Previously, I've made multiple attempts at getting into this fan mission campaign created by Savar. Deadly Shadows fan contents are rare (especially decent ones), so the pure existence of this campaign has standed out for me - and while I was pretty impressed by the quality of the maps and the respectable amount of thought and effort put into the missions, I got disappointed by the weird mission designs sabotaged by obscure objectives again and again.

On one hand these experiences reminded me of how I felt when I first played the original Deadly Shadows campaign at the age of 15, and just didn't have enough experience with these type of games to not get stuck... On the other hand, I'm 30+ now and have played 200+ missions at this point - so getting stuck multiple times during a session shouldn't be a thing... But it is with Savar's campaign.

The Keeper is a creative recycling of the South Quarter hub from Deadly Shadows, with additional locations, lots of loot, and a good couple of objectives. Patrols are tight, and you'll stumble upon guards who cannot be blackjacked by default (you'll either have to sneak around them, or find ways to make them leave their position). Version 3.0 still has a lot of little graphical glitches, and the readables are a bit strange (guessing that English is not the author's native language), but overall I think Savar has made a great work at bringing the ideas together.

The problem is rather with the many mandatory situations set up in ways that will make the wonky physics of T3 be your biggest enemy during this mission. Oh, and the obscure objectives. Prepare to the fact that you're gonna be on a secret hunt during the whole mission. I'm quite thorn apart by that, because while it's cool that The Keeper makes you really work for reaching the end screen - and thus developing a special bond with it during your session(s - yeah, it's pretty normal to beat Savar's missions in multiple sittings) -, because of the weird difficulty, I've found the experience very fragmented.

I think I'll grow to love this opening mission more over time, but for now I feel rather mixed about it - but definitely curious to finally play through the whole campaign properly. Luckily, I've discovered meanwhile that Savar has made some detailed guides available online for all missions.