Personally, I'm one of those taffers who enjoys the hell out of a Thief mission when its setting goes deep into the dark fantasy territory - thus why the title of Into the Dark Forest hyped me up quite a lot already! And oh boy, was I pleased by what I got! Gotta mention though the mines and the factory sections (basically the first third) almost made me give up...

There is a lot of fantastic effort and attention on details throughout the mission, but frankly, those parts of the map made a maze that was AWFUL to navigate. An overcomplicated, nonsensical and lengthy mess, to put it politely. I don't know what's with the author and their enthusiasm towards the Hammerite factory setting, but I was so glad when I could finally leave all that visual and level layout noise behind and start the actually enjoyable part of the journey! Lots and lots of fantastic visual storytelling and interesting ideas - loved it!

Recommending this mission is quite hard, because I sincerely think that the first third is a very annoying experience. No idea, why the author has thought it had to be there like that, but the rest is (in my opinion) so good, it makes Into the Dark Forest (at least this remastered version) worth to play. By the way, looking at the ratings makes me curious what the original version did so much worse, hmmm...

I actually quite like opening sections. Finding way forward was not easy task (and map was not that helpful), but I liked challenge. On the other hand it was hard to find the main Mcguffin and I didn't like the fact that to finish mission you must trudge through the entire level back.

I can't comment the original release of DF but I played Tough Night which was released along first release of Dark Forest and it was subpar. It is city level with very samey architecture. Very, very samey and copypastic. At least map was VERY helpful here. The next Master of Dromed's city mission - Visit to the Baron was slight improvement though.

Yep, I missed a smart loop leading back to the beginning of the map too, though I gotta tell that I loved the dark fantasy, linear middle sections (with the tunnels, the Keepers camp, skeletons of fallen giants, etc.) so much that walking back wasn't actually that disappointing for me (except re-visiting the Hammerite factory, huh).

Interestingly, this reminded me of how Bryan's missions did have these smart loops, but I hadn't played his latest one yet (Hammer Skull), so gave it a try - and turned out it didn't have the smart loop, haha. Or I accidentally missed it.

I'm pretty close to calling it quits at the mines/factory section right now... Is the rest of the mission actually that good to justify the absolute maze that is the first third? At first I enjoyed exploring, but man, I'm having a hard time finding where to go next, and my already terrible sense of direction probably doesn't help.

I think the mission, or at least the mines/factory area, could be greatly improved by adding signs to the different rooms, because the map is pretty much useless if you're unable to find any point of reference, and even then I doubt it'd be much use navigating the twisty, maze-like corridors with all their similar looking rooms and confusing verticality.

While the signs could improve the mines/factory section, I'd rather just remove the good majority of it. It's an insane maze, pointless, but also, makes the overall pacing worse. I don't think it's a good idea to make the beginning of a level this challenging orientation wise. The author's decision is absolutely beyond me.

"Is the rest of the mission actually that good to justify the absolute maze that is the first third?"
I really loved the middle section (which is a linear journey with very good dark fantasy scenery), and the third section with the mages is also pretty good, in my opinion. If you really-really like that kind of stuff in fms, I think it could worth your time (I had multiple rage-quits during the mines/factory section, by the way).

At first I actually liked the mines/factory section but that enjoyment quickly wore off after spending about half an hour wandering; aimless, frustrated and confused. I have to agree with you, even with signs for improved navigations it'd still be a major bummer and the mission would be better if it was completely gone. Though a clear, linear path through it, or rather, a small portion of it would still be nice in my opinion.

The middle section does indeed sound pretty intriguing but I'll probably shelve this mission for now. I still have too many other FMs I wish to play, so I can't really convince myself to return to it. Having a mission called 'Into the Dark Forest' start with a short outdoor section but then quickly collapse into an industrial setting is a bold move indeed.