As of March 24, 2022, the indie horror game Devour received its fourth map. The game brings players across all sorts of horror tropes. The first map is set on a rural American farm. The next is an abandoned hospital. The third is perhaps the most non-traditional when it comes to common tropes. It is a Japanese inn. The newest map is a town stuck in the wild American west, complete with a saloon and a bank heist.
Each map has similar objectives, but this doesn't mean they play the same. Players will have to collect map-specific items to complete objectives while combating different boss monsters and minions along the way. The Farmhouse has basic demonic mobs while the Inn is host to giant spiders. This enemy variety and item variety gives each map a unique feel, and all are great in their own ways.
4 The Inn
The Inn is one of the hardest maps in the game. Players go back and forth on whether the Inn or the Town is the harder, but the devious mobs of the Inn often tip the scales. While every map has mobs that spawn to attack players, the Inn's mobs are actually more than small annoyances that have to be avoided. The giant spiders on this map will actually steal the players' objective items!
On this map, players have to gather cursed eggs and cleanse them in pools. Cleansing an egg will reveal a symbol on the egg. This egg must then be matched with an altar with the same symbol to completely destroy the egg. Destroying ten eggs is the primary objective of this map. Unfortunately, gathering items in one location can be pretty tough on this map thanks to the roaming spider mobs.
If a spider steals a cleansed egg, it will become cursed again, forcing players to take it back to the cleansing pool. This can really set back the momentum of the players and in Devour, quick objective completion is key to winning. If stealing the eggs wasn't enough, the boss enemy of this map also randomly webs off hallways, forcing players to use valuable UV charge just to clear a path. These factors make the Inn one of, if not the hardest, map in the game!
3 The Asylum
It wouldn't be a scary game without an abandoned hospital or asylum. The Asylum plays very similarly to the first map, the Farmhouse. Unlike the Farmhouse though, the Asylum's narrow halls and multiple floors make it a true maze to navigate. Getting lost on this map is quite easy. Unfortunately, the boss will have no trouble chasing players down, lost or not. The sheer size and layout of this map are what make it difficult.
It's the perfect follow-up map for the Farmhouse though. It doesn't introduce any new objectives gameplay-wise and instead challenges players to use what they learned from the Farmhouse in a much more confusing environment. The Asylum has certain areas with holes in the floor which can be either a blessing or a curse when running from Molly, the boss enemy. It hides its objective items (rats in this case) all across the different floors, making progression slow for new players.
In a sense, this map is a character in itself. Learning it can be quite difficult, but luckily, the mobs and objectives act the same as on the first map. It should be noted for new players that Molly, the roaming boss of the map, will become enraged if stared at for too long. So, if players encounter her walking around the map, don't look at her!
2 The Town
The newest addition to Devour, the Town is by far the most unique map in the game. All of the doors begin unlocked in the town, and players will instead have to search out keys for lockboxes spread across the different buildings. The objective of this map is to burn ten cursed books. In order to do this though, the curse must first be drawn out by placing the books in red pentagram circles. Essentially, there are four stages to completing a single objective on this map.
The Town combines elements from all the previous maps into its gameplay. Players have to "cleanse" the books by putting them in the pentagrams. This is similar to the eggs on the Inn. Next, players have to drag the cursed books to a church to be burned. Burning can only be completed with gasoline, just like the Farmhouse. The map's size is similar to the Asylum's, making things hard to navigate for new players.
This map has the most unique boss in the game. He is Sam, a playable character turned monster. On this map, players cannot select Sam. Sam not only chases players down, but he also fires at them with a revolver! This is similar to the Inn's boss that can shoot poison, but there's something especially terrifying about Sam's stomping footsteps approach just after the player has dodged a rogue shot from the revolver.
1 The Farmhouse
The Farmhouse is the default map and the first map introduced in the game. It is by far the easiest map for players to learn the mechanics of the game. It is accessible and small, and its objectives are straightforward. These traits make it the best place for new players to learn Devour. For many players, these same traits are what make the map stale quickly, but it is an undeniably good choice for the first playthrough.
Winning on this map is an important stepping stone for players looking to win on the other maps, as lessons learned on the Farmhouse carry over all the way until the Town. While the Farmhouse might not be as scary as the Asylum or as difficult as the Inn, or as complex as the Town, it is a great building block to introduce new players into the flow of the game. As a result, it achieves its purpose as a well-designed map!
Devour is currently available on PC.