Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       This map is supposed to be Halo, it says right in the map description: You are Master Chief, A Cyborg who recently escaped the planet Halo. Aside from the incredible story this map is indistinguishable from a Black Mesa map. SCMapDB page Author: Matt *e**rm**er Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Halo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 24, 2026 | 3913 characters      This map is ridiculous. Halo is a linear walkthrough map where players fight through an amalgamation of Black Mesa vignettes in space while rescuing HECU, G-Man, and Scientist. Open a door into a hallway full of vorts and agrunts, only to open the next door into a hallway full of… vorts and agrunts!      There are three aspects of this map worth talking about: the action, the mapping itself, and its adherence to the Halo theme. The action itself is pretty bad in, I think, a very honestly mistaken fashion. It tries to ambush the pl...

      This map is supposed to be Halo, it says right in the map description:  You are Master Chief, A Cyborg who recently escaped the planet Halo. Aside from the incredible story this map is indistinguishable from a Black Mesa map. SCMapDB page Author: Matt *e**rm**er Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Halo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 24, 2026 | 2483 characters      So this is supposed to be a Halo map. I guess it can kind of look like Halo if you squint at the first room which is a Half-Life office with a window into space. Then from the supposed cockpit we travel forward, in front of the cockpit into more ship. At one point there is a train track tunnel with barriers blocking our way. There is also a tent. I mean if somebody is working with limited resources to make a conversion like turning Half-Life into Halo I don't expect perfection but this is nonsense. The ship makes no sense, just random Half-L...

       Run around a Doom Themed complex, fight enemies, and collect weapons. Find the keys to open the path forward. Don't get lost! Allegedly made in a week. SCMapDB page Author: Aurora Date of release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dread (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 24, 2026 | 3527 characters      Dread is a classic shooter walkthrough map from the nonstop action to the confusing corridors. Collect keycards, fight enemies crawling out of respawners, and defeat a guest star from another game.      The first thing you'll notice is the wonderful atmosphere. The lighting and level geometry makes for a wonderful brutal set of concrete corridors and occasional skylights letting in rain. It's good that this map makes corridors beautiful, because I spend much of my time lost in them.      The description mentions something about multiple pathways, but a big portion of that is in a convolution of ...

      Run around a Doom Themed complex, fight enemies, and collect weapons. Find the keys to open the path forward. Don't get lost! Allegedly made in a week. SCMapDB page Author: Aurora Date of release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dread (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 24, 2026 | 3948 characters      This map feels like a doom multiplayer map given singleplayer features. This map is a conglomeration of hallways with monster spawners and smatterings of weapons off in the corners.      I spent a lot of time lost in this map, the map description says 'multiple paths' and I can attest to that. Ultimately the whole map is finding two keys, unlocking the boss arena, and then killing the boss. Finding the first key was easy enough but then I spent a lot of time walking in circles trying to figure out where to go next. My teammate didn't have this problem so whenever we died I would just follow. But then we died trying t...

       Gotta go fast, again! Another set of six areas players have to clear before dealing with the evil Dr. Eggman. This was merged with the first map by the community but is being reviewed separately.  SCMapDB page Author: iLLuSioN Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 9, 2026 | 3207 characters      Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a follow-up to Sonic the Hedgehog. We played it through the merged maps available here. Much like the first map, it is a platforming/puzzle map. This time, a fair bit easier than the first to beat each zone. To find each chaos emerald, however, it's quite a challenge.      First of all, this time the platforming is far less reliant on propulsion springs. There are far more straight forward platforming puzzles, like a frogger-like, navigating atop spinning barrels, avoiding obstacles atop a moving platform, etc. I think fo...

      Gotta go fast, again! Another set of six areas players have to clear before dealing with the evil Dr. Eggman. This was merged with the first map by the community but is being reviewed separately.  SCMapDB page Author: iLLuSioN Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 9, 2026 | 2002 characters      This map is very similar to the first one, with a central hub and some Sonic themed courses accessed by jumping through pictures on the wall. Right off the bat a big difference I see is a lot more details added. The second level is a burning version of the first, its really cool.      This map is extremely similar to the first map, with lots of platforming and special gimmicks per level. The is music for each stage and that's a very welcome addition. I remember thinking the lack of music beyond one short song was strange in the first map. So while it m...

