Aug. 13, 2020, 8:11 a.m.   (Last edited: 4 years, 3 months ago)

I was ECSTATIC at first when I read about it as it was a collaborative effort between my two favorite creators. Then after reading it was a speed-build in 2 weeks - I decided to put it on the back-burner for a bit - figured it would be good but not amazing.

I was blown away.

The art assets, the guard leaning models and the visible breathing (were these new? I've never seen that in any other map). The snowballs were handled extremely well as a water arrow replacement. Hell - you even made building a snowman fun. It also turns what appears to be a simple robbery mission on its head in a fun and creative way.

You also gave me one of the coolest experiences in TDM I have had so far:

I am in an alleyway waiting for a patrolling guard (or two) to pass me by - when I see a stack of crates on the side. I don't see anything else of note other than a beam a bit high up ahead but covered in shadow - I don't really acknowledge it and keep moving on.

I come back a few minutes later and realize the beam is made of wood. I ready my rope arrow and use it to climb to the roof of the building. Turns out this building that I thought was purely decorative has an open roof and I'm able to jump in. Looks like an inventor's guild type of place. I notice the boards in the corner leading even further down which leads to an entire network of sewers - these were probably my favorite TDM sewers to date (the almost hidden area in the sewer that results in a ladder leading up to a boarded up small room with a single gold bottle of wine was an awesome little touch).

Anyway, I could go on and on but the fact that finding that wooden beam to lead me to the ceiling resulted in an entire network of sewers (with very different threats than what was above ground) was unexpected and well done.

It also uses Volta's AI and sound settings which - if it were up to me - would be baked into the base game.

Yes there are some boundary clipping issues with the trees and the occasional tree would pop in and out of visibility - you guys definitely cut the right corners. If I could get map releases like this every 2 weeks and there'd be some perimeter wonkiness, I could give two shits.

Great job and I hope you guys collaborate more in the future!