I didn’t hate Dead City 2 (Official), but I also didn’t love it.

Some areas throughout the map are janky, unfinished, and unpolished.

Dead City 2 overall is not too difficult, despite its great length and there being lots of dark areas, Crescendos, Gauntlets, a pseudo-Finale Scavenge event on Chapter 4 (easily the most difficult part), and lots of Witches, Alarm Cars, Alarm Car-like unique explosives-laden military trucks, and explosive Half-Life 2 barrels and other props (which deal small amounts of damage to Survivors caught in their explosion radius) all throughout, as well as there being a few areas where early Tank fights can be very awkward.

The relative overall difficulty of Dead City 2 is lowered due to the campaign being fairly generous with supplies (especially First Aid Kits, ammo, Tier 2 weapons, Magnums, and bombs). In particular, just before/during major scripted events, the map will typically stock you up with a full 4 First Aid Kits, ammo, Tier 2 weapons, and other supplies; thus making them far easier.

The first two Chapters go on for way too long, but are also generous with supplies (notably including early Tier 2 weapons and Magnums), thus preventing them from being frustratingly difficult.

The first Chapter is pretty well designed and polished for the most part, other than a couple of issues. The first issue on Chapter 1 is that Wandering Witches can spawn in the single-person-wide fenced areas that you have to walk through. You can likely wait for this Witch(es) to move all the way through the fenced area, and then go past her, but it would take forever and thus isn’t appreciated.

The second issue on Chapter 1 is a Subway Train that appears, which can run over and instakill people if they run onto the first set of train tracks you come across too quickly (these tracks are covered in good loot, almost like a trap). This train is very quiet, decently fast, and appears just after a random Crescendo event activates as you jump down the hole to it.

Chapter 1 also notably has two easy Crescendo events and one Moderate Gauntlet-Crescendo event present. However, these shouldn’t be too much of an issue, as the map also loads you up on supplies just before each of them.

Chapter 2 was pretty long and forgettable, other than its opening area being a death trap if you get an early Tank, and its ending Moderate Gauntlet run to the Safe Room, which annoyingly features dead-ends and potential navigation issues (a big no-no during a Gauntlet).

At the start of Chapter 3, I almost immediately managed to accidentally get out of the map, and ended up falling into an empty area through part of the level geometry that wasn’t solid. This resulted in me taking some fall damage annoyingly, but I fortunately wasn’t stuck, and was able to walk and jump back out of this seemingly-unintended area.

The rest of Chapter 3 was fine overall, and I liked the rain and the Hard Rain-style storm events that would occasionally summon hordes throughout it.

The eponymous Bridge on Chapter 3 was notably a bit weird though. Once the Bridge comes down, it starts a pseudo Easy-Hard Gauntlet, where the Common spawn flow is highly variable, because idle Commons oddly will still spawn and populate the Bridge. Specials also tend to get stuck on the Bridge’s trussing a lot here, making it easier.

On our playthrough, we had a pretty casual walk to the Safe Room across the Bridge, as idle Commons continued to spawn in and take up the Max Alive Common Infected slots, which resulted in us getting minimal actual Gauntlet Commons attacking.

Chapter 3 also notably features the first appearance of explosives-laden military trucks that are unique to Dead City 2. Shooting these will cause a massive explosion that also summons a Crescendo event, similar to an Alarm Car.

Chapter 4 is easily the hardest Chapter in Dead City 2, as it has an ending pseudo-Finale Moderate Scavenge-Tank (at 10 Cans)-Moderate Scavenge-Run To The Safe Room Abrams Tank event, where the difficulty spikes significantly, as a result of the Horde + Tank attacking.

Especially since this area is also littered in explosive Half-Life 2 barrels, and features 2 explosive military trucks; all of which should be shot immediately so as to avoid potential collateral damage and large hordes being summoned during the Tank fight later.

Some other things to note about the Chapter 4 pseudo-Finale: the Abrams Tank itself is a god spot (even from the Specials and Tanks), and thus you can refuel it in relative safety and trivialize the Tank fight by simply standing on top of it.

Gas Cans can get launched by the explosive HL2 barrels and military trucks present on this Scavenge event, and the Gas can also potentially get wedged and stuck under the floating metal barricades placed right beside the Abrams Tank; where you can’t reach them and have to shoot the Gas to reset it.

When the Abrams Tank shoots the barricade at the end, the explosion can kill you.

Also, shortly after the Abrams Tank drives forward and crashes, a fully-stocked Fallen Survivor will interestingly spawn from it and try to flee.

Chapter 5 was long, easy to get temporarily lost in (as there's two recursive looping paths you can optionally take in order to reach the same area, which doesn't feature a Dead Drop to prevent you from pointlessly running back up the second path), and pretty forgettable overall, other than its Whitaker’s Gun Shop (with every gun and guaranteed Laser Sights), and its long ending Moderate Gauntlet in the chemical plant. Follow the on-screen instructions and tips during this Moderate Gauntlet, and you should have no issues.

The random Tank on Chapter 5 can also amusingly spawn inside the Whitaker’s Gun Shop, at which point you can shut the invincible event door on him, and then kill him effortlessly whilst he’s stuck on it.

Chapter 5 also notably has a glitched locked door at the bottom of a staircase in a dead end, which instantly kills you if you approach it.

The Finale of Dead City 2 is a very easy Defend-Tank-Defend-Tank-Wait And Then Run To The Escape Train in a locked-down subway station.

Just hold and kite the Tanks on the upper floor, and you should have no issues with this Finale, at least until the subway train escape vehicle arrives.

The ending is the only difficult thing about this Finale, as the escape train's arrival is delayed, and it moves and opens very slowly, which means that you’ll end up having to fight and survive as the infinite ending Horde + Tank attacks.

You might also have issues with cramming everyone in through the tiny single-person-wide doorways, which open only on a single specific spot on the escape train. Especially since the Horde + Tank will camp the entrances if anyone is already inside the train, which happened on our playthrough, and resulted in us having to have to kill the first ending Tank in order to get everyone on the train.

There is also notably a glitch on Dead City 2's Finale, where if Survivors aren't standing in the right spot on the escape train when it leaves, they will be counted as Dead in the ending credits.

Overall, Dead City 2 is an interesting Custom Map, which could have been great if only the first two Chapters were shortened and it was polished, playtested, and worked on a bit more, as there’s a lot to like about it.


For more Expert Custom Map Reviews and ratings, see my full Collection here. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2252724380