Unpopular opinion (probably), but here goes: . There's no doubt that this campaign is one of the most beautifully-crafted mods you can currently get. Each level is -extremely- detailed and the lighting, sounds, and use of custom props really comes together well to enhance the atmosphere and draw the player in. From a strictly -visual- standpoint, this map is honestly a 10/10. Great architecture too. I really felt like I was in Chernobyl. Amazing work on that. . My issues with this campaign though, and why I am giving it a 3, are rooted in the -gameplay-. . . 1. The BIGGEST problem I have with this campaign, are the Director Settings employed by the vscripts. Seriously, 200 CommonLimit? WTF dude. In all of my time playing this game (nearing 3000 hours), I have never seen a value that high used. I had so many commons on-screen that I was dropping frames below 60 (I have a 1080 Ti, i7 6700k @ 4.2 GHz, and 16 GB DDR4-3600 - I usually get 300 FPS solid on most maps), and my server was choking -hard- during hordes. Just to put it into perspective for people, the DEFAULT common infected limit is 30. Every single map in Chernobyl has a CommonLimit of 200 (yes, TWO HUNDRED) in its Map Script. On top of this, the Wanderer limit is doubled, so each room is FULL of zombies. Most rooms/areas I walked into had upwards of 30 to 40 common in them, so many that the zombat music cues would pop on once the zombies had noticed me and started to attack. It's ridiculous... . There are WAY too many hordes, and the MobSize is set way too high. When I checked the vscripts, I found a MaxFlowRelax value of 5, which means that every 5% progression through the map, the horde timer basically resets. The MobSize itself allows for upwards of 50-60 zombies to spawn at once (I forget the exact number), so you seriously get swarmed hard. This happened during a Tank fight on many occasions. . Oh yeah, I forgot, but the ClearedRespawnChance for commons is set to 1.0, which means that a room you've previously cleared out can repopulate with CI. But why..? . The finale is even more egregious in this regard. CI hordes can be up to -80- large, and the PeakRelaxInterval is basically non-existent (its set to like 3 seconds), which means that the Director is always in 'Full Throttle Mode' (spawn another horde every 3 seconds basically). Since there are already 200 max commons, you never get to clear out those zombies before another set of 40-80 spawns into the map. So basically, you -continuously- get horde after horde on the finale, leaving you no breather to heal or grab ammo. If you don't have a pipe bomb or bile, you're screwed here. There are already no real places for players to defend or hold out either, so you basically just have to find a corner and hope for the best. And my goodness, is it laggy. I seriously have no idea how the authors intended for this to be doable on Expert or even Realism... . Tldr; Artificial difficulty is bad. . My suggestion: - Remove the increased limits entirely. Get rid of the increased CommonLimit, MobSize, and let the Director dynamically set the RelaxInterval. Let the players dictate the difficulty with their own skill / choices (difficulty, mutator, mods, etc) rather than force it on them by artificially increasing the spawning parameters. So many maps do this and I don't get the appeal at all. It's seriously tiresome.. Maybe people feel that it makes the campaign too easy otherwise? I guess I'm just not that masochistic. . . 2. The collisions / clipping of the campaign really needs some work. There are a lot of places (mostly indoors) where random objects on the ground completely stop your movement and impede your progress. All of these things should have their collisions set off to avoid 'snagging'. My friend got downed by a Tank because he got stuck on one of these objects.. frustrating and feels unfair when it happens. I myself also got stuck on objects a lot while kiting Tanks/hordes. . My suggestion: - Turn off collisions on any debris on the ground - Add more 'anti-snag' clip brushes so that players slide off of protruding objects/geometry instead of getting caught on them . . 3. The irradiated zones really need to be signposted better. I can't read cryllic languages. My friends can't either. None of us knew that that little black sign meant 'hey, if you pass this line, you're going to take damage'. I realize that the radiation only does 1 damage per second, but players could easily wander into one of those zones at low health (because they don't really look visually threatening at all) and subsequently F* themselves over, which is not fun. In fact, that's exactly what happened. I had to redo one of the maps because I got stuck in one of these zones during a Horde (frustrating!). It's VERY easy to do this on accident while backpedaling away from a horde/Tank, and it also doesn't help that some rooms actually have supplies that lure you into them only for you to take damage from the radiation. It also doesn't help that taking damage beyond 40 HP slows you, which only makes you take even more damage. It's just a very punishing mechanic that -could- work if it were communicated better to the player. . Yes, I realize that there is already a particle effect near these zones, but it honestly doesn't seem threatening because the campaign never establishes that its threatening in the first place. You're basically left to figure it out through trial and error ('oops'). And before someone says it - yes I know that the IRL region is irradiated, but damage zones are not common in most campaigns, and as such IMO should be clearly labeled. . My suggestion: - Add a better visual indicator that shows that the irradiated areas are dangerous. Add this RIGHT at the start, so the campaign establishes right away that 'these areas are dangerous'. Could be a gas cloud or a director hint or something. Gas cloud is prob better though since not everyone uses the director hint system. . . 4. While we're still talking about the irradiated zones, -forced damage- is always dumb, no matter what the circumstances are. Right at the beginning of map 2, you are forced to walk through an irradiated zone in order to progress through the map. Not only is this confusing (because you learn to NOT go into these zones), but its PUNISHING for no reason to the player(s). I sat for a bit trying to figure out a way to get around the zone because I assumed that it was just a dead end. If there was another way to go, then I didn't see it because it wasn't really clear. I also got a Tank in this area (and Hordes), which sucked because I had to kite him around that area running through the radiation (I couldn't kite him anywhere else because that was the only wide open outdoor section nearby). . My suggestion: - Always have alternate paths around the forced damage zones. This way, it becomes a -hazard- and not an -obstacle-, and you let the player create the experience for themselves with their choice(s) (like I explained earlier). Once a player realizes there is an alternate path, its suddenly that much less frustrating to get stuck in one of the zones. . . 5. The area where you have to collect the 3 gas cans feels like it could have better flow. I completely missed that I even had to collect gas cans at all, and wandered around the large open space trying to figure out where to go. It's only when I stumbled on the explosives that I realized what I had to do. . My suggestion: - Find some way to make it so that players HAVE to pass by the explosives, and therefore see what they have to do. You could do a lot with this, including custom voiceover, or if you must keep it where it is, at least make some breadcrumbs in the environment that lead the Survivors to that location. . . 6. The first part of map 4 (in those dilapidated apartments) is really confusing and mazy. I think this area could use more lights (makeshift stuff perhaps) to point players in the right direction. I realize that the place is run down and abandoned, but this is one of those moments where I think its fair to compromise realism for the sake of gameplay. Getting lost in a time-based game isn't fun because you take more damage the longer you spend in any given area due to hordes and SI spawning. . . Anyway, this review has gone on longer than I anticipated. To the authors directly - please do not misconstrue what I'm saying. I don't hate your campaign. I think its brilliant, but there are some seriously frustrating aspects that make it unfun for me to play. Honestly, you could just fix #1 and I would be instantly happy. I hope that I've provided reasonable constructive feedback to help illustrate my experience(s). I look forward to Chapter Two and seeing what's next!