I know I'm going to be a minority but I actually liked Nightmare the most. Yeah sure it was a little easy to get lost but that was kind of the point I felt? It had insanely tight map design though with all kinds of little connections between areas that I only got to appreciate so much because I got a little lost myself.

Least favorite was Core. Killing 100 guys was basically what I did on every other map and I think it had the weakest level design overall, kind of just a worse version of The Foundry right before it or Oceania and literally having to kill all 100 guys is going to make it godawful boring to ghost if one was inclined that way. Also what the hell was the point of the second wave?

Originally posted by Silicon Carne:

...kind of just a worse version of The Foundry right before it or Oceania and literally having to kill all 100 guys is going to make it godawful boring to ghost if one was inclined that way. Also what the hell was the point of the second wave?

Yeah, one thing I've noticed is that people who are more inclined to pure stealth/being as ghost as possible tend to not like Core as much, and it makes sense. I designed the Core as a "Predator Playground" (that sounds weird, but I mean the movie and not the schoolyard) that's more straightforward and open than the Foundry with no lockpick/key/keycard doors so the player has free reign to run around and ambush/step up traps in semi-predicate-able layout with several places mirrored roughly the same.

2nd wave was more people to kill in a now explored area w/ slight increased difficulty and more radio usage to funnel npcs into the same areas instead of being spread out.

Originally posted by Zewce:

[
Yeah, one thing I've noticed is that people who are more inclined to pure stealth/being as ghost as possible tend to not like Core as much, and it makes sense. I designed the Core as a "Predator Playground" (that sounds weird, but I mean the movie and not the schoolyard) that's more straightforward and open than the Foundry with no lockpick/key/keycard doors so the player has free reign to run around and ambush/step up traps in semi-predicate-able layout with several places mirrored roughly the same.

2nd wave was more people to kill in a now explored area w/ slight increased difficulty and more radio usage to funnel npcs into the same areas instead of being spread out.

IDK as someone who goes pretty heavy into pure assault I didn't really care for the map either. I think it's because my default strategy is to make as much noise as possible while run and gunning so the NPCs are constantly running in circles while huddling up enough to make burst fire / molotovs get insane numbers. It also explains why the increased difficulty of the second wave was lost on me-- that's what I'm trying to get them to do in the first place so from my perspective they're just funneling themselves to mop up quickly

Originally posted by 3556437451:

这两个关卡都没办法创造永久性的黑暗环境，想在这里面打狙击和埋伏都挺难受的

This isn't really a problem, all you really need is a dark corner to set up an ambush with the knife. The insane number of doors is really more than enough by itself since you can always lure people in with an open door then just rush out and stab them and repeat

Originally posted by 3556437451:

比较难受的关卡破烂教堂算一个

终点的门是整个战役里唯一一道可以把玩家自己软锁住的门

空旷又光亮的场景结果就是经常要和人机远距离交火，这在使用非致命或者低伤害装备的时候经常是问题

场景触发的爆炸有概率害死玩家

增援偶尔会卡在地图周边的树里，如果不注意就要体验被游击队打的快乐[个人感觉应该算优点]

人机在搜索模式下经常会卡在地图下方拿钥匙的房子里

如果整个教堂被烧，钱就会跟变黑的场景混在一起，要花点时间找

Yeah, you gotta use the trees and prone through bushes to take advantage of the cover on the outer edges, and even then it's only temporary as they'll still search the yard, but cutscene explosions don't affect the player. It's why Slumyard is able to function as it does.

Idk about any "soft-locks" and enemies "getting stuck" because there's no tight geometry that would cause them to physically be unable to move. If they choose to stay in certain areas then that's a regular quirk of enemy AI that anyone who's tried to 100% clear a level knows about when they have to hunt down the stragglers and find the handful of npcs hiding in a random spot.

It's nice you like the Church tho.
It's a lot more popular than I thought it'd be.

My favorite to least favorite levels are as follows:

Compound - Very good introduction level to the campaign

Slumyard - Very fun and tight "slum street" level

Church - Cool stealth turns to combat focus at the end if you go assassinating everyone before proceeding (as I usually do)

Nightmare - Very pretty and interesting level, I always love an irregular nightmare sequence where the level seems to twist several locations into one! Had a little trouble finding the remembrance Keycard however that more on me for missing the obvious area at the northwest.

Foundry - I liked the level design and going loud, honestly though I would even go as far as to say that the equipment you carry into this level should be the same as what you extracted with in church and what you finish with goes into Core like certain parts of IV1 (Luxus -> Bakers underground bunker)

Seaside Docks - Cool dock/warehouse level

Oceana - Cool ocean "man made island" level with neat story reveals however some parts felt a bit barren, ie the walkways between sections of the complex felt a bit narrow and empty

Core - honestly speaking the level felt a bit weaker than foundry but I still had fun with it, especially since I love going loud

Office - OK level, nice design but didn't really stick out in my memory after I had finished the campaign

Block Party - Honestly this is the only level that didn't really click with me 100%, probably because it feels like it should have a social stealth aspect in it like in IV2's campaign however it is understandable that it doesn't in the context of the story, idk maybe T should be able to BS his way into saying he lives in an apartment or get some ID to lie his way into it.

Originally posted by Drunkslaver:

...honestly though I would even go as far as to say that the equipment you carry into this level should be the same as what you extracted with in church and what you finish with goes into Core like certain parts of IV1 (Luxus -> Bakers underground bunker)

I appreciate you going through your thoughts on all the levels, and yeah, Block Party was one where I went in with a decent idea that never seemed to fully click exactly how I wanted it too, and it seems like that's being felt by a lot of people who play through it.

For the continuing levels, I went back and forth with myself on doing that for Docks -> Oceana and Foundry -> Core, but ultimately I wanted people to be able to play through the levels with whatever kit they wanted to have more a playground feel; especially when it came to the Core. It's something I'm tryna keep more in mind for the future.

Currently playing through Nightmare and I feel like I visited the entire map but i can't find the key for the last door, so far I have the Medical Mental, Familial Mental and Residential Remembrance keycards.
So far the campaign is really enjoyable and the maps are really beautifully made

Originally posted by KestreL:

Currently playing through Nightmare and I feel like I visited the entire map but i can't find the key for the last door, so far I have the Medical Mental, Familial Mental and Residential Remembrance keycards.
So far the campaign is really enjoyable and the maps are really beautifully made

Preciate it!
And although it might feel like you've gone through the entire map, the Residential Remembrance unlocks a fairly large area near the beginning of the map.

Originally posted by Zewce:

Originally posted by KestreL:

Currently playing through Nightmare and I feel like I visited the entire map but i can't find the key for the last door, so far I have the Medical Mental, Familial Mental and Residential Remembrance keycards.
So far the campaign is really enjoyable and the maps are really beautifully made

Preciate it!
And although it might feel like you've gone through the entire map, the Residential Remembrance unlocks a fairly large area near the beginning of the map.

thanks for the imput, i feel really dumb i don't know how i missed it lmfao, can finally go to the next map now, i really enjoyed nightmare's originality!

Originally posted by KestreL:

...i really enjoyed nightmare's originality!

Thanks, I was wanting to make a map like the Nightmare for awhile, and I was considering making a more and more corrupted version of Nightmare for each campaign to reflect both the more unhinged a character is and just to make super surreal crazy maps. Glad you enjoyed it.

Don't forget to come back and say which one was your favorite/least favorite.
I'm always curious about what people liked/didn't like.