Island of the Dead - AvP2 Custom Map Campaign (Complete Playthrough)

Aliens vs Predator 2 singleplayer custom map campaign titled "Island of the Dead".

Map author: Artalavista.

Story:

"'Island of the Dead' is a homage to the five paintings of Arnold Böcklin called 'TOTENINSEL' (German, that means Isle of the dead), he did between 1880 and 1886. This campaign contents one story in five chapters."

Map review:

Island of the Dead is one of the most fan favorited AvP2 campaigns/maps. The maps in this campaign are extremely unique, unlike any other AvP2 maps. While they are indeed horror-based, the author, Artalavista, chose to create an extremely artistic campaign based upon a series of eerie paintings. He clearly took great liberties with the campaign to tie it to the AvP universe, but in doing so, he also added paranormal elements to the maps.

The level design of each map consists of solving small puzzles and navigating blocked pathways until eventually finding the right path. Most of the maps are filled with booby traps that can eliminate the player immediately. Thus, it is recommended to quick save often. The maps are tied together via cutscenes, sporadic dialogue and events detailing a haunted submarine (ghost ship if you will) and the actual island of the dead.

This campaign is actually a bit of a mod, in that in features new textures, skins, sounds, hud, etc. All of these are geared towards fitting the dead theme and they work quite well. In my first time playing this campaign, I jumped quite badly with the appearance of the first ghost which took me off guard when it appeared. This playthrough is my second playthrough of the campaign, although years after I first played it. While I didn't jump this time, I had largely forgotten much of the campaign and was pleased to replay it.

Island of the dead is by far the creepiest campaign and maps ever released for AvP2. While it doesn't have the dark and spooky corridors influenced by the Alien film, it has tons of paranormal and Silent Hill type influences that are very unnerving at times. The final level (epilogue) is so far out there in terms of what you would expect from an AvP2 game, yet it succeeds greatly. Island of the Dead is highly recommended.