The most wonderful time of the year! Halloween is upon us, and that means another scary mapping challenge from Map Labs. This time it’s Halloween Horror II: The Darkness, where mappers were tasked with using light and darkness in a unique way.
The Halloween mapping challenges over the years have been a bit of a mixed bag. But this pack of spooky maps is solid from top to bottom with some real clever maps in there. Buckle up, and embrace the darkness.
As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord!
- Title: Halloween Horror II: The Darkness
- Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-halloweenhorror2.7z
- Size : 320 MB
- Author: JanKaszanka, Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon, Skorly, DeanAmythe, timCopwell, iiboharz, Jackathan, The Octopus, BeefBacon, LordDz
- Date Released: 31 October 2019
- Make sure you have the Upcoming branch of the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer installed in Steam and run at least once. (Properties – Betas – select upcoming from the dropdown list).
- Copy the “halloweenhorror2” folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Halloween Horror 2: The Darkness should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the file below as a template:
HalloweenHorror2-Review-Template.txt
Listed as they are displayed in the mod itself:
Hammer Tools Inc. by JanKaszanka
Night Terror by Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon
Self Defense by Skorly
Ablaze by DeanAmythe
BLINK by timCopwell
Shattered by iiboharz and Jackathan
Bunker by The Octopus
Aberrant Transmission by BeefBacon
Reavers by LordDz
Hammer Tools Inc. – Aggressive Mode by JanKaszanka (bonus map)
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots.
1600 x 900
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2,772Overall
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0Today
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4Last 7 days
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17Last 30 days
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151365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 3 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours, 20 Mins
Shortest: 2 Hours by DeanAmythe
Longest: 3 Hours by Hec
Total Time Played: 7 Hours
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
Nice job converting the FNaF concept into HL2 and not entirely copying it. Although the camera switching took a bit of time to get used to, I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
A phone guy was also a nice touch, but I think some players will be overwhelmed by the amount of information given to them, even though it isn’t really that much. I myself already had an idea of what the jammer did when I used it when the hudhint came up, but for some people it won’t be clear until they’ve heard from the phone guy what it’s purpose is, and when that time comes there may already be entities at the door. I think a more “interactive” phone call could’ve worked here, like,
“Let’s check the camera’s”
*player opens the cam feed*
“Let’s look on the left side”
Kinda like that. It also would’ve been good to tell the player that the entities are already active when the night starts, that may have given them more incentive to check the cams immediately.
My main gripe with this entry is the gameplay; it’s very repetitive. You really are just doing the same things over and over for what seems like way too long. Every entity has the same path to go (the same amount of “steps”) and they both behave the same. Some differences in their behavior would’ve certainly reduced the repetitiveness.
Another weak point in the gameplay is how it feels kinda luck based (even though it may not be). When both entities come at you at once, you just have to be kinda lucky and spam W in the hope the jammer powers up again before you get a (weak and not very well implemented) jumpscare.
Now the visuals were certainly pretty good, I guess that’s also due to the creator only having to detail what the cams are looking at, leaving out spots to detail.
I think this entry wasn’t great with the spookiness. Yes, it’s suspenseful when the entities come closer and closer to you, but that’s it. The jumpscares are also, as mentioned before, pretty lame and the sound was also way too weak to make the player jump in any way (except for Strontvlieg, it made him spill coffee).
All in all, a creatively put together but flawed entry, definitely a good one to start the competition with.
Creative and unsettling, but falls flat in terms of gameplay.
Switching off lights was a neat idea and really brings back memories of when I used to run up to the first floor of my house after turning off the lights downstairs, hoping the demons in the dark won’t get to me (something that I still tend to do lol). In this map though, there doesn’t seem like there is a reason to stay out of the dark. The letters suggest the demons in the dark will take you if you stay in it too long, but I never found that to be the case, even when standing in the dark with host_framerate.
The thing that this entry nails is the unsettling atmosphere, Matt really did great job on that. How the house slowly decays each night was also neatly implemented and executed. The night that was the most unsettling though, was the fourth one, and you’ll see why when you play this.
The visuals were a bit underwhelming but the amount of detail does make sense as Matt was recreating his own house here.
As I said, this entry’s gameplay isn’t very good. In almost every night you are doing the exact same thing, switching the exact same lights off in the same place over and over, with only one night (night 4) making it an interesting thing to do. If you were able to make a mechanic that actually punishes you for staying in the dark, it most likely would’ve been more interesting.
All in all, an entry with some neat ideas that aren’t implemented very well.
