Caelzeph

At the risk of sounding cliché, I registered just so I could share my feelings about this mission, despite others already having said just about everything that I wanted to say about it. Still, I firmly believe one can never have too much encouragement, so here we go. I just recently picked The Dark Mod back up after leaving it alone for a couple of years, saw that there was a new mission by Moonbo and, recalling how much I loved Requiem, immediately jumped into it. Several hours and one sleepless night later, I can definitely say I was not disappointed. It was magnificent. You have the most marvellous talent for creating maps and missions that are not only extremely interesting to play through and explore, but, much like an iceberg, are far deeper and more expansive than they appear at first glance. Playing through the map, picking up the threads of different stories and seeing all the attention to detail and layout is great fun, but having it open out further as you explore and realising there's so much more of it makes it an absolute joy to experience. In addition, taking things in a different direction from the usual with regards to the character (playing as a Builder, albeit one that used to be a thief), mechanics (the Holy Symbol and, to a lesser extent, the surprisingly-useful Shovel) and enemies really brings your (or, rather, Bolen's) corner of the Dark Mod's world to life and gives it an innovative, distinct feel that further enhances the missions. The map design is excellent, with the city buildings and backdrops all being varied and interesting, both to see and to clamber all over to find those hidden nooks and crannies (which are, in themselves just as varied and interesting). You fit an awful lot in, so much so that I ended up repeatedly combing areas to find hidden rooms and items I missed the first go around, or just to take in how good an area looked. I particularly liked how you gave the mansion such personality with the variously-shaped rooms, dips in the floor, use of lighting, different materials and other interesting touches such as all of which served to make the place seem much more 'real' and memorable. And the secrets! So many secrets! I also liked And then, of course, there is The gameplay is also great. The mechanic literally adds another dimension to things and makes the map itself a puzzle, especially considering how Bolen's inventory is handled with regards to it. From a more meta side of things, I didn't experience any noticable bugs whilst playing- impressive, considering the sheer scale of the mission and the amount of things that must be going on in the background. I would also like to commend your use of soundtrack in this. You did an excellent job matching it to the areas, which greatly enhanced the atmosphere. The story, too, is intriguing, involving as it does a series of smaller tales Bolen takes a hand in as well as their place in the overarching plot. I also found really helped drive the feeling of progression and drew me in further. Not to mention, having the character be one of the Builders opens up interesting new storytelling avenues and approaches in itself, to say nothing of a Builder with Bolen's particular skills. Furthermore, Altogether excellent stuff. I'd also like to mention how much I appreciated the first 'tutorial' mission. It did a wonderful job of introducing the main new mechanic and establishing the setting, neatly showed the player what to expect from the coming mission as it progressed and managed to fit in some story and intrigue to boot. My only problem is that now I've played both Requiem and this, I'm wanting to see more of the adventures of Bolen and where his unique talents take him in this particular corner of the world with its history. All whilst simultaneously knowing that such quality takes a very long time to produce. I sincerely hope you make more missions for this setting, as I'm sure do many others. In the meantime, I think I may very well have to look into getting a copy of that book of yours.