"Compulsory Egress" is a brilliant and creepy mission, stunning for a first release from its author.

I was initially skeptical: it opens in a big, open area, seemingly barren of almost anything. On second thought, this desolation sets the scene perfectly.

Garrett has arrived in a town that is nearly deserted, its inhabitants having been forced to flee by the authorities in the face of an undefined "crisis." Part of your mission is find out what that crisis is. The other part, of course, is to loot whatever you can.

The town is expertly crafted. There are many paths to explore, from the streets to the sewers, and a welcome degree of verticality. I would imagine that no two players will make their way through the city in the same way. Your goal is clearly defined, though not visible from the start; even so, I doubt even the most taffing players need fear getting lost, as the main street more or less turns on a central axis as it ascends, meaning you can see a section of street not far from the start from a section not far from your goal. The genius of the layout is the side paths that spiral around the main one, taking you in and out of different buildings, above and below the streets, and leading to many secret passages and nooks and crannies. You can explore these at your leisure, without fearing that you will miss your goal.

The atmosphere and storytelling of this mission go hang-in-hand. It starts out creepy, and gets more and more off-putting as you play. At first the place seems almost completely deserted. As you advance, you notice an increasingly odd number of mercenaries patrolling the streets. Then you start to notice the bodies... and as you explore the houses, you are in for more than a few macabre surprises.

What is the nature of the "crisis" that has struck the town? While the readables you find as you make your way towards the goal perfectly communicate the fear, confusion, and in some cases hostility to authority of the townspeople, the mission wisely withholds any answers until the very end... and until that time it builds and builds, gradually feeding you details (sometimes in the form of text, sometimes story-telling tableaux, sometimes even expertly-chosen sound effects) that encourage your imagination to run wild. And run wild it will—and even then the solution to the riddle, which is almost a puzzle in itself, you probably will not guess.

The town itself is visually rich. Again, one does not expect such detail from an author's first work, nor such twisted geometry. The approach to texturing, in my experience of Thief FMs, is quite unique, and even rather odd at times, perfectly fitting the atmosphere of such a discomforting mission. As far as I can tell, all or nearly all the textures are stock, which is pretty amazing. Let no one say that vanilla must be tired or boring.

It is rare that a Thief mission brings to life an urban landscape so wholly its own, with its own story to tell, compellingly told. It's been almost a year since "Compulsory Egress" was released, and I can only hope the author's next work is well underway.

I'm honoured to have received such an eloquent review. A pleasure to read, even taken independently of its incredibly kind score. I am dissatisfied with a lot of the mission's technical aspects, but I'm glad to have provided you so much enjoyment!

The least I can do is give you an answer. I started work on a second FM right after Compulsory Egress -- this is unlikely to be released soon, if ever. Since September, all my time in DromEd has been committed to working on The Black Parade (https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146501), which has been making rapid progress.

In just the past few weeks, however, I have started and am super focused on a new mission, which may well be released this year if I keep up my current pace. Everything is coming together for it wonderfully -- the terrain, the interiors, the style, the story.

Thanks again for your comments!

Glad to hear you have some things in the works! I've been looking forward forward to The Black Parade for a while. Keep at it!