Halloween Horror 3: Bone Room – Map Labs Test Tube #11

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

30th October 2020

We’ve all come to love the annual Halloween Map Labs challenge. This year the challenge was only a Test Tube, so mappers only had a week and a half to build their scary, creepy entry. The theme was (B)one Room – the ever popular Map Labs motif now applied to the Halloween challenge, so mappers had to make a single room spooky!

This challenge proved to be as popular as the best of the Map Labs contests – with a whopping 28 entries (including 5 bonus maps). Enjoy!

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.

Basic Details
  • Title: Halloween Horror 3: Bone Room
  • Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-halloweenhorror3.3.7z
  • Size : 596 MB
  • Author: 1upD, shoes, SplendidDog, Tiop, Jean ‘XBLAH’ Knapp, Cvoxalury, Supertoaster, rowleto, BrokenTripod, timCopwell, Sergey, Tacarish, Officer_B, Caleb West (CW3D), Sir Perry, Metroham, Steven Cabbage, Duck, Gravity Cat, Sam ‘Startacker’ Ricker, FreshFishy, Shalashaska, RedZombie18 , Paragon, BeefBacon, Blixibon, Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon, roman_memes, Melomaniac
  • Date Released: 30 October 2020
  • Related: One Room
  • Related: Two Rooms

Download Options

Download to your HD [596 MB]

Manual Installation Instructions
  • 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 halloweenhorror3, mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic folders into your SourceMods folder.
  • Restart or start Steam.
  • Halloween Horror 3: Bone Room should now be listed in your Library tab.

Reviewing

If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the file below as a template:

HalloweenHorror3-Review-Template.txt

Entries

Listed as they are displayed in the mod itself:

Shadow Walker 3 by 1upD
The Psychopomp and the Incessant Hounding of the Eternal Nocturne Sky by shoes
Snowed In by SplendidDog
The Creep by Tiop
1408 by Jean ‘XBLAH’ Knapp
Warehouse Malpractices by Cvoxalury
Gateway 17 by Supertoaster
Trouble in City 17 by rowleto
Fears and Phobias by BrokenTripod
PUMPKING by timCopwell
Red ash winter by Sergey
Danse Macabre by Tacarish
Night Burial by Mark Allan AKA Officer_B
Don’t Look Back by Caleb West (CW3D)
Haunted Entrance by Sir Perry
IMP by Metroham
The Wraith by Steven Cabbage
Jijajinousness by Duck
Hellgate by Gravity Cat
CRASH by Sam ‘Startacker’ Ricker
Phasmophobia by FreshFishy
desperation by Shalashaska
Amaluuk by RedZombie18 & Paragon
Ice Cave by Sir Perry (bonus map)
The Bride of Covington Manor by BeefBacon (bonus map)
Between the Shadows by Blixibon & Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon (bonus map)
500 DAYS by roman_memes (bonus map)
After Hours by Melomaniac (bonus map)

Screenshots

WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots.

1600 x 900

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Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
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Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
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Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

3 recommendations, average score: 2.33 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.22 (what's that?)
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 3 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 3 Users

Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours, 1 Mins
Shortest: 1 Hours, 20 Mins by ShawnHL
Longest: 2 Hours, 43 Mins by ArctixSnowPup
Total Time Played: 6 Hours, 3 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
Jump to a review
Think TwiceMaybe?Think Twice

27 Comments

  1. I’m getting an error in Chrome when I try to download it. It says it can’t be downloaded securely

    1. Unq

      I get that too using Chrome. Sorry, looking into it.

      In the meantime you can use another browser or use the ModDB page to grab it.

  2. so for the installation, do the shared folders from another pack like fusionville 2 need to be deleted ? or can the be merged? these mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic

    1. Unq

      I don’t know for sure. It’s safer to delete and re-copy the folders.

  3. Wesp5

    Wow, and another big dissappointment after G-String. I have the feeling the HL2 modding scene is slowly coming to an end! Most of these maps where rubbish or not fun and most of all, not scary. I liked “The Bride of Covington Manor” best, because that had some actual entertaining gameplay and that even using a retro pixelated style!

  4. KillerMate

    When I launch it, I get the following error message: Tried to add d:\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\mapbase_episodic\content\sound as a search path

    1. Unq

      Did you follow the Manual Installation Instructions above closely? Did you copy all 4 folders to your Sourcemods directory?

