This campaign was made by RoughRider in 2023. Get it here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Hu74FHer8GjyUsVFwPWGgRhtGv583teN?usp=sharing
Mission 1 - “Road to Ruin”: In a certain way this map resembled a bit the first Protoss mission of The Fall. The amount of starting units in the rescuable base and the number of Gateways allowed me to quickly get close to the unit limit. But I had to restart the mission to eliminate the Zerg base inside the Historic Town, because during my first attempt I didn’t gather my units like I should’ve done. Once I studied the layout I was able to get rid of that base. Indury died during the first attempt because she chased air units. There’s a good amount of resources in the center of the map, but I still built an expansion after destroying the Zerg in the south. It was interesting to see Dr. Martens in this campaign.
Mission 2 - “Sanctuary”: Not only Observers were helpful to explore the map, but Zeratul as well. I claimed the free expansion to the right, but cleared the enemy bases in the counterclockwise direction. I got a good amount of resources from the Zerg base right below my starting point, so from there I didn’t claim more resources from any other Zerg base. The space in this map has been very well used, with good tile variation, doodad placement and nice variation of ground elevation. The Terrans had good resistance to Zerg attacks, and when I reached them the Zerg were weakened noticeably, hence the Terrans started to gain terrain. I attacked with my units from the yellow base and didn’t have trouble eliminating the Zerg.
Mission 3 - “Ancient Secrets”: With help of the fully upgraded Terran infantry and using Defensive Matrix along with Irradiate to make my attack more effective, I destroyed the Zerg base to the left. But that happened during my second attempt, surprisingly, because a lost Indury again. When I attacked the Zerg base to the right I noticed there was another ramp in the right cliff of my base. Anyway, the Zerg sent lots of reinforcements during my attacks so it wasn’t really easy to destroy those two bases. I had to switch left and right from one attack to another to delay Zerg reinforcements. The right base got eliminated first and I expanded there. I got the three leads without attacking north. I used a Shuttle to reach the big doodad temple. I eliminated the Zerg when the objective updated after Kerrigan showed up, clearing from the left to the right. I claimed all the free expansions just in case, and the resources from the small Zerg base to the left of my starting base. The map name is misspelled “anceint”.
Mission 4 - “Of What Remains”: The Zerg were kinda tough because they were creating lots of Ultralisks. There were 8 defending the nearest base. Maybe that was because I was using four Reavers to attack, with my other units. I usually don’t include Reavers in my attacks. I’m not sure if it was convenient to get their upgrades. I spent a lot of resources getting all the available tech and upgrades. Scouts were useful to eliminate the Sunken Colonies in the high ground. This map was worth a retry (Indury, again). After eliminating the closest enemy base, I attacked northeast, and then the main base. It’s a good looking map, especially for the river that takes its course across all the map, separating it in two halfs.
Mission 5 - “Cloak & Dagger”: Interesting doodad placement to improve the Terran setting. I got caught up several times, but I saved often. The length of the mission was adequate. The playability was simple. In-game transmissions made the map much better. I’m not sure how it was supposed to end, though. I never saw Til, and after the objective updated I simply got victory. I think the Zerg were supposed to attack. I played the map again and explored with Observers. I couldn’t explore inside the Zerg bases without getting hit, but the map ended like before (after the conversation with Til). The topic of hybrid creatures is very interesting. I haven’t seen the fossil in the campaign, but I imagined a powerup that is a rock. The brown Protoss in the upper right corner weren’t mining.
Mission 6 - “Til the End”: I destroyed the Zerg Hive and then attacked the bases in the high ground. I loaded multiple times because it was difficult to resist against Zerg reinforcements, Overlords were dropping units quickly. Indury was the only air unit that survived the Scourges, and my Observers. With the resources of the free expansion I was able to create a strong attacking force, although Zerg level 2 upgrades made things a bit difficult. I could have claimed the resources in the Terran base, to make more Carriers and see if I can survive the masses of Scourges.
This campaign and Forsaken (from the same author) makes Zeratul look like an adventurer, something I find fitting for the character: Think about The Dark Origin secret mission. The macro missions were standard but all of them include elements that add variation to each mission, and those elements give the story a smooth progression.
8 out of 10