A Path To Exit

Title: A Path To Exit
Links: http://gamemaps.com/details/19892, http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1331266928
Author: Kryogen
Survivors: L4D2
Notes: N/A

A Path To Exit is a three-map campaign that has an abstract setting. It mostly takes place indoors and all of the areas are blocky and primitively geometric, as in the above example (the first room past the starting point). In addition, the walls, platforms, floors, and ceilings are crudely textured and look very basic in style. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it fails to make good use of the Source engine's much higher capabilities, as well as the standard Half-Life 2 textures that were put to better use in so many other campaigns. The saferooms in particular are incredibly basic and feel like so little work was put in to make them feel lived in that it's almost confining.

There were few problems with directionality. Lighting is tends to be on a "hit you over the head" level, with standing lights pointing extremely bright beams in the area you're supposed to go. Again it contributes to the feeling that only the most basic things were added. An adequate number of directional arrows are included for good effect and the game instructor messages are sufficient.

The first two maps contain areas that fall into either bright and well-lit rooms or very dim and extremely dark ones. These are used to good effect for contrast, although it's very clear that the concepts behind the rooms were given more thought than how they work in L4D2. That is, these maps don't promote any special kind of challenge or difficulty in the game, as it doesn't seem like the inclusion of infected, common or special, pose any particular challenge at all.

Rather, it's pretty obvious that the first two maps were created with certain puzzles in mind. They're very basic to figure out, such as shoot the floor or jump over/crawl under damaging wires, etc. These are easy to figure out and at most they entail pushing a button at the end of a path. There was just one alcove that eluded me for a bit because it's hidden and you can't proceed without finding it. I appreciated this break from linearity but everything still looks crude, blocky, and unrealistic, so it just seems conceptual rather than something interesting.

The third map is literally just a holdout in, again, a very primitive setting. There were several invisible wall sections in the previous maps where only infected could come from, but this is made very obvious in the finale. The holdout location is actually here designed with strategy in mind, but it's so easy that you'd have to be brain dead to find it legitimately challenging. On top of this, the buildings don't even have anything other than the wall facing you, so it's very clearly just made for the simplicity of it without much care for polish or visual quality.

This looks and plays somewhat like the typical Chinese map without all the bullshit. It's very easy and not much to look at, but it has some basic concepts of what it wants to be, just without any polish. It's serviceable though mostly too easy. I do think it could potentially work well for mutations, such as Tank Attack (from Rayman's Mutation Mod), Hard Eight or something with a bunch of hunters. The standard way through is just not as rewarding as it could be. I get the feeling that this is the author's first attempt at a map, and that's very clear here. Otherwise, there's not too much wrong with it, it just feels like there isn't much to it. Resources are distributed well but the design isn't polished to deal with certain facets of L4D2. For example, defibs are strewn around because the author must've figured out that the bots will kill themselves off ladders, rather than the ladder being fixed in some way.

Difficulty: Pretty easy all things considered. The only sticking point may be finding all of the buttons to proceed in map 2, otherwise no concerns here. Regular players may find it more rewarding to start on Advanced difficulty.

Final Verdict: A crude and abstract 20-minute campaign, but A Path To Exit has some kind of semblance of a vision nonetheless, and doesn't have any bad tricks or traps. Easy, short, and not very polished, this is probably more valuable as a backup map for some mutations than for campaign. Adequate enough for a one-off if you're desperate for a new map, otherwise skippable.

Rating: 2.76/5.