Moody map from the very beginning, just the way I feel it should be. There is heavy focus put on a central place, around which all the action orbits tightly, giving much sense of place and purpose. There are some puzzles, there is great deal of verticality to the spatial design, done proper way, for benefit. The “Dark Portal” itself, at the very first glance, does strike as a haunting construct, building the bulk of atmosphere.
Goals are clear enough to be understood intuitively and reached without becoming perplexed on the way, albeit not dead obvious. There are three major paths: the path of the golden key, the path of the silver key and then, the path of the “ignition”, further leading upwards and downwards. The environmental clues, are readable.
There is noteworthy elegance in spatial design, already mentioned. Clever recurring use of most introduced spaces - in a cross-section manner - weaving pathways without the labyrinth effect being imposed at the player; owing to the timing aspect, implemented well.
In terms of difficulty level balance and intelligence in combat design, this is a superb map. The difficulty level, is simply just right - speaking of skill level “2” - oscillating around menacing but ultimately not very hard, if to apply a reasonable skill to resolve the situations - it is enjoyable game.
Hilarious background story in the “readme” file, but to promote smoking, is a no-no!
Nice idea with improvised ladders!