By: Hoaseng Thao

‘Unturned’ is a free to play survival zombie game made by Smartly Dressed Games, and is personally one I hold very dear to me. I’ve owned the game for at least six years now, and it’s only recently that I’ve tried to play it again after so many years, but one of the things I do remember about the game are its official maps.

Why am I saying “official” maps and not just maps? Well, that’s because ‘Unturned’ hosts what’s known as “curated” maps or maps made by the ‘Unturned’ community, and while I would want to write about how great those maps are, I want to mainly talk about the maps I grew up playing in.

There are five official maps in ‘Unturned’ and I will be ranking them based on three categories:

ENVIRONMENT – How the maps look as well as any lore present in the map.

GAMEPLAY – Are there elements that add to survival or challenges that force the player to change how they play?

UNIQUENESS – What makes this map stand out from the rest?

I will score each category out of five points so the score will look something like this: X/15

And for clarification, these are my personal rankings of these maps, they don’t represent everyone’s opinions on these wonderfully made maps other than my own.

PEI

Also known as Prince Edwards Island, PEI is the first official map of ‘Unturned’ and is located in the great nation that is Canada.

ENVIRONMENT

PEI’s environment is not one to write a whole lot about, it mainly consists of one main island surrounded by a couple other smaller islands. It has a large civilian presence with a small military garrison.

The towns located on the island are also very bland looking, and they’re very simple in design with little to no details on them that makes it feel like a once populated town.

Lorewise the island doesn’t have too much lore to it, there’s a military document calling for the destruction of the bridge connecting to the island, there’s a diary entry from a girl who begins to question her own memories, and there’s a journal referencing the infamous Roswell alien incident.

Overall I’ll give it a 3/5, mostly because the map layout is not too interesting and the towns present on the island are very small in size.

GAMEPLAY

PEI is mostly a PVE (Player vs Enemy) oriented map, and since it’s the first map in ‘Unturned’, there isn’t really much to do but to scavenge for supplies and weapons. Loot is okay, your best chance of actually arming yourself is by looting the military base or police stations scattered across the map.

I give it a 2.5/5, there’s nothing in the map that adds to the gameplay in an impactful way other than the fact you’re limited to civilian grade firearms.

UNIQUENESS

One thing that is unique about PEI is that it’s the only official map set on an island, but other than that there’s nothing much to say about it except for the fact that it’s the first map to be released.

I’ll give it a 3/5 for that at least.

FINAL SCORE: 8.5/15

WASHINGTON

Welcome to the US state of Washington. This map is known for its high-rises, military presence, and tourist attractions.

ENVIRONMENT

Washington takes place near the city of Seattle, and throughout the map we can see the final efforts to contain the infection with destroyed military convoys scattered throughout the map, as well as the destruction of underground tunnels to prevent the spread of the infection.

One thing I really like about Washington is that it has a lot of lore to it. We learn that the zombie infection may have started there by an organization known as Scorpion-7.

I give it a 4/5, I really dig the idea of piecing together what happened in Washington based off of scattered notes and environmental storytelling, and I really like how tall the buildings are in Seattle; it gives off the idea that you’re in a once populated area.

GAMEPLAY

Military loot is pretty easy to find due to the large presence of the military, so finding yourself with a firearm is your number one priority since this map is kinda PVP (Player vs Player) oriented. Other than that, there aren’t any other factors that make the player think about their choices other than to eat and drink often.

I’ll give it a 3/5, since I see Washington as a more PVP oriented map, finding a gun quickly really helps out but that’s about it.

UNIQUENESS

Washington is the first map to have an actual city instead of smaller towns as well as making Seattle the main landmark for navigating the map.

I give this category a 3/5, it’s the first map to include an actual city in it that not only is good in loot but is also a key element for navigation.

FINAL SCORE: 10/15

YUKON

Located in the Canadian territory of Yukon, it is covered in snow, snow, and even more snow with little human presence.

ENVIRONMENT

Yukon’s environment is harsh since there’s little presence of civilization other than a couple mounted police outposts, a city, and an airport but other than that, most of the map is covered in snow and trees with the occasional secret Scorpion-7 projects. When it comes to night time, you can even see the northern lights shine above you which is a very beautiful sight to see.

