I was going to play "Autumn in Lampfire Hills" when I noticed in its description it mentioned that Garret had previously stolen from two names I hadn't seen before: Rothchest and Edmund. When I figured out that these were based on two separate Fan missions ("Lord Edmund Entertains" and this one), I went to play them both just to see what made them worth mentioning. While the Edmund mission was pretty good, this one was extremely amateur.

For starters, what the hell is going on with the sky box? I get this is the author's first published map, but why did he replace the sky box with that ugly green texture? I can only assume that he made the mansion too tall and didn't want it to look like the whole map was floating in space, so he ending up covering the sky box entirely to hide this. However, this isn't even really done right, as you can find many errors where there is the wrong texture on it or you can see through it when you aren't supposed to. Maybe the map used to play and look better back in the day, but whatever the case is it looks terrible now.

The level design is somewhat cramped but not totally nonsensical. It's hard to get your bearings on the size of the building because of the covered sky box, but once you're inside its layout makes some general sense. I even liked some portions of it. For instance, a number of the fire places in the manor lead to climbable chimneys which can take you to the roof. That being said, the texture work is all over the place, with many different art styles crashing into each other. I was able to get each room's purpose, but it it could do with a stronger, more focused art style.

Even though I feel like the atmosphere is all over the place, its writing is certainly strong and there is a clear creativity that is present throughout the level. It's heavily based on Lovecraft (I think there's even some direct quotes from him in some of the books), and as such is at least able to create a creepy atmosphere within the readings. While this FM isn't perfect, and I wouldn't personally suggest playing it, I still think there is at least a soul behind its creation that makes it worth admiring. Apparently, "Autumn in Lampfire Hills" is made by the same guy who made this and looks way better, so I'm definitely excited to play it next.