       Gotta go fast! Play through six stages inspired by the blue blur and find secret emeralds to defeat Dr. Eggman. Followed by a sequel that was merged into one map by the community. SCMapDB page Author: iLLuSioN Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sonic the Hedgehog (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 9, 2026 | 3213 characters      Sonic the Hedgehog is a platforming map where players race through 6 stages, a bonus stage, and a boss battle with tricky traps and secret emeralds.      Graphics are largely taken from old Sonic games to create the blockiest South Island I have ever seen. Despite the primitive geometry, there's a real charm to each environment that basks in the simplicity of a much older 3D title. The simple graphics sometimes help, sometimes hinder (as is the case with the bonus level).      The puzzles range from simple and fun to hair-tuggingly frustrating. Some are ...

      Gotta go fast! Play through six stages inspired by the blue blur and find secret emeralds to defeat Dr. Eggman. Followed by a sequel that was merged into one map by the community. SCMapDB page Author: iLLuSioN Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sonic the Hedgehog (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 9, 2026 | 2602 characters      When the map starts my teammate and I are in a room with a button that when pressed starts the map. We're dropped into a hallway that accelerates us towards the classic big red springs which bounce us straight up into the ceiling where we bounce back into the acceleration hallway. When we free ourselves we end up in a room with a big water feature and beyond are the entrances to the six different challenges. These springs aren't always janky, but the majority of the map relies on precision jumping and these big springs.      The challenges open up one at a time and within eac...

        They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at the above picture. If the link isn't broken then you know what kind of map this is. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Horsecock 7 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 2, 2026 | 2721 characters      Horsecock 7 is a nonsensical toy map where the toy is an enormous horse cock that you are ejaculated from and then try to land in one of many floating toilets while monsters and assassins in the enormously tall surrounding walls take pot shots at you. You simply line yourself up in base of the cock's urethra, shoot an adjacent brush (as instructed in the MOTD, which otherwise would have been impossible to independently discover. Why not just a button?), and then with the sound of a horse whinnying you are launched high into the air with a jet of white mist.      In this map, you are the horse spunk.      ...

       They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at the above picture. If the link isn't broken then you know what kind of map this is. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Horsecock 7 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 2, 2026 | 3823 characters     We'll start out by addressing the elephant in the room, this map is centered around a giant penis that jacks players off into what I will describe as the realm of the toilets. There is a horse sound when this happens but nothing else to really suggest this penis belongs to a horse. You'd think such a map would be wacky and fun but the respawning enemies, especially the snipers, make it a chore to actually play.     Near spawn there is an indent in the wall where players can float up, my teammate and I do so right as the map starts and we get to a ledge where we are sniped to death. At some point around here, either by some...

        There are not a whole lot of options for Christmas themed Sven maps. Step into the shoes of Santa and drop presents (grenades) down the chimneys of the good children. SCMapDB page Authors: CubicVirtuoso Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sveney Christmas (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | December 17, 2023 | 1918 characters      For a map made in two hours, this is a pretty complete idea. Players take grenades, fly around on a sleigh with train controls, and chuck the nades into 8 chimneys to complete the sequence. Each chimney is fairly easy to hit if you pull the sleigh up nice and close and take a couple throws to adjust aim. If you miss a bunch, don't worry, you can just fly your sleigh back to the cloud where you picked up your grenades.      The map has an effective aesthetic. The sleigh looks good, the cloud platform is perfectly functional, I think the street lamps on the cloud highlight...

      There are not a whole lot of options for Christmas themed Sven maps. Step into the shoes of Santa and drop presents (grenades) down the chimneys of the good children. SCMapDB page Authors: CubicVirtuoso Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sveney Christmas (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | December 17, 2023 | 1642 characters      Well it's that time of year again, at least it was when I wrote this, and that means it's time for Christmas. This fun holiday map has us riding around in Saint Nick's little cart thing and delivering presents to the children, and by that I mean grenades. The map description says it was made in only two hours and the result is a very short and fun map.      When we were almost at the end of blowing these poor children to kingdom come my teammate suddenly realized that we weren't getting any score for this, I feel like that would have been a big improvement and give the map more ...

