As the title suggests, I'm not a fan of horror missions. Or undead missions. Or really any mission that makes my trusty blackjack utterly worthless, removing my ability to knock out every guard in the building and then skip gayly around completing the objectives.

So, when I finally forced myself to return to this mission for the 20th Anniversary Contest—after beginning to exhaust all the other non-horror FMs I could find—I was apprehensive. My typical issues with horror missions are the aforementioned inability to knock out enemies, the lack of safe areas, the often annoyingly demanding puzzles, the utter absence of non-undead enemies, the (typically) cramped environments, and the fact that I am pants-pissingly terrified of zombies.

"Lost Among The Forsaken" had none of these issues. Barring the fear that nonetheless continued to course through my veins.

Can't knock out zombies and don't like cramped areas? Well, this mission is set in a decaying city with plenty of verticality, not to mention sewers! Lots of ways to get around those shamblers without hugging a wall and praying.

Like having safe areas and some non-undead to contend with? Turns out the Sealed Quarter is harboring fugitives as well as horrors, and (surprisingly) they've managed to establish a hideout that hasn't been overrun! A nice breath of fresh-ish air.

Hate ridiculous puzzles? Just make sure to check high and low, exploring every nook and cranny, and you'll end up at the objective-required puzzle with everything you need. Just don't spend ten minutes running around thinking about the first part of the "riddle," only to realize you're an idiot.

Furthermore, the entire map is wonderfully atmospheric and rich with story. Many other missions attempt to do "somewhat flooded, forgotten part of the city" but LAtF does it so well, I still enjoyed the visuals w/o the HD Mod enabled. I enjoyed taking the more vertical routes rather than sewer-diving because it almost always afforded me a great view of the next area. The story is told through custom conversations and notes, as per usual, but they come as a welcome respite from the times spend dodging undead—feels nice to hear from someone whose brain hasn't mostly fallen out.

All in all, a good mission for someone who doesn't really enjoy horror missions. My only criticism is that the map is only useful in a general sense since most of the streets are blocked off from each other somehow, making their map counterparts rather useless.

Nice review. I'm actually a big fan of horror missions, but you're right to point out the exceptional nature of this one--the huge open layout gives more places to run and hide than the usual example. Few others really do that. I have an idea for a series of missions that would include one like this.

Everyone has their own taste but I'd like to put in a good word for Thief's zombies. You can't blackjack them, but they're slow, and if I'm not mistaken, their AI is dumber than the normal guards, so they're easy to avoid if you get used to dodging them. The haunts are another story of course, but you can always backstab them.