      1. KillerMate

        Yes I copied the 4 folders to the Sourcemod directory

        1. Unq

          The only other thing I can say is to make sure you set the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer to the Upcoming beta branch, and launch it once by itself (just to the main menu, then quit).

          1. KillerMate

            It still doesn’t work.

            I noticed from the readme.txt:

            You should now have “Mapbase – Episodic”, “Mapbase – HL2” and “maplabstemplate” in your Steam library. If not, make sure you’re using the same drive Steam is installed on and ensure that you extracted the folders correctly. (e.g. “SteamApps/sourcemods/mapbase_shared”)

            But I dont have a maplabstemplate. Could it be the reason?

            1. Unq

              No you don’t need the maplabstemplate folder, that is left over in the readme for developers.

              Just to re-check:
              1. In your steamapps\sourcemods folder, you have: mapbase_episodic, mapbase_hl2, mapbase_shared, and halloweenhorror3 folders.
              2. Have set the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer to the Upcoming version in the Beta tab
              3. Have run the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer once by itself and reached the main menu (then quit).
              4. Have re-started Steam

              And it still doesn’t work? I suggest asking at the Map Labs Discord linked in the intro to this post, or perhaps on the ModDB page for Map Labs. Sorry.

    2. georgegk

      If you haven’t found the solution yet and are still interested you have to put the sound folder in a separate folder. For example make a new folder, named custom and put the sound folder in it:

      C:\programs\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\mapbase_episodic\content\custom\sound

  5. All of the maps past Haunted Entrance became locked once I finished Between The Shadows…

    1. Unq

      Well, I don’t know how or why that happened. But to fix it, find a file named valve.rc in your halloweenhorror3\cfg folder. Make sure it has this line:

      sv_unlockedchapters “99”

      If the valve.rc file doesn’t exist, just create a text file named that. Or copy it from the original download.

  6. I just don’t get the point of these “how fast can you make a map – any map” challenges. There were only 4 out of 28 that I rated better than 5 out of 10. Guess its as simple as it takes time to make a map.

    1. Wesp5

      I completely agree with you! Give the mappers time, otherwise the results will be bad.

  7. Before I play, I’d like to know; are there any in-your-face ooga-booga jumpscares in these maps?

  8. georgegk

    For anyone that gets the error “Tried to add d:\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\mapbase_episodic\content\sound as a search path” — here is the solution.

    You need to put the sound folder in a new separate folder, so your path will look for example like this:

    C:\programs\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\mapbase_episodic\content\custom\sound.

    1. Unq

      Just talked to the creator of Mapbase. That works but the better solution is:

      delete the 3 mapbase folders in sourcemods before installing this mod (or other Map Labs downloads)

  9. Hi
    Are Mapbase HL2 and Mapbase HL2 Episodic games in their own right, or are they just files that are required to play games such as Halloween Horror etc? I ask because when I launch either of them and select “new game”, the window that usually shows the games is blank.

    1. Unq

      All the Mapbase folders are just supporting. Mapbase includes a bunch of tools for the mappers to expand on the standard HL2 and Ep2 features.

      You want to launch the Halloween Horror 3 from Steam to play the mod.

  10. Think Twice

    2/5

  11. Maybe?

    There are some terrible maps, and some amazing maps in here. I only was unable to complete one of the maps. Please play the amazing maps. They are so worth it. My favorites are: The Bride of Covington Manor by BeefBacon (bonus map) and 1408 by Jean ‘XBLAH’ Knapp. The Wraith by Steven Cabbage was the only one that actually scared me.

    Shadow Walker 3 by 1upD
    It is okay

    I don’t care much for the guard the generator type “puzzles”. This reminded me too much of Ep1’s elevator puzzle. In fact, I think it’s an exact copy of it.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 5/10
    I’m not entirely sure where I was teleported to, but it seems like a cavern of some kind. Maybe a mineshaft since the elevator was here before Gordon teleported in. Not too much to look at though. Could’ve been a lot scarier if there were cave-ins or something. Suffocation is a phobia.

    Visuals 4/10
    Really dark. Not much to see. I liked the custom models though.

    Gameplay: 4/10
    Stand by the generator and wait. Don’t die!

    Final Score: 13/30 – 43%

    Final Comments: If you didn’t like Ep1’s elevator standoff, forget about playing this one. Took me 6 minutes. I’m sure about 4 of those minutes was waiting.