I give it a 4/5, Yukon is environmentally beautiful, and watching the northern lights above really nails it in.

GAMEPLAY

One very unique thing about Yukon is that since it’s a snowy map, you have to always be warm no matter what because this map introduces the temperature system. This system forces players to consider bunkering down and heating up from the harsh winter environment that is Yukon.

I give it a 4.5/5, for what it tries to do with temperature mechanics, it does very well.

UNIQUENESS

Yukon is by far the most unique map in ‘Unturned’, it forces the player to utilize the plentiful trees to build bases and create warm spots to survive the cold and it’s also the first winter oriented map that utilizes it as a gameplay mechanic.

I give it a 5/5, it is by far the most unique map in ‘Unturned’ and nothing beats it.

FINAL SCORE: 13.5/15

RUSSIA

Welcome to Russia, or at least the western part of it. There is a large military presence as well as signs of hope in a dire world.

ENVIRONMENT

It is absolutely stunning and beautiful. Russia is the first map to have a large deadzone which can kill any player who dares enter it without a gas mask. It’s also more detailed compared to the other maps, with entire railways that flow throughout to help navigate this large map.

Just like in Washington, there is a large military presence that helps emphasize that there was an attempt to stop the infection from spreading with notes from both the military and the civilian population documenting everything falling apart.

I give it a 5/5

GAMEPLAY

One major thing that Russia adds to the gameplay, are NPC quests. In the South lies an aircraft carrier belonging to the “Coalition” faction, a faction that was created in the wake of the outbreak, and by completing quests from its members, you can earn items, experience, and ranks within it.

To the North lies the “deadzone” an area covered in radiation but is home to really good military loot, but the only way to get there is to get a gas mask and stock up on filters if you want to stay there for a while.

I give it a 5/5, it’s the first map to introduce quest mechanics that greatly benefits the player if they want to get supplies without going on a scavenger hunt.

UNIQUENESS

It is by far the most ambitious map in the game, it not only introduces NPCs and quests but it’s also the first large map that doesn’t feel empty. Plus, it’s set in Europe.

I give it a 5/5, Russia for me has always been my go to map as a kid not only because of the quests but because it’s also the largest map that feels great to scavenge through.

FINAL SCORE: 15/15

GERMANY

Welcome to Deutschland, where you’ll find too many mountains, flooded areas, a failed rocket program, and of course the German supermarkets.

ENVIRONMENT

Now I have a weird connection with this map, because the one I grew up playing is not the same one that is in the current game. The one I grew up with was brown and unlively, but this new Germany is greener.

Other than that tidbit, Germany is a mountainous map but it is also one of the most lore heavy maps in the game. You’ll find remnants of the Coalition as well as the entire destruction of the city of Cologne following a failed rocket launch as the government tries to make the best they can before it collapses. It’s very heartbreaking to see the remnants of an entire nation when you travel across the map.

Germany gets a 4.5/5 for this one, having been released after Russia, this map doesn’t really live up to it as much but it does have better environmental storytelling.

GAMEPLAY

To be brutally honest, Germany is just Russia but without quests and NPCs. It contains unique deadzone locations and even a secret boss but other than that it’s not really different in any other way.

I give it a 4/5, not bad but could’ve been better.

UNIQUENESS

Germany is the first map to be centered around mountainous terrain, and since it’s Germany, there is a large element of Oktoberfest being held throughout the map since Germany canonically was one of the first nations to be a safe haven against the infection before it all fell apart.

I give it 4/5, although the Oktoberfest did make the map feel more unique, there wasn’t really anything else unique about it when compared to Russia which both maps are the exact same size.

FINAL SCORE: 12.5/15

FINAL RESULTS

1. RUSSIA 15 POINTS
2. YUKON 13.5 POINTS
3. GERMANY 12.5 POINTS
4. WASHINGTON 10 POINTS
5. PEI 8.5 POINTS

If you want to play ‘Unturned’ I highly recommend downloading it on their Steam store page, https://store.steampowered.com/app/304930/Unturned/