Forever ago (2020~) @HarmfulCrane and I were asked to update a number of oldschool Zombies maps. Well, it only took 5 years but I’ve FINALLY gotten around to one of them!
With the help of @SolarDeity, I present to you
Devil’s Reservoir’s First Update
Due to the map being so old it has been reworked in a few particular ways.
As such, I will not be writing specific number changes as many other Map Updates have on them, but instead will be listing changes more generally speaking.
Overview on why I’ve done what I have at the BOTTOM OF THIS POST!
Please read before asking questions!
Map changes
(Spelunker potion included for clarity of chest location in SCREENSHOT ONLY)
- General aesthetics and functionality have been improved without straying too far from the original
- Layout remains largely unchanged with the exception of:
- Small caves on the lower left, and a cave with a shipwreck on the lower right have been added
Functional changes
- Health chest has been moved from left of spawn to right of spawn, and has been given a small amount of mana per purchase (in place of where Tabi used to be)
- Tabi has been moved from right of spawn to the bottom right ship wreck (and price increased to 50,000)
- Multiple not great accessory chests have been removed
- Worm Scarf chest added in the ship wreck bottom right (175,000)
- Cobalt → Ankh Shield chest added to the left cave (12,500 & 150,000 respectively)
- Avenger → Destroyer Emblem chest added to the left cave (35,000 & 50,000 respectively)
- Flipper chest (lower left) adjusted to no longer include Diving Helm, and any accessories past Diving Gear
- Armor chest (bottom middle) adjusted to scale more effectively (Tin → Silver → Crimson → Hybrid → Hybrid → Hallowed → Beetle Shell)
- Shadow Orb chest removed, replaced with dim lighting across the whole map
- Lance chest (lower left) adjusted and scaled properly into the mid rounds (late-game may need more adjusting)
- Gun chest (middle) adjusted and scaled properly (late-game may need more adjusting)
- Potions chest (top right) added to help increase mid and lategame survivability (40,000)
- Putrid Scent → Moon Stone chest added top left for more late game scaling (5,000 & 50,000 respectively)
Explanation of changes
Overal, the identity of Devil’s Reservoir is quite similar to before, Tempest Staff and Breathing Reed are unupgradable gear that enables survival and farming.
Tempest Staff deals contact damage, and thus can be recast on top of zombies for infinite piercing damage! If you want a shot at making serious progress on this map, knowing how to use Tempest Staff goes a long way!
This makes the map relatively tricky for new players as most ‘crutch’ accessories are locked behind rather steep price walls, the armor chest is deep in the middle of the map and is also extremely hard to see, and making the jumps out of the water and onto land are quite precise but are straightforward to attempt and practice as zombies are easy to get stuck underwater, giving the player a theoretically infinite amount of time to try.
This is to say nothing of how dimly lit the map is overal.
PLEASE DO NOT PLAY THIS MAP WITHOUT YOUR LIGHTING SET TO “Color”
The bottom left and bottom right areas are dangerous corners that you can get stuck in but Putrid Scent and any teamwork at all to keep zombies aggro’d away from said players allows free openings to go explore and spend points on important accessories for the mid and lategame.
Likewise Beetle Shell armor allows for aggro holding combined with Putrid Scent management in the mid and endgame. Players will have to work together as the rounds go on if they want a shot at lategame!
Speaking of points, many players will question why so many accessories, ammo, and potions are so expensive, and the simple answer is that Tempest Staff plus a little bit of mana (from the health chest) gives the ability to chip away at most normal zombies for a TON of points.
Nearly everything on the map can be bought by round 10 if you really push your points to the limit.
This is the INTENDED difficulty of the map, if you kill mobs quickly without any regard for your economy, this map WILL punish you!
Currently, the map has been set to the public pool, but it might be too difficult for new players, and thus changed to vote only.
At the moment I believe it to be easier than most of the existing “Hard” levels, but it’s also harder than most of the “Medium” difficulty maps as well, and this is very intentional.
The changes offer a good and unique challenge that forces players to be on their toes with breath management and limited visibility.
The whole map being underwater also renders Sentry rather obsolete, and while many will enjoy the map less for this, many others will see this as a new kind of challenge if you are to push into the lategame!
Lastly, some gameplay playtesting mid lategame strategies has just been uploaded as of the making of this post, if you’d like to see my approach to the map, check it out!