Atonement | ZFRR Hub

The First Room

On ZFRR, the First Room of Atonement is the starting area of the mining village: a small roundabout, and behind it a cobbled yard crossed by mine cart rails. Every game opens with the Spawn Rush: the players are fenced in the roundabout by glowing blue barriers, and the screen reads „Survive and be rewarded, or leave to begin your Atonement“. Each 10 seconds survived earn a reward, up to 50 seconds for all five, and the rewards are then picked up in the yard.

The players start with 500 points and the SAJ-6 pistol. The best reward is a free Pack-a-Punched weapon, and keeping it alive is the whole game: the room is small, cluttered and fed by four spawns, and the Gewehr 43 on the wall sells for 600 points.

The Spawn Rush, the spawns and the strategy of the First Room

The Atonement leaderboard ranks the highest rounds reached without leaving the First Room. Atonement is a custom map: it is listed with the Black Ops III custom maps and does not count in the ZFRR rating.

Overview

Atonement is a custom Zombies map for Call of Duty: Black Ops III on PC, made by MadGaz (Madgaz Gaming) and released on the Steam Workshop on July 18, 2019. It is a remake of Fabrik der Untoten, the first map MadGaz built with the Black Ops III mod tools: he shared his progress on Reddit from February 2018 and said in December 2018 that the mapping was finished. The Workshop description sets the scene: „Our 4 heroes find themselves trapped in an old English mining town, what secrets have Group 935 been hiding here, will this be their Atonement…“

GameBlack Ops III (PC, Steam Workshop)

CreatorMadGaz (Madgaz Gaming)

ReleaseJuly 18, 2019Last update on July 30, 2019

LocationCatslow, a small English mining villageMission report dated February 15, 1946

Workshop276,206 subscriptions in all, rated 5 stars from 3,187 votes (October 24, 2026)

ModesZombies

Players1 to 4

The loading screen holds the story. A Group 935 mission report, signed by the field agent Würstchenim Schlafrock, says that the small English mining village of Catslow „has been completely overrun with the undead“. The team first feared a lack of Element 115, then found new deposits, enough to support months of experiments, and uncovered a strange temple. The report ends: „It will be a perfect testing ground for our new war machine.“ Next to it, a notebook drawn with the Atomwaffe and a set of red symbols asks: „Is this our Atonement?“

Credits

MadGaz built the main structure and areas of the map. The Workshop page credits a large team around him:

Mapping

Nuceda for the Banana Colada building and the one next to it, Hoodedsniper for the Speed Cola building, Jon Ford for the base layout of the teleporter room.

Scripting

Planet for the main Easter egg and many fixes, lil Rifa for the Spawn Rush rewards and the Lua, QuentinFTL for the Lua inventory, Abnormal for the Spawn Rush and Fire Fuel Soda, Harrybo21 for the wonder weapon and the perks, Symbo for script help, Will Smith for the soul chests, the teleporting Pack-a-Punch and the automated mine cart, Ardivee for the boss rounds and the boss fight, Kaizokuroof for the teleporter, Redspace for the jump pad, Forges for the weapon swap table and Raptroes for the perk descriptions.

Models and animations

Divinefury for the starting weapon, the Fire Fuel Soda machine, the Mystery Box, the boss and many props, Zeroy for the ported WWII models, Rob for the rail cart machine, Daan Hesterman for the wonder weapon, the extractor machines and the coin machines, Erthrock for the Buried zombies and Apex for the Shadows of Evil and Revelations zombies.

Artwork

Glitch for the loading screen, Complx for the thumbnail, map select screen and poster, Robit for the Spawn Rush pop-ups, Z1620 for the reward images.

Weapons

Skyeslord for the WWII weapons, Blak for the Hyde.

Help and testing

Scob and porter for the Wraith and Greyhound extraction programs, Scob for Hydra, Zeroy, Seth Norris, Verko and Xela; testers Xela, Robit, xpicious, Kunjora and scorpolio.

Enemies

Zombies

The undead of Catslow, with zombie models ported from Buried, Shadows of Evil and Revelations.

Panzerhound

A mechanical war dog taken from the Wolfenstein games. It first comes once the power is on, then about every five rounds, in the middle of a normal round. It breathes fire, and the rocket launchers placed around the map, highlighted through the walls, are the way to bring it down.

Keepers

They rise during the Easter egg and the side quests, to guard the ritual objects or to carry a reward.

RAPS

The rolling robot bombs of Black Ops III multiplayer and campaign. They drop from broken pipes into the arena of the boss fight.

Perks

The map mixes classic perks with custom ones, and each machine explains its custom perk when the player walks up to it. None of them is in the First Room.

Fire Fuel Soda

Standing still creates a fiery defense around the player, and fire damage increases while inside it. A custom perk scripted by Abnormal, with a machine modeled by Divinefury.

Banana Colada

Increases slide speed and distance, and leaves a slippery trail after sliding.