    The Psychopomp and the Incessant Hounding of the Eternal Nocturne Sky by shoes
    It is okay

    I don’t care much for the “this is a very involved video game, but it’s just a lot of talking and not much gameplay” kind of games. You know the ones where it’s all just one giant storyline for some character that you don’t even know, finding some missing pieces of their life that just brings the entire story together. A walking simulator of sorts. Yeah. At least Fallout 4 had guns. I tried playing death stranding, but it was A LOT of walking. I got pretty bored.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 2/10
    You’re on a train… as a ghost?

    Visuals 6/10
    I will be fair. I loved the visuals. The rocking is a nice touch… I was hoping for more.

    Gameplay: 2/10
    A walking simulator, but you can only walk around the train car before you get off.

    Final Score: 10/30 – 33%

    Final Comments: I’m not sure what the reference was to this incredibly long title, but I didn’t think much of it after it ended. I played through it twice. Took me 6 minutes and 37 seconds.

    Snowed In by SplendidDog
    It is good

    What accident? Why is stuff randomly changing? Is my apartment haunted? Am I going crazy? What happened at the end? I have more questions than what I started with.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 7/10
    Very nice and cozy apartment. I would love to live here. Nice usage of space.

    Visuals 6/10
    The visuals were pretty cool. Best so far.

    Gameplay: 2/10
    Changing stuff on me really made me stay on my toes. Too bad it was very short and there was no gameplay at all.

    Final Score: 15/30 – 50%

    Final Comments: At least play this one. It’s pretty interesting and short. Very useful of my time. Wish it was a lot longer though. 2 minutes and 21 seconds of gameplay for me.

    The Creep by Tiop
    It is okay

    Now this is a map I can get behind. I really feel like I was actually doing something productive to keep the dancers happy. I was a janitor. I played it twice to see TWO endings.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 4/10
    It’s very blocky, but it makes do with what was needed. It needed to be tense or scary for Halloween.

    Visuals 4/10
    Not much in the way of visuals. I really felt like more could’ve been done to spruce up the place. More decorations, props, lights, music. etc.

    Gameplay: 4/10
    Changing stuff on me really made me stay on my toes. Luckily it was very short otherwise it would’ve gotten annoying always picking up trash. There were a few doors that were locked. Must’ve been a locked in party.

    Final Score: 12/30 – 40%

    Final Comments: Play it if you have time. Not the best map out there. Only took me about 5 minutes to play through it twice.

    1408 by Jean ‘XBLAH’ Knapp
    It is WOW!

    Now this is another excellent map by XBLAH. I actually understood what was going on. I felt trapped in my own apartment. The ending was very well thought out. Halloween doesn’t need to have skeletons and flying flaming skulls.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    Excellent usage of world space here. I accidentally walked out the window and died. I love the brush work in this map.

    Visuals 10/10
    No jumpscares, no screaming, just good ol’ insanity. I need to learn how XBLAH used the lighting to his advantage. The lightning was on point! I love the use of custom props to make it more modern and unique.

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Changing stuff on me really made me stay on my toes. The lights kept going out, so many little details that really made it worth playing. You MUST play this one.

    Final Score: 30/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: Personal Favorite. Worth the 6 minutes and 54 seconds it took.

    Warehouse Malpractices by Cvoxalury
    It is great!

    Now this is another great map you need to play. I found it pretty funny and comical. Literally put him back together piece by piece.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 8/10
    Great use of world space. I really felt like a story was going to be told here with the great brushwork.

    Visuals 8/10
    With all those barrels, moody lighting and BONES, it was a sight to be seen at the end there. I loved the animations and smooth cutscenes.

    Gameplay: 8/10
    Not much in the terms of gameplay except a literal puzzle. It’s not too hard. Reminds me of those online Halloween puzzle games I used to play as a kid.

    Final Score: 24/30 – 80%

    Final Comments: Personal Favorite. Worth the entire 2 minutes I spent playing.

    Gateway 17 by Supertoaster
    It is dire!

    I would’ve had more fun if I had the suit and/or this was gmod.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 2/10
    Way too open and there was nothing of value gained from exploring the world around the starting area.

    Visuals 3/10
    Would’ve been nice to see some extra props in the immediate area that I could at least interact with.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    Another, very slow, walking simulator.

    Final Score: 5/30 – 16%

    Final Comments: Don’t play it. I played it for 6 minutes and those 6 minutes was me jumping around the area looking for something to start the map. Then I pushed a button and that was the end!?

