Re-Mapping the Realms: Red Forest

IareRubberDucky

The 8th Realm of the game, Red Forest has kinda been not looked upon greatly in the eyes of the playerbase. Their maps tend to be bigger than a small country with clutter strewn about. If you're a Killer who lacks mobility, it's Hell on Earth. However, since this Realm belongs to The Huntress, I've decided to make the Red Forest something interesting. Something that better ties into her backstory.

Before I get started, I should once again mention that these posts are mainly cosmetic changes to maps, not full on Reworks to them. If there is a major issue, I will address it, however, but this is mostly just for making the Realms look better both in-game and lore-wise.

Overview of Red Forest

The unceasing rain pours over a horrible landscape. The Great War in full swing, and the Germans and Austro-Hungarians are pushing into the crumbling Russian Empire through the forests of what would be Ukraine in the modern day. The Eastern Front of World War I was less about trenches and more about mobilization, but still, some remnants remain. The ground in the Red Forest is wildly uneven from bombs and explosives, with meager trenches dug out to provide cover. Burned out vehicles, sandbags, and barbed wire litter the landscape, allowing for unique loops and ways to hide. Alternatively, you can head under the ground level and into the trenchworks, hiding among artillery and bodies. The rain turns the ground into a mixture of mud and blood within the dimly lit trenches.

The entire edge of the Trial is a wall of barbed wire in front of a dense fog. Whether it's a natural fog or from gunfire is to be determined, but it certainly makes each map within the Red Forest look like just a small piece of a bigger frontline.

Realm Shift: Temple of Purgation

This is something new because I've never done this before! Temple of Purgation came out before a more suitable Realm existed, so, I'm going to be swapping the Temple of Purgation with a map from another Realm.

Namely, Dead Sands.

This means that Temple of Purgation is NOT going to be mentioned in this post and instead, Dead Sands is going to be re-named and placed within the Red Forest. When I do get to the Forsaken Boneyard, I will mention this again, and reiterate the these two maps have shifted places.

Mother's Dwelling

A cabin among the trees… and in front of it, a network of barbed wire. Most of the trees have been leveled, the ground dug out, and the environment destroyed as the frontlines were brought right to Anna's front door within the Fog. A trench line goes around the entirety of the Hunting Cabin as it holds something unique within. The Hunting Cabin has gained a basement, a normal one, that contains chains and children's books, plates of rotten food and animal masks. This is where Anna put the children she took away. It has three access points: One inside the Cabin itself down a staircase, another outside that comes from a cellar door, and a third from a trench that dug into the wall.

Here's where things get interesting. If the Basement is to spawn in the Hunting Cabin, the cellar door closes, the hole in the wall is boarded up, and loops are removed. The Basement Hooks then spawn within the actual Basement of the Hunting Cabin, making this decorative basement the actual Basement. The rest of the map contains the usual pieces of Mother's Dwelling, but with a Great War theme. There are no more rocks and trees, only machine gun positions and burning vehicles. The Smoke House still persists on the map as well, albeit, a plane has fallen from the sky and crashed into it. Regardless, it still stands proud, a feat of engineering from both Anna and her mother who built it long ago.

Gameplay time! Mother's Dwelling, from a gameplay standpoint, is being shifted just a bit. Along with a small shrinkage in the wash the first floor Window in the corner of the Hunting Cabin is being removed if the Basement did NOT spawn within the Hunting Cabin. If the Basement didn't take over the basement of the Hunting Cabin, then loops will actually spawn down there, and the Window doesn't need to exist.

Oh, and no, the trenches are not going to be thin hallways on the map. Eastern Front trenches were more ragtag and simple compared the Western Front. You will have room to move, but the map will be a lot more "vertical," so all you Balanced Landing users will love it!

Dead Pastures

The fighting reshaped the land. What was once a grazing farmland became a bombed out and dug out field of blood and bullets, bodily fluids mixing with mud and oil. In the center of this map lies the Killer Shack, now a defensive position. Opposite the window side is a machine gun encampment, fresh with a corpse slumped over a smoking barrel. Several other corpses dot the shack, within some even falling down the stairs to the Basement, limbs missing and blood everywhere. Where the fountain of the Forsaken Boneyard would be, is instead a crashed and burning Sikorsky Ilya Muromets. A once proud and undefeatable aircraft, now a broken piece of rubble that slinks into the rest of the carnage around. Loops are made of sandbags and barbed wire as corpses lean against them, still holding their rifles, even if they're missing feet. Some shallow trenches dot the map as well, allowing some verticality to separate it further from a similar map, that being, Wreckers' Yard.

A strange picture has arrived, however. An out place portrait of the Chilean Desert hides among the trenches. A parting gift, perhaps?

Okay, so basically Dead Pastures is Dead Sands. I wanted to make Dead Pastures different from Wreckers' Yard because, although that map is pretty sweet, we don't really need two of them, especially since Autohaven tiles are much better than both Red Forest and Forsaken Boneyard ones. Oh and by the way, the reason I shifted Dead Sands and Temple of Purgation is because, personally, I think Temple just fits the Forsaken Boneyard more. The Boneyard didn't exist when Plague came into the game and, if she was, in fact, the next Chapter, I have a feeling that Temple of Purgation would be put into the Forsaken Boneyard Realm instead of Red Forest.

End

I'm not the biggest fan of Red Forest, but I DO love the lore behind it. I really wish Bhvr leaned more into the "horror of war" aspects of the map. I wanted to make Red Forest more than just, well, a forest. Given the time period and what was going on, finding an in-tact forest with zero signs of combat or mobilization is a bit of a rarity. Plus, I'm a sucker for World War I.

Next Realm up is going to be the second licensed Realm, Springwood… Oh, I'm not gonna like that one! I've already done suburban horror with Haddonfield's changes, so I gotta come up with something different for Badham Preschool!

KingOfDoom55

If they do rework it, I hope they keep the rain, I loved the different weather on than map than just "misty"

angrychuck

I actually really like the idea of a map that is based on a war torn battlefield and I think the environment of the red forest suits it both lore wise and also aesthetically. Good job :)