Aside from the brief segment in Goldwell's SoN: A Curious Mind - this is my first experience of a "Thieves' Highway" mission in TDM.

This is one of those rare missions that starts off with a whimper but very quickly builds into something great.

The first 25% of the cityscape I found linear and I was frustrated at the way staying off the streets was handled. After the bar was set so high for WS1, I'll admit I stopped playing 15 minutes in and it took two weeks to get back to it.

Almost comically, picking back up where I left off it immediately became a good rooftop mission, with good nonlinear segments that weaved seamlessly into other approaches. I did spend a lot of time checking EVERY path to make sure I didn't miss everything - which led to a fair amount of backtracking, but I've had that issue with Feast of Pilgrims as well.

I also really liked the change in atmosphere and gameplay style as soon as I entered the City Watch building.

A few critiques:

* I would not have had the Cleighmoor map show up as an actual map for the mission. I got very confused when everything I had read said Cleighmoor was a separate institution but I get a map for THIS LEVEL (accessible via the 'M' key) that has a lot of the same room names as the City Watch compound (records, evidence, etc.). It made things very confusing where I began to wonder if I had misread things and I was in fact *currently* in Cleighmoor.
* Same for the sewers map - although that wasn't as confusing. I really just wouldn't have the 'M' key ever have maps that aren't actually in the level.
* Implement the "stay off the streets" in a different way.
- Goldwell approach: make the streets much farther below you.
Cons: It's hard to do this without making every building seem like a skyscraper (which would cause problems in the starting area)
- Make the streets accessible but suitably dangerous: Tons of guards - most doors are not frobbable.
Cons: Performance issues? Additional work to ensure the streets are not a viable approach.


Critiques aside - I loved the mission after I gave it a chance. Grayman - from the 15 or so FM's I have played so far - WS1 and WS2 display the best use of readables and lore I've seen. I enjoyed ruining the plans of that asshole who was blackmailing people and trying to screw over Johannes (the burned out apartment building) so much that I actually went back to his place and put the setup_note back on his desk.