    Trouble in City 17 by rowleto
    It is okay

    A classic 2004 scary map. We got red lights, blood and disappearing npcs. Not too bad. It’s ok.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 4/10
    Somewhat of a boxy video game level feeling. Seems like all the buildings were just kinda quickly made and forgot about.

    Visuals 4/10
    A flashlight would’ve made a difference here. I think I missed a few of the “scares” because I didn’t really see what was in front of me since it was really dark. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, and that kinda made for a typical hl2 scary map. I’ve seen a lot of them.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    Once again, there is no gameplay, just a few steps in either direction. A random scare here and there and it’s over.

    Final Score: 8/30 – 26%

    Final Comments: Don’t play it. I played it for a whole 1 minute and it was over.

    Fears and Phobias by BrokenTripod
    It is okay

    It could be a lot better. It’s way too blocky. I didn’t enjoy what I was seeing at all.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 2/10
    I knew I was in a warehouse, but damn this is a huge warehouse.

    Visuals 3/10
    There was way too much low quality metal textures here and not enough detail with them. I know the point of the map is for the player to “fear” parts of the map, but it’s done in such a poor way.

    Gameplay: 3/10
    Make it smaller and put the player outside the ware house. Make them look down and see how high up they are. I hated that invisible floor section. Not because it was scary, but because of how long it took me to get across.

    Final Score: 8/30 – 26%

    Final Comments: Don’t play it. I played it for a whole 9.5 minutes and it was nothing scary.

    PUMPKING by timCopwell
    It is dire!

    It’s just flappy bird.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 0/10
    The only “space” was a very boxy room. You can’t even fall off.

    Visuals 8/10
    I loved the visuals of the “PUMPKIN” game. The background was a nice touch.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    It’s flappy bird.

    Final Score: 8/30 – 26%

    Final Comments: Don’t play it. It’s flappy bird. for nearly 2 minutes.

    Red ash winter by Sergey
    It is dire!
    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 0/10
    The only “space” was a very boxy room.

    Visuals 4/10
    I love the unique models… but that’s it?

    Gameplay: 0/10
    It’s a walking simulator that’s 28 seconds long.

    Final Score: 4/30 – 13%

    Final Comments: Don’t play it. I beat it in 28 seconds. I bet you can be faster.

    Danse Macabre by Tacarish
    It is good

    Finally a map that has killing gameplay.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 8/10
    Excellent brush work here! I love the design and style.

    Visuals 8/10
    I love the music, the custom props, everything about this screams “original”.

    Gameplay: 8/10
    It’s actually… a good map? Please play this one. You kill zombies. Get points. Upgrade. Escape!

    Final Score: 24/30 – 80%

    Final Comments: It’s great! Took me about 12 minutes or so.

    Night Burial by Mark Allan AKA Officer_B
    It is good

    I got really lost here until I accidentally pressed E on the box.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 4/10
    It’s way too blocky. Not sure if that was the point, but it certainly wasn’t conveyed that way to me.

    Visuals 0/10
    I can’t see a damn thing without the proper flash light.

    Gameplay: 2/10
    Another walking simulator where you escape the box and eventually get hit. Then you wake up.

    Final Score: 6/30 – 20%

    Final Comments: It’s ok… it’s not the best, but far better than some of the maps I’ve played.

    Don’t Look Back by Caleb West (CW3D)
    It is WOW!

    Finally! A GOOD WALKING SIMULATOR! I love this one and here’s why.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    It’s NOT a blocky hallway. It’s full of details!

    Visuals 10/10
    I have a flashlight and it works perfectly with the long red hallway! The pipes are a very nice touch!

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Like I said, a GOOD walking simulator. Great, even. I didn’t turn around once and I made it out alive! I felt like I accomplished something!

    Final Score: 30/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: It’s great! Took me about 2 minutes or so.

    Haunted Entrance by Sir Perry
    It is good

    Reminds me of Amnesia. I don’t remember which game, but I think I only ever played the Dark Descent. Could use a lot more detail, but its’ pretty good.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 6/10
    It’s NOT a blocky room. There are actually stairs!? And Pillars!?

    Visuals 6/10
    I have a flashlight and it works perfectly for seeing what I need to see. Not too many props, but I liked the crumbling ceiling.

    Gameplay: 6/10
    Like I said before, it’s not a walking simulator like the others. There are pickups and battles, albeit small ones. I kinda liked this one. It’s a nice refresher from the rest.