Just like the previous two entries, creative ideas, poor gameplay. In this one you have to collect 12 gnomes in an interesting looking city where you are not alone in. I don’t really mind maps where you have to find stuff, but at least make it exciting. Here you are just walking around really slowly around the city with basically all other functions than walking and the HUD disabled. This makes finding the gnomes pretty tedious as the city itself has a relatively large size. Finding the last few gnomes was really damn boring as I was just walking in circles most of the time.
In the map’s defense (no pun intended), the interesting looking city does make it less of a chore. I liked the use of different saturated colors in the lighting, making for a way more abstract looking place. The lighting also helps to make some interior areas more interesting to look at, as a lot of them are very underdetailed or just simply empty.
The map has a pretty neat atmosphere, nice use of sound effects and noises. Sometimes the noises started playing when I wasn’t even in sight of the monster though, or at least I didn’t see it and I didn’t hear any gunshots either.
All in all an interesting map that’s well worth a play if you can look past bit of tediousness.
This definitely could’ve been one of my favorite entries on this competitions if it wasn’t for a few frustrating aspects. I don’t know if it’s me or the map, but I found the player direction to be horrible. At first it’s okay, but after I turned on the generator I was left walking around for at least 10 minutes looking for the next thing to do. You are supposed to use physics items to proceed, but I didn’t make the connection as a lot of physics objects in the map, well, don’t have physics, so I didn’t see them as anything important. After I got past that the map got better instantly, but I was still left very frustrated.
Now on to the other things; good stuff. The main mechanic of the game is creative but I had no idea what it did at first and the [!] on my screen left me confused as well, but it didn’t bother me that much. What did bother me a bit, however, was the constant back-and-forth walking, and since you are quite slow it can get a bit tedious.
The map’s visuals were good, but I was a bit annoyed by the sprites on the lights; none of them were correctly placed and the sprites had Glow for Render Mode instead of World Space Glow, which means that the glows stay the same size on your screen no matter the distance, which makes for some awful looking effects. Also, don’t use point_spotlight entities on florescent lights, it looks really odd.
All in all, a good map that I think could’ve benefited from more playtesting.
This entry felt like it was made for another competition really. The spook factor was basically absent. Yes, there were a few skeletons here and there, but I mean… does anyone legitimately get scared by a skeleton physics prop in HL2?
The only real thing that this entry has got going for it are the visuals and the interesting setting. I like how the previous maps from the creators are “coming together” so to say. But, how is the gameplay?
It’s okay at best. All you do is throw props at Metrocops with your Gravity Gun. That doesn’t sound that bad on paper, but I just found it very frustrating to do because of the enemy and prop placement.
All in all, a visually good looking and interesting map with uninteresting gameplay and horror elements that feel like they have been shoehorned in at the last minute.
Sorry, but this one wasn’t very good. It starts off pretty nice, but once the Fast Zombies start appearing, it just becomes a tedious and frustrating experience. Why in the hell would you make me fight two Fast Zombies on a small platform with a crowbar?!
Just like Shattered, the spook factor is nowhere to be seen here, unless you find fighting Zombies in brightly lit areas frightening.
The visuals were okay at the beginning because the darkness kinda hides the underdetailed areas, but when the bright lighting starts kicking in you can see it however, and it just doesn’t look good.
It sounds like I couldn’t find any redeeming features on this map, but I could. For example, I thought some of the areas were well made, (not necessarily in terms of gameplay, but I mean geometry and shit) the part where you are on the platform I mentioned before, looks pretty neat with all the spotlights.
Fighting the Fast Zombies was annoying at first, but once you get the Gravity Gun and a sawblade, it gets way better as you now have the tools necessary to actually fight them properly.
If this is the creator’s first map, dont’ worry, I’ve seen way, way worse.
Really liked this one! Great visuals, fantastic atmosphere, good gameplay. I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this one except for a few things.
The stealth section was pretty neat, although I think it will be frustrating for some players; it might be unclear to the player that they’re supposed to use stealth here, and they will rush through the area and will become frustrated by continuous death. Breaking the lamp with a prop can also be a bit unclear to the player, but some effects and a hudhint did the job for me.
I didn’t really find the map to be very scary. A few things here and there made me jump a little and the atmosphere was unsettling, but that’s it.
All in all, a really good entry, can’t wait to see more from the creator.
Really like the spaceship setting here! Love me some horror on spaceships. And it works well here!
The Grubs on the walls and ceiling fit very well, very good choice of the creator to put those in. They add a lot to the “abandoned spaceship” feel of the map.
The atmosphere and spookyness were on point as well. Good use of lighting and a few jumpscares here and there. They got me pretty good!