       Defend a castle! This is one of those times where the map name absolute describes exactly what is happening here. Defend a nuke for a set amount of time, which is apparently broken so just go until enemies stop appearing. SCMapDB page Author: generic Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castle Defence (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 10, 2023 | 3488 characters      Castle Defense is a hoard map with a veritable multitool of a player defense area. The "castle" is a rather large fortress fit with gates, retractable turrets, mounted guns, SAMs, multiple armories, a barracks, and a goddamned nuke. That last thing is what you'll be spending the map defending against waves and waves and waves of HECU.      The enemies assaulting the player come in your standard HECU flavors, but come in large numbers wielding RPGs. There's also a heavy helping of heavy weapons grunts, and some supporting apaches. ...

      Defend a castle! This is one of those times where the map name absolute describes exactly what is happening here. Defend a nuke for a set amount of time, which is apparently broken so just go until enemies stop appearing. SCMapDB page Author: generic Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castle Defence (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 10, 2023 | 4115 characters      This defense map could have been really good, but it appears that it currently doesn't have a game end and just continues forever, there may also be map events that do not trigger. It's unfortunate because I think this map does defense really well and I would like to see it working.      So we start in a big tower and we are informed the power is out, now I didn't really know this at the time, but the main power is our basic stuff like doors and turrets and the auxiliary power is our advanced stuff like reinforcements. I found the main p...

       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...

      This map is presented as a platforming map but it actually has quite a bit of combat. The buildings themselves are large and mostly empty boxes with some filled to the brim with a tidal wave of enemies. SCMapDB page Author: HelloTimber Date of release: 2018 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Building Jumper (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 29, 2023 | 2987 characters      Building Jumper is a Sven Co-op map which combines high-HP enemies, inconsistent equipment, annoying backtracking, the most frustrating possible platforming puzzles with the highest possible stakes, unclear progression, getting attacked in spawn, being sniped before you have any weapons, and bland blocky visuals. About 1/3 of the way through it I lost all patience with it and cheated. If I had not, I would not have completed it. I should have just abandoned it.      This map requires certain equipment for progression, such as barnacles...

      This map is presented as a platforming map but it actually has quite a bit of combat. The buildings themselves are large and mostly empty boxes with some filled to the brim with a tidal wave of enemies. SCMapDB page Author: HelloTimber Date of release: 2018 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Building Jumper (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 29, 2023 | 3290 characters      This map really seemed like a straight up platforming map but there was a lot of action in it as well. I thought it was a neat approach to the whole platforming game type. It is such a shame that this map was frequently more annoying than fun.      So we start in a room with a some friendly NPCs and the moment we walk into the next room we are assaulted by unarmed male assassins who spin kick us silly. We only have medkits so we run past them up a steep and lengthy spiral rampcase to the top of the tower where we have to jump to anothe...

      The extended version of Breakout, which can be found on the same page as this map on the database, feels more like a revised and finished version. It's a lot of standard looking Black Mesa architecture with tons of buttons to open doors and spawn monsters.  SCMapDB page Author: Chris Silcock Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakout Extended (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 13, 2023 | 3211 characters      Breakout Extended is a linear walkthrough map for Sven Co-op. Blast your way through default-flavored corridors and enemies. Spend most of the map with boilerplate weapons, and occasionally keep them between checkpoints! Fight all sorts of infantry-style enemies across the Earth military, Xenians, and Race X.      The combat is mostly corridor shooting which can easily feel bland. What keeps things interesting most of the time is small details in the visuals and cycling th...

      The extended version of Breakout, which can be found on the same page as this map on the database, feels more like a revised and finished version. It's a lot of standard looking Black Mesa architecture with tons of buttons to open doors and spawn monsters.  SCMapDB page Author: Chris Silcock Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Breakout Extended (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 13, 2023 | 4766 characters      So this is the extended version of Breakout, which is also available for download on the Breakout Extended page but doesn't have it's own page. We didn't realize we could play the original until right before writing our reviews so we just noclipped through it to see the difference. The difference is a whole new section, almost half the map added after the dead end in the original. We didn't play for realsies but we did try to end the map to no avail, so I'm guessing this is more like a fin...