    Final Score: 18/30 – 60%

    Final Comments: It’s great! Took me about 1.5 minutes or so.

    IMP by Metroham
    It is good

    It was very confusing, but I managed to complete it by sheer determination and will.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 6/10
    I love the usage of world space. Reminds me of a typical Doom 2016 level.

    Visuals 6/10
    Great visuals. Lightning going everywhere. Skybox looks great!

    Gameplay: 6/10
    I spent about 21 minutes trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I asked on discord and watched some videos. I guess you just gotta kill everything first.
    EDIT: Played it again and I really enjoyed it the second time! + 6 points

    Final Score: 18/30 – 60%

    Final Comments: It’s very confusing. Took me 21 minutes.

    The Wraith by Steven Cabbage
    It is WOW!

    Finally, a map that actually scared me. I jump a bit after seeing that face!

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 8/10
    I love the usage of world space. I don’t feel comfortable in my own room and that’s a good thing for this map.

    Visuals 8/10
    Great visuals. Dark enough to be a dark room, but at least I can see stuff. It wouldn’t be very scary if I didn’t see anything.

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Ok. This actually scared me. That face is just so creepy. This is the first map that actually had a good jumpscare. Way to go. You scared me! That’s rare!

    Final Score: 26/30 – 86%

    Final Comments: Two minutes of a truly scary map.

    Jijajinousness by Duck
    It is dire!
    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 0/10

    Visuals 0/10

    Gameplay: 0/10

    Final Score: 0/30 – 0%

    Final Comments: It gave me a migraine. I don’t know how long it took me because I gave up after 20 minutes.

    Hellgate by Gravity Cat
    It is okay
    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 5/10
    I love the usage of space. Looks like another great doom level.

    Visuals 5/10
    Not much to look at, but the lava was a nice touch.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    There is no gameplay, it’s just for show.

    Final Score: 10/30 – 33%

    Final Comments: Another walking simulator.

    CRASH by Sam ‘Startacker’ Ricker
    It is good
    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 5/10
    It looks like a very classic office room.

    Visuals 10/10
    I loved this animation. The fire was a nice touch.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    There is no gameplay, it’s just for show.

    Final Score: 15/30 – 30%

    Final Comments: 52 seconds.

    Phasmophobia by FreshFishy
    It is good
    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 5/10
    I like the layout of the basement generator room.

    Visuals 5/10
    I couldn’t see much of anything. I guess I died at the end or something.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    There is no gameplay, it’s just for show.

    Final Score: 10/30 – 33%

    Final Comments: 3 minutes of standing still.

    Desperation by Shalashaska
    It is WOW!

    A great story, a terrible ending, and amazing world design. Faith in this comp restored.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    I really feel like I am on top of one of the many buildings in Chicago… or wherever I am.

    Visuals 10/10
    Cinematography levels of visuals here. Excellent details with little effort.

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Finally something worth my time. I loved the story. I want another perspective.

    Final Score: 10/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: 2 minutes of perfect story telling.

    Amaluuk by RedZombie18 & Paragon
    It is great!

    A great story, a terrible ending, and great world design. Faith in this comp restored.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 8/10
    There could be a bit more detail, but it’s an office space after all. Office spaces/hallway usually are not mazes, but I didn’t worry too much about that. I didn’t get too lost.

    Visuals 8/10
    The visuals were all audio ques and I loved it. I loved those small details in the whispering words.

    Gameplay: 8/10
    Something else really worth my time. I had some trouble finding the batteries, but I made to the end. I just kinda brute forced my way through the puzzle though after finding out I can just walk around the hallways without too much trouble. I had a lot of health. It would’ve been a lot scarier if I died each time or something, but then maybe it’d get annoying.

    Final Score: 24/30 – 80%

    Final Comments: 11 minutes of great story telling.

    Ice Cave by Sir Perry (bonus map)
    It is okay

    What just happened? How is there a brick wall with a heater and a bed?

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 3/10
    There could be a bit more detail, and the world around me made no sense.

    Visuals 2/10
    The visuals were all snow… and brick.

    Gameplay: 0/10
    I almost died before I decided to start pounding the “soft” snow. It broke like concrete?

    Final Score: 5/30 – 16%

    Final Comments: Took me longer to write this than to play it. 58 seconds of playtime. Could be shorter.

    EDIT: I replayed it and it took me 18 seconds.

