There is a 2015 remake of this mission which has presumably fixed most of the issues I describe here. If you are not playing chronologically or whatever, it's probably best to go play that instead.

Calendra's Cistern is spectacular. There is no other word for it. Full voice acted, well designed, archnitecture that is impressive even by today's Newdark standards (Honestly, it was a little disheartening for my own designs). The thing that really impressed me is how "ALIVE" everything felt. NPCs act and react and act in ways far more active than the usual holding patterns you see from guards and nobles.

The more I played, the more impressed I was with all the fundementals.

Unfortunately, scripted sequences were... less impressive. I don't know if newdark broke some of them, honestly the 9/10 score is assuming it did. However I did have to guide the allied NPC through one of the sections as they had a habit of walking into walls if I didn't. I also believe I broke a sequence where there was meant to be a combat between two NPCs, but it never happened. Such Teething issues are to be expected when doing something this ambitious for the first time.

The only major issue I encountered that I don't put down to bad scripting was a particular sequence where I dropped down on top of a spider while having no tools to kill it, and then was chased pasta grating where I was supposed to get some exposition. Even standing around and dodging the spider, the conversation was too quiet to hear over the "HSSSSSSSS" of the spider, and I couldn't find a way to lose it in the space I had. Eventually I managed to, just barely, get away with only a second alert on it, allowing me to listen to the conversation properly, but it was extremily frustrating.

The plot, and particularly the characterisation, might rub some people the wrong way, but personally, I am not too bothered by it. I don't think it's good, but the rest of the mission, including the enviromental storytelling around the central villans, more than makes up for it.

Overall this mission lives up to it's reputation. It's an amazing experience, very cool indeed. I could spend a whole book talking about all the things I liked, but really you should just play this and see for your self, (or the remake assuming it's faithful to the original).

Been a while since I played that one, would make a good FM for Halloween!