The section with the suit was really well made, very good use of a screenoverlay and sound effects. It actually felt convincing, in contrast to other similar attemps I’ve seen.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
A rather disappointing collection of maps. Aberrant Transmission was the best by far and again breaking the light took some time to figure out as you can’t do that to any other light too! Also why is it that many modders find it is cool to 1) remove jumping and 2) hide the quick save message?
I guess they do that to make you less mobile, limiting your abilites (to make you feel more vulnerable).
Hiding the quick save message I think is because of the speedmod mappers use to limit your movement.
Had trouble getting past the gate in Aberrant Transmission.
Yeah it can be tricky. I was able to trap the zombine outside the room but I think the intent is to stealth it, and you can break the bright light to help.
Thanks
A combination of excellingly good maps that bring great concepts/experiences along with some more basic and “bread-and-milk” type of experiences, there’s bound to be atleast 1 map you’ll really like – Since they all seem to explore varying and differently executed scenarios. From collectible hunting, to walking-around-and-looking-at-shit simulator, it’s not all creepy, but most of it is fairly entertaining.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
It’s been a while since I play an HL2 mod, and playing this was a very pleasant return.
Overall the whole entries are great pieces of horror modding set into an HL2 scenario, which is a thing kind of hard to do well in HL2 modding. So here are my thoughts about the entries.
Hamer Tools INC
It was a good one. at first, I was a bit confused about the gameplay dynamics, but then after some trial and error tests, I was able to get it, and passing the whole mod, was a nice feeling.
I guess I’ll try the famous “Five Nights at Freddie’s” as that one with this dynamic can then have great entertainment value to play.
Night Terror
This was a cool entry. And also made me remember, a lot, to the “Underhell” mod, especially the house part, full with clues that give you a nice eerie context. The part where you finally find the “dark one” -yes because it is only 1 entity that haunts you- it was the peak of the horror setting, but I felt it quite simple, and the ending, well it was a classic “no escape” one. Overall this was a nice psychological horror entry.
Self Defense
What impressed me a bit in this one, was the huge city-town the map where it was set. Finding the spooky gnomes adds a nice task to find out what entity is chasing you, and the slow shooting (you know, slow because you can’t sprint in this map) was challenging enough to get your nerves strained the whole gameplay time. The real downer for me in this entry was the end. Because I think it is unfair, that no matter what you do, you end up being murdered by that entity, maybe if we were able to escape the whole feeling of ending this entry would’ve been more satisfying.
Blink
I loved this one. It was so clever with that interesting dynamic of actually blink with the left mouse and see clues or realizing some objects that could be handy for you to continue with the mod until the end. And although I think some people may found it frustrating at first contact, once you carefully focus on details, especially objects that can be moved when you are on blink mode, the whole gameplay experience is very satisfying. I also consider that play this entry makes that playing this map pack whorts its weight on gold.
Shattered
I felt this one as a nice twist to the HL1 Black Mesa incident. Where you end up in a very freaked up universe where you have to escape, and despite it was short and quite linear the experience for me, it was not that bad.
Bunker
It was a linear and very predictable map. Also, the “horror” resources that deploy are very basic and quite boring HL2 Zombies and not much than that. Sorry but this entry just feels like another random zombie HL2 map, so that makes it a bit out of place in this map pack.
Aberrant Transmission
This was also a masterpiece. And not being able to sprint or grab a weapon from the beginning of the map, was a nice way to plunge the player into that horror prison break scenario. It also made use of pretty clever environmental resources, like throwing bricks to glasses and lamps, and the Stealth section also was a very good one, despite it was very tricky -indeed I save myself as I put the zombine and the regular zombie to fight, so the first one blew himself up with the grenade killing the other one, but that was difficult to get and also I died like 6 times after finally succeeding with that method-, the ending was sad, and I’d loved to kill that deadly stalker, but I guess that ending is part of the horror touch in this mod.
BOLD: Reavers
Well, this reminded me of the Alien films. It was also a nice spaceship scenario, and the whole escape-survival horror was present at 100 percent of the map gameplay. I also love how the HEV Suit turns itself into a quite slow but powerful mean to escape the doomed spaceship. It was a great concept, and entertaining, at its best.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
I think you forgot to review Ablaze?
Nearly everywhere you look in nearly any level in this mod, all you can see is literally pitch blackness & your own crosshair. You’re also not usually allowed to run, jump, use a weapon, do anything. Tedium & frustration are the best way to ensure that players aren’t immersed or invested & are therefore not even the least bit scared.
When I walk out of a lit space & my entire screen instantly goes black, it doesn’t make me scared. It makes me groan at how stupid it is to pretend human eyes work that way.
Not my kind of maps.
wait…. This is for the wrong game! How do you delete a reply?