    The Bride of Covington Manor by BeefBacon (bonus map)
    It is WOW!

    Personal Favorite!! I love this map!

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    Amazing world design. Play it now!

    Visuals 10/10
    Amazing Visuals! Play it now!

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Amazing Gameplay! Play it now!

    Final Score: 30/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: Play it now. I don’t want to spoil anything! Do it! This took me about 26 minutes to complete!

    Between the Shadows by Blixibon & Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon (bonus map)
    It is WOW!

    Personal Favorite!! I love this map!

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    Amazing world design. Play it now!

    Visuals 10/10
    Amazing Visuals! Play it now!

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Amazing Gameplay! Play it now!

    Final Score: 30/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: Play it now. I don’t want to spoil anything! Do it! It’s only about 6 minutes long!

    500 DAYS by roman_memes (bonus map)
    It is WOW!

    Personal Favorite!! I love this map!

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 10/10
    Amazing world design. Play it now!

    Visuals 10/10
    Amazing Visuals! Play it now!

    Gameplay: 10/10
    Amazing Gameplay! Play it now!

    Final Score: 30/30 – 100%

    Final Comments: Play it now. I don’t want to spoil anything! Do it! It’s about 17 minutes long!

    After Hours by Melomaniac (bonus map)
    It is good

    It reminds me of Courage the Cowardly dog in a way.

    Score Sheet

    Usage of space and world brushes: 6/10
    It’s pretty good brush work. It’s a bit blocky, but far better than some of the other maps.

    Visuals 6/10
    Wish I saw a bit more of the world, but I liked what I saw.

    Gameplay: 6/10
    I really wish it was a bit longer too, it wasn’t too scary. Felt like it was the start of something, then I just kinda ended.

    Final Score: 24/30 – 60%

    Final Comments: It’s a bit short, but it’s alright. Only about 2 minutes long.

  12. Hec

    Dear Unq, I tried to activate closed captions, and subtitles, in the “500 days” entry and they don’t appear, even when I turn the subtitles ON, also tried the “closed caption 1” and “cc_subtitles 1” commands in the console and just didn’t work.

    I have seen it works fine with others, what can I do?

    I hope you can help me.

    Hec.

    1. Unq

      Hi Hec, sorry, I can’t help on this one. I also had problems playing this map and it wasn’t even the subtitles. I ended up giving up on it. My only advice would to try and see if you can search for a fix, or ask on the Map Labs discord.

      1. Hec

        Dear Unq, thank you for your kind response, I actually managed to solve the problem via console, I just wrote the command: “lang_english” and voila! I had subtitles on the screen. Apparently, they didn’t show up because of my native Spanish interface config.

  13. Hec
    Think Twice

    I will say this bluntly. The one-room specification for developing maps sucks. And sorry, I know many developers are greatly talented enough to make good one-room maps. And well great for them and us as gamers who play their stuff, but apart from them most of the works with this setting restriction are just dull, boring, and short as heck. So it is the perfect way to ruin a great concept like a horror one in this case.

    Halloween maps and mods in HL2 need to give this hook to the player by the gameplay or the psychologically threatening horror-like aura, so placing this 1 room restriction is quite silly and unfair to developers which actually cut many great ideas for that idiotic restriction.

    In this Halloween map lab, we only have very few great entries. In my opinion, only 2 were WOW.

    It is WOW!

    I’m talking about “The Bride of Covington Manor” and “500 Days”. The first is an excellent example of how we have brilliant developers in our community, also greatly influenced by horror gaming classics such as The Clock Tower and other similar mods. I loved the whole PS1 aura on that one and I hope the author develops a full mod as is an excellent scenario to develop a very successful one. As for the latter, I just loved how the story is actually scary. I mean it is not very explicit at first because the main character, which I assume is Us moving to our new apartment and trying to start a new life, set a very common life experience that crosses many stories, a broken heart one and also a lunatic neighbor threatening us to say the least… Well the stuff is very psychological and I think its charm is how expresses how our common day lives can have their little horror doses from time to time, and well you don’t have to face a ghost or a demon or something like that, just decide to answer or not some phonecalls… some phone messages can open pretty ugly stories form time to time. This is the whole feeling I got by playing 500 days.

    Anyway, in conclusion, I think this is the perfect example of how NOT to lay out a Halloween map competition, hope this year’s restrictions are out of the question and just let the developers to make their work with total liberty.

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