely neuters the map. SCMapDB page Author: enuze Date of release: 2017 Maps in package:2 Map review of Bossrush (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2023 | 4119 characters      Bossrush is two maps: the bonus map, and the map that is not the bonus map.      The map that is not the bonus map gives the player 10 boss battles: 8 to choose from a grid of portals in any sequence, and two at the end. These boss battles take the form of enemies with extremely high HP in cube rooms fought with shotguns, MP5s, pistol, and revolver. Sometimes a clever spin is put on the battle, such as some invincible enemies aiding the main target enemies. For the most part, though, fighting co...

      The title gets us ready for boss after boss in some sort of a rush, but instead we have a bunch of teleporters to arenas filled with normal enemies with lots of health. There is also a button that needs two people to press it and that completely neuters the map. SCMapDB page Author: enuze Date of release: 2017 Maps in package:2 Map review of Bossrush (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2023 | 4276 characters      The whole idea behind this map is fighting a handful of enemies with really high health and that's pretty much it. After all the enemies are dead we get to fight some boss waves before the map ends. There is also a bonus map, I think we can get to it via a secret in the first map, but we didn't find it and instead manually changed level to it. The bonus level is much the same as the first, but all on one flat expanse of land.      So players start out in a room with a hallway we can't enter wit...