Is Nostromo is the worst map of all time?
DBD is not exactly famous for great map design. In fact, maps have even been ranked in the top 10 worst maps in video game history.
In this list for example, Haddonfield was ranked #5 worst map of all time. Inreview
I want to make the argument, that old Haddonfield is compared to Nostromo actually pretty good. With all honesty, i can not think off a worse map in any game i have ever played. This is all of course in perspective to what a map in certain games should be. Mainly focusing on fairness, how enjoyable the map is and last but not least how dynamic the gameplay is.
I dont want to go to deep into this, since the problems (the entire map is a big problem) are most likely very obvious to you. Still here are some:
- 1/3 of the map are dead ends. Left and right next to the main building are basically gameplay killers. Ramps are placed in the most awkward way possible.
- The main building is by far the worst we have in the game. All pallets are super weak and not playable. The windows are without ballanced landing certaint death. The loop in the main is just silly running around a circle.
- Walls and the enviorement are bumpy as hell. There is not a single game i dont pump my toe on some random stuff on the ground, both as survivor or killer.
- Every gym feels like a filler. They are the by far worst versions we have in the game. Most dont even have the possibility for checkspots. They are designed for predroping the pallet no matter what.
- Most filler pallets are very bad and mostly not playable. Most of them are not even 50/50s, just straight up loose.
- Windows are not playable. The only "playable" window is usable from one side. And even there, the dynamic is close to zero. The joke window at main is just silly. Whats the point of that? Another 50/50 nobody asked for.
- The "killer shack" Spaceshuttle is a random thing with nothing to it. No gen, no window, not even a pallet (there is a meaningless filler outside tho). This is basically 20% of the map and can be totally ignored.
- Gen spawns are terrible. Often i find 3 gens in the unplayable main building, sometimes gens are all clustered in the middle of the map or in the dead ends.
EDIT: Since a few people came up with this point (and backed their claim up with facts), i want to add it aswell: Nostromo is onesided (killer).
I know that some think Borgo is the worst, other dislike Saloon or RPD, but objectivly speaking, nothing can beat Nostromo in my opinion. I can not think of a single positive thing about it beside the easter egg.
What is your opinion on that map? Are there even worse maps? Should BHVR fix Nostromo and if so, how?
Kind regards
Comments
Sorry but I can't avoid finding funny whenever anyone suggests a more balanced or killer-sided map is "the worst map of all time" or "the worst in the history of the game" when there were lots of survivor-sided maps that were so bad there shouldn't even be a comparison.
The map has dead ends in some of its EDGES, like many other maps. Just don't go into that direction. The deadzones were far worse in old Shelter Woods. But some maps are actually more unbalanced for NOT having dead zones at the edges. That is one of the things that makes current Ormond and old Eyrie of Crows so bad. They are technically not among the biggest maps, but they had insanely big distances that needed to be crossed during or not during chases, because even the edges were filled with important places for you to go.
The main building is not even near the worst. It's just not as insanely strong as others there were in the history of this game, like Badham with its god-pallets and two windows, one of them being insanely strong, Garden of Joy with 3 windows, two of them being insanely strong and ONE OF THEM CONNECTED TO A GOD PALLET (still in the game, btw), old Haddonfield (hell, even CURRENT haddonfield has a pretty bad design because there's no room for mindgames in that building, it's often just chase around the same side and repeat, unless you have powers or perks that circumvent that, of course), old Ironworks of Misery or, I don't know, ALL THE OLD MAIN BUILDING WITH GOD WINDOWS, which have been fixed in a massive update in 2020 (all of that not counting the even older maps that had INFINITES, no single map today can be as bad as a map with infinites). Still, I'm pretty sure Mother's Dwelling can still spawn a god window. Nostromo's main building has multiple pallets, but they can be played around, one of them can have a lot of value but still be countered, and there's even a unique way of slowing down the killer that can be reactivated. Hell, that is GOOD design for the most part. Let's not forget it also helps to hide line of sight for both killers and survivors to make stealth plays.
Walls and enviroments are bumpy? You know what map had a WAAAAAAAAY worse bumping problem? Garden of Joy until a short while ago, it was fixed just when Chucky got released. The clutter on that map was also short enough to make the killer get stuck by stuff outside their first person line of sight.
The checkspots can be a little harder because of the shapes of the walls, but the paths are mostly similar to other jungle gyms in the game and mindgames play the same in lots of cases. It is still better than having tons of loops with no room for mindgames like, let's say, old Cowshed, or almost no pallets at all like old Shelter Woods.
Filler pallets are just not the most safe, but there are many of them and they can still waste the killer's time more than enough if you play them well. It's better to have multiple pallets that aren't very safe and need to be played carefully than a buch of fully-safe loops with god pallets.
Windows absolutely ARE playable. Even the ones that don't put you right into safety can be used to at least gain some time.
The "shack" can still cut the killer from sight to stop bloodlust and it's pallet is far from meaningless. You just have to know when to use it. Either stun the killer when he is turning or predrop to gain distance and reach the nearest loop. It's actually GOOD to have a new, different building instead of just the same old shack that plays the same in almost every map.
Gen spawns? Post-rework Haddonfield, RPD and Dead Dawg Saloon have much worse gen spawns. Old RPD had gens that were so far away spread you couldn't realistically defend them, new RPD has gens that are placed in extremely safe locations that allow survivors to see the killer from afar and start running away to the right direction really soon, post-rework Haddonfield, as well as Dead Dawg, had not only that but a gen spread that favors 3-gens by a lot. Hell, in current Shelter Woods I've seen an unbreakable 4 GEN formation once.
And beside all of that, please, old Haddonfield, I mean the ORIGINAL Haddonfield, before the first changes, had fences that were so long you had to walk around insane distances to get were the survivors were, only for them to switch sides at the same time while being impossible to mindgame since you were visible to them the whole time, AND on top of that they had windows and were connected to safe pallets. That alone makes any comparison between Haddonfield and Nostromo not even close.
I don't understand how it can "not be about balance" but still be somehow objective. You're simply talking about it "not being fun", which is entirely subjective.
Yeah the OP must not have played DBD very long to say "of all time" because there were some absolutely horrendous maps over the years. Man has clearly never had to chase people around the infinites of old haddonfield or dealt with the 30+ chainable safe pallets on pre-rework ormond.