Reviews for Dark Messiah E3
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TommyCD1Posted this review
"You've written too many negative reviews. Leave a positive one to continue."
Pros: - Very nice atmosphere. Map looks great and has nice model work done. Whether it's done by hand or exported from somewhere it irrelevant, as it's implemented nicely either way. - Common infected actually match the terrain. They believable look in place. - Lots of supplies for the finale. - Has custom music. - Good pacing and supplies for how short it is. Cons: - Extremely short. Assuming you don't fall for any traps, the map can take approximately 5 to 6 minutes to reach the finale arena. - 0 randomness. Every item spawn is guaranteed and will never change for every play through. - Several "troll" beginner's traps that kill one or several survivors. - Map is extremely bot unfriendly. They have trouble avoiding hazardous spikes, scavenging items, or falling down the spiral staircase. This can be alleviated somewhat by forgoing any bot add-ons, however... - Finale is extremely unbalanced, especially on Expert. The fourth finale stage will spawn three simultaneous Tanks at once, often while several common infected are still alive. - Special Infected timer has been decreased from 30 seconds to 1 second, essentially turning any play through into "Special Delivery mode ft. common infected". A lot I have to say about this map. For such a short map, there sure is a lot of stuff wrong. As someone who tends to play things with a friend on Expert, this map was a nightmare to get through. First, actual map layout. The beginning of the map is perilous, but without any bosses or specials, it's okay. Once you reach the zipline that takes you across is when issues begin. It's possible to exit the vehicle and die, which mostly only happens with bot players (minor) or high ping players (major). Once you reach the other side, you can ride the rail in reverse as well, such as to escape a Tank, although this second ride can be initiated without the other survivors inside. Beyond that though is more cliff side combat. This time however specials are spawned, which makes things significantly more dangerous. You can be pushed off by Boomers, pulled down by Smokers, or of course death charged and deathstroked by Chargers. The special respawn timer also makes it guaranteed there's a special waiting, if not in pairs of duplicates. Inside the actual structure, there's two paths to take, either one triggering a mandatory Tank + horde battle. Further beyond that is a spiral staircase and tunnel leading into the finale area. The staircase is dangerous as you can hang on the ledge should you try jumping down, and you can take fall damage even from the lowest possible drop point. Lastly the tunnel is absolutely infested with Specials that respawn instantly, as there's no where left for them to spawn. Overall a very short walk even accounting for the Tank fight time. Second point, the trolls. For such a short map, there's several beginner's traps to kill unsuspecting players. The first one being once you ride the rail then first the first corner, there's an alcove in the wall which will try to force spawn a Charger as soon as you pass by. It will very often take a bot should you try running past, so I recommend simply forcing it to spawn then running back again. Of course, it may charge after it rounds the corner, so be ready for that. The second trap that I encountered was when trying to platform on the woodplank outcroppings, such as to reach the hidden M60 or the perch with grenades, one such platform broke underneath my feet. Luckily I was already on another platform safely, but I recommend not even trying to drop down onto the platforms at all. Especially if you are playing with bots, since you can hang on the ledge when trying to fall down, and the bots will almost always do so. Another troll, inside there are two gates to go through, left and right. Both will trigger the aforementioned Tank + Horde event. However, if you pick the right path rather than left, the gate will close behind you and trap you inside the tiny area with the Tank and horde. Good luck surviving on Expert or even Advanced... Lastly and most importantly, the finale. The finale is way unbalanced. How it works is thus: four alternating waves of common infected and Tanks. The Tank waves seem to begin before the common infected have been cleared. Then, the second Tank wave has three Tanks at the same time. The finale area is wide open, and infected spawn from far away. On Advanced, I was able to clear the finale first try without even taking damage. However, Expert mode took several hours of attempts. The finale arena is covered with water everywhere, so this makes Tanks effectively immune to molotovs and makes them move faster than a full health survivor. Since you're essentially pigeonholed into using vanilla bots playing alone, they are terrible at fighting Tanks on expert, since they very often simply let the Tanks hit them. Once the finale is over though, the rescue arrives which is just a rope to climb up. It's not bad, a little difficult to see where the rope is exactly, or which orientation it can be climbed from. However the bots don't climb it and are forced to stay and die. I think this is simply because the ladder doesn't actually lead to anyway, so there's nowhere for them to nav so and so they don't climb the ladder. But not a big deal. You're defenseless when climbing though, which can be a problem when trying to avoid Smokers or Tank rocks. I honestly cannot recommend playing this in its current state. With how extremely short the map is, and how it will be nearly identical with items and events each play through, I don't see it worth the attempt. Playing on easier difficulties even up to Advanced is a piece of cake, due to how extremely short and well supplied the map is, while playing Expert is a real treat entirely thanks to the Finale. The map looks good and functions as intended and all, surely it was worth creating it, but playing it is just a different story. I suppose the more casual players with friends or Normal difficulty could enjoy this the first time around. However, again, the complete lack of replay ability simply sinks it in my opinion. I'm not rating this as low as possible, since there are positives and it is well made.
This review was posted before the latest release.
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ErrorUnknownGTPosted this review
Review
Cool map, well put together. As you said it's very short but you tried to make the most of it. The bots struggle on this one, they can get stuck sometimes when trying to descend at certain points.
Edited: October 2023
This review was posted before the latest release.
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DHenkPosted this review
Excellent one Map Campaign!!
This is a very detailed map. The graphics are excellent with things like wood having the grain, stone stairs detailed with little bits, detailed torch lights,and a foggy area on the stairs. All work to give you a medieval look. Plenty of supplies are scattered around. The finale you have plenty of supplies to hold off all the hordes. Note it's a helicopter rescue but not your typical one. This got me a couple of times until I got it straight (as Homer Simpson says "DOH!!"). Bot Navigation (I played Solo) was excellent except they didn't want to climb up but decided to stay and fight to the death (they did hold out quite awhile). So give it a try as the author created the potential start to something bigger (we can hope!). Thanks to Author for taking the time and effort to create a winner! Chief
This review was posted before the latest release.
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luubinh109Posted this review
Review
only 1 chapter but this is cool map 🤌
This review was posted before the latest release.
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End of results.
Posted this review
Bot game imposable!!