The Outpost

There are not many Dark Mod mission reviews out there. Maybe it’s because this is rather a new thing and there are not a lot missions made, or because most of them are miniature compared to Thief FMs. Even though The Dark Mod’s full version was released just a few months ago and the maps made can be completed within 25 minutes, the mod itself lurked around the community for quite some time now. Plus the mission I am currently reviewing is over a year old. The interesting fact is that the only review of a TDM map I found was for this same mission. Yes, SneakyJack made a wonderfully descriptive review on TDM itself but there are next to no reviews of specific missions.

The mission makers, angua and greebo, are both Technical Physics graduates, lead Dark Mod coders and, as The Outpost shows, passionate Thief fans. The mission itself was one of the first fully done maps to be releases for TDM (correct me if I’m wrong). It was delivered on the eve of Christmas 2008 and “was supposed to showcase what can be done in one week”. Although to some it may look simple in architecture, it was no light work, as its making took both coders about 50 man hours from concept to bug fixing (as it says in the map description). And it makes me happy to see that they settled on a Hammerites mission.

The story is simple, but decently detailed and has something even later missions lack – a nice sideshow briefing. You are a thief (well duh) on the hunt for a massive gold ingot meant to be molten into a Hammerites symbol, which is to be rewarded to an order’s outpost. That pretty much sums it up, as this is another get in, get what you’re after and get out. The higher difficulty settings add up some sneaking challenge, but no further item objectives, except the standard acquire a specific amount of loot objective. There are some texts lying around the outpost, written in the classic thief style, giving further information about the situation. They are few, but enough to get one in the mood.

The architecture of the outpost is not very spectacular, but has that little atmospheric touch of the stone walls laid by the Builder’s followers, decorated with fine shaped hammer symbols, sitting calmly under the stars. This was certainly not an architectural showcase mission, but rather a general demonstration of the Dark Mod’s capabilities. Overall, indoor areas are lightly decorated, but there are specific rooms that are very well furnished and lack no details at all. Still, I must say that The Outpost looks better visually than other missions made for The Dark Mod. Probably the biggest downside is the small size of the building itself and the surrounding area.

The gameplay offers nothing unique, but it is by far not a breeze. Corridors and rooms are few and narrow, and the Hammer Guards’ patrols are meant to cover everything. You can get caught quite easily, by simply bumping into a guard around the corner. Still, one who is familiar with TDM mechanics can get in and out in about 10 minutes and still get the most fun out of the map.

As a whole, it is quite early for great TDM missions to appear, but this one gives a good sample of how much can be achieved with simple but well done design and a few dozen hours of work. Most TDM fans have probably played through the whole small (at this point) FM library. But if you are new to it and want to try something other than the Training Mission, go for The Outpost.