My Ideal 25 Map Rotation

It is time to get controversial but please bear in mind that this is just my own opinion. Over the weekend following the influx of new players onto the servers I started thinking about the old days of Zombie Survival and how limited the old servers were in terms of actual maps in the rotation. Today there is over 200, a number I personally find to be way too many as I cannot remember every map when it comes to voting. 

I undertook a little exercise to see what would happen if I was put in charge of the rotation and was tasked with removing 90% of the maps, reducing the total number of maps in the rotation to 25 and what that says about me as an ancient ZS player.


I started by cutting the maps I find to least fit what I want out of zombie survival. I came up with 4 distinct tropes I have active dislike for. The first of which are maps that are 'too small' for me to enjoy. Immediately I will lose some people here but maps such as 'Compact' and all of the 'Main' maps were immediately cut. A key part of Zombie Survival for me is that the rounds must be somewhat winnable, even for a newer player. These simply don't do that.

The next group is the one I have the most disdain for, bland symmetrical maps. "Orbit" is the example I will give here. Its a map that has no character, its also incredibly difficult for a starting zombie on a low player count who may spend the majority of a round chasing humans in circles around the corridors. Small maps have the mercy of sometimes ending quickly, these can linger like a bad taste in the mouth.

Up next were the "Ugly" maps, a very subjective term I tried to be objective with. I focused on maps that were predominantly built with only one block type, themed solely around colours/rainbows or contain way too much bedrock. A lot of older maps got cut here. The example I'll give is "Bricked_Up" which is just an eyesore to me despite knowing a lot of others enjoying it.

More controversy here as the final group I cut was course maps. I ended up keeping a couple in the final 25 map rotation as there would be a lack of parkour in my rotation without them but I have never been the biggest fan of a course map. Some are overly long to the point where making the end is an instant win regardless of how good the zombies are. Those particular maps are the exact opposite of the tiny prorun maps that are impossible to win on, both needed cutting.

After the initial cuts I flipped the question on its head, looked at the maps that were left and asked myself what types of maps do I enjoy and why, starting to make my ideal map rotation.

Firstly, contrary to popular belief and despite my cutting every 'main' map, I do enjoy a prorun map. It's just my definition seems to be different to others. A good prorun map to me is a smallish map with an aesthetic theme that is largely built without hiding places and secrets (but may contain them) and is not just flat and/or symmetrical. 10 of the 25 spots on my rotation went to these types of maps and I chose; Cargo, Marketplace, Mountainvalley, Playtime, Roadrunner, Rooftop, Something, Stoneways_2 and Synapse. As aforementioned, Nothing also makes the cut for being Nothing.

Next are the "hiding" maps. Typically 'town' or 'building' based maps these are built predominantly for players to hide in, may contain a lot more secrets but can also offer good prorun possibilities. These to me are the most important maps on the server as these maps are the ones newer players are most likely to win on and the more chance they have to win, the more chance you have of them coming back. They also offer good respite for those who don't want to be running every round. The maps I selected here were; Bergen_Village, Castle_Plane, Raid, Smol_Town, Train_Station, Treasure_Island and Venice.

That gave me 8 spots left for “variety” maps. I focused here on what would make the most complete map rotation. I added 2 longer course type maps; Prinzz_Run and Wizard_Of_Oz. I added 2 buildable maps; Junction and Rocket_League. I added a spleef type map; Nozjing. For my final 3 maps I then focused on the maps I found most aesthetically pleasing or just most interesting and settled on Emerald_Coast, Standoff and Tranquil_Cascades rounding out my rotation.