Madgaz’s Moonshine

Standard weapons have a one in three chance to deal bonus fire damage, and sliding produces explosions, 25 per round.

Crusader’s Ale

A custom perk with a melee damage boost, fixed in the update of July 26, 2019.

Classic perks

Juggernog, Speed Cola, Double Tap Root Beer, Stamin-Up, Mule Kick and Deadshot Daiquiri.

A side Easter egg gives a free perk and one more perk slot for the rest of the game (see Secrets).

Weapons

Every game starts with the SAJ-6 pistol, a custom starting weapon. The walls and the Mystery Box are filled with Second World War weapons.

Gewehr 43

600 points, a semi-automatic rifle on a wall of the First Room.

Thompson M1A1

A submachine gun, seen in the hands of First Room players.

Tea & Biscuits

Gold dual pistols with the Pack-a-Punch camouflage, the name the game gives them on screen.

Thundergun and Ray Gun Mark II

The update of July 23, 2019 stopped them from killing the Panzerhound in one hit. The Thundergun comes from the Box; the Ray Gun Mark II can come from the mine cart.

Rocket launchers

Placed around the map for the Panzerhound, and highlighted through the walls.

Kunjora’s Battle Mace

A melee weapon sold in the secret GobbleGum room, named after the YouTuber Kunjora, one of the testers of the map.

Bowie Knife

On the side of the bus next to the pub.

Die Atomwaffe

The wonder weapon of Atonement is Die Atomwaffe, a fully custom model by Daan Hesterman, retextured by Divinefury. It has three firing modes and hits harder up close, like a shotgun.

Three soul chests

The extractor machines must be fed with zombie kills. One is in the Double Tap room, one outside near Mule Kick, one at the end of the tunnel from the Juggernog room. Each full chest gives a vial.

The build table

The three vials go into the funnels of the table near the power, and the weapon can be picked up.

The upgrade

Shoot the three funnels of the table with the Atomwaffe, then blow up three rocks outside the map with grenades. Each one brings a Keeper, who drops the rock when killed. With the three rocks, the table upgrades the weapon for 5000 points: faster reload, more ammo, a larger magazine and a new camouflage.

The mine cart and the Pack-a-Punch

Zombies drop rail coins. Put into the automated mine cart system, each coin brings back a cart with a random reward: power-ups like Insta-Kill or Nuke, a Death Machine, and on rare occasions a Ray Gun Mark II.

Three dial machines

After the power, each one takes a five-digit code written in symbols nearby. The codes never change: 14291 near the rail command room, 35398 in the Juggernog room of the pub cellar, 31079 upstairs in the Stamin-Up building.

Three gold coins

Each correct code ejects a gold rail coin, and the mine cart brings one part of the Pack-a-Punch for each.

Three spots

The machine is built in the Juggernog room, by the outside staircase near Speed Cola, or under the stairs between the power and the temple room.

A teleporting machine

Once built, the Pack-a-Punch moves from one spot to another during the game.

Easter egg

The main quest, scripted by Planet, needs the power and the Atomwaffe. It ends in a boss fight against a giant Panzerhound and a final cutscene.

Three temple stones

The first comes from a key forged in a furnace, the second from souls collected in moving ritual circles, the third from a blue coin dug up with a shovel and given to the mine cart.

The summoning key

Charged at the ritual altar, then defended against Keepers at three altars around the map.

The boss fight

The key opens a wall near the Juggernog room and a teleporter to the arena, where a death ray must be charged three times while zombies, RAPS and Keepers attack.

The main quest, step by step

Secrets

GobbleGums

No GobbleGum machine is in reach at the start. Paying 1000 points into three cash registers, in the pub, to the left of Crusader’s Ale and in the Double Tap room, opens a room across from Mule Kick with a GobbleGum machine and Kunjora’s Battle Mace.

The free perk

With the Bowie Knife, knife the three hands holding perk bottles: one in the Spawn Rush area, one where the tunnel from Crusader’s Ale splits, one at the entrance of the tunnel by Juggernog. A Keeper comes with a perk power-up, and the perk limit goes up by one.

The dart board

Shooting the dart board in the pub gives a few points.

The shield

Three parts, an eagle, a face piece and gas canisters, each with three possible spots, built at the table near the mine cart system.

The jump pad

Once the power is on, it throws the players from the power room to the outside area.

Trivia

MadGaz first showed the map in 2018 as „AtonemenT“, with a capital T at both ends, the way the credits of the Workshop page still write it.
The release trailer, edited by Xela, came out on July 15, 2019, three days before the map.
MadGaz updated the map eight times in the twelve days after its release. The notes of July 30, 2019 mix fixes with jokes: „dave got fired“, „dave got rehired“, „dave fell asleep again“.
„Atomwaffe“ is German for „atomic weapon“.
Kunjora, one of the testers, gave his name to the Battle Mace of the GobbleGum room.
The Panzerhound comes from the Wolfenstein games, where it is a Nazi war machine.