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The great hall of the spawn, its stone pillars wrapped in wooden scaffolding, the grand staircase on the left and zombies coming between the pillars, First Room record footage, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

Return to Das Herrenhaus

Return to Das Herrenhaus, the Black Ops III remake by Sethnorris of a World at War custom map by the same creator: the spawn hall as the First Room and its ZFRR rules, the boarding school, the Dictator, the perks, the teleporter and its Pack-a-Punch, Samantha's Games and what changes from the original.

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The First Room

The great hall of the spawn, its stone pillars wrapped in wooden scaffolding, the grand staircase on the left and zombies coming between the pillars, First Room record footage, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

On ZFRR, the First Room of Return to Das Herrenhaus is the spawn, the great hall of the boarding school that the game calls the Main Hall: a grand staircase climbing to an upper floor, a black and white checkered floor, stone pillars wrapped in wooden scaffolding, sandbags and old portraits on the walls. A game starts there with 500 points and the Colt M1911, as the guides’ footage shows.

The doors that leave the hall stay closed in a First Room game. The one on the left of the main stairs leads down to the basement and the power: it costs 750 points in a video Pankake101 published on February 8, 2019, the day after version 1.04 raised the cost of some doors, and no source says whether that price is the one before or after the patch. Another, which Sassy Asi calls “the door to the left of Quick Revive”, opens the corridor of Double Tap and the way to the library. No source gives the price of the other doors. With every door closed, the power, the teleporter and the Pack-a-Punch stay out of reach, and no guide places a Mystery Box spot in the hall.

A chair at the foot of the stairs in the spawn hall, the prompt reading Press and hold to pick up Hammer, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

The hammer

The first item of the main quest waits on a chair at the foot of the stairs, with the prompt “Press & hold X to pick up Hammer”.

The grand staircase of the Main Hall climbing to a landing with a tall clock and old portraits, the area name Main Hall in the corner, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

The grand staircase

It climbs from the hall to the upper floor. The big clock stands on its first landing: the fuse of the clock game appears there.

Quick Revive

The HUD of a record run shows Quick Revive: its icon is on screen through Zenii_’s First Room record of round 24. No source shows the machine, where it stands or its price.

Colt M1911

The starting pistol.

M14

The rifle in Zenii_’s hands through the same First Room record, next to the M1911. No source gives its price or its wall.

Secrets in the hall

The first spot of the pink key, through a zombie barrier of the ground floor; a painting of the yellow key in the same window; the cap of the Mario star under a chair upstairs; a perk bottle of the green key by the clock; and one of the symbols of the tomb puzzle upstairs.

Enemies

Zombies, and every few rounds the special round of the burning Pest zombies, which Tinhorn describes across the map.

The Return to Das Herrenhaus leaderboard keeps one board for solo and one for co-op. Return to Das Herrenhaus is a custom map: it is listed with the Black Ops III custom maps, whose boards “count in no ranking and no rating”. The rules of the board:

Doors closed

“Reach the highest round you can without opening any doors or barriers.” “Every round must be played in full.”

GobbleGums

“The First Room has no GobbleGum machine: no special GobbleGum loadout is required.”

No glitch

“Glitches or Exploits are NOT ALLOWED.”

Video

“Full gameplay is required.” “Twitch: Make sure your footage is highlighted as past broadcasts will not be accepted.” “YouTube: Make sure your video is public or unlisted.”

Overview

Return to Das Herrenhaus is a custom Zombies map for Call of Duty: Black Ops III on PC, released on the Steam Workshop on January 6, 2019 by Albert Calvo, known as Sethnorris, credited on the Workshop page for “mapping, code and pretty much all”. It is a remake by the same creator of Das Herrenhaus, a World at War custom map of 2016, and its Workshop banner announces the “comeback of a WaW custom classic”. The Workshop page sums it up: “A strange boarding school lies abandoned after WW2 in occupied Germany. Or is it…”

GameBlack Ops III (PC, Steam Workshop)
CreatorAlbert Calvo, known as Sethnorris
Workshop releaseJanuary 6, 2019
Last updateAugust 26, 2019 (version 1.05)
Steam WorkshopReturn to Das Herrenhaus
Subscribers175,515 current, 422,140 in all (November 12, 2026)
Based onDas Herrenhaus, Sethnorris’s World at War custom map (2016)
LocationA Group 935 boarding school in the Bavarian Alps, Germany1945, in the intro cinematic
PerksJuggernog, Quick Revive, Double Tap, Speed Cola, Stamin-Up, Mule Kick, Deadshot Daiquiri, Widow’s Wine; four at a time, six with the green key
Pack-a-PunchIn the bunker, reached by the teleporter
Wonder weaponsThundergun, Blundergat, Ray Gun and Ray Gun Mark II
Players1 to 4
ZFRRBlack Ops III custom maps

The Workshop page describes “a zombie single player/Co-op map based in Der Riese style scripts” that “tries to capture the kino der toten feel”, set in “an elite boarding school ruled by nazi scientists”. Its story: in the last days of the war, all contact with a Group 935 facility is lost; reports speak of a boarding school run by Doctor Hermann Schuster, a member of Group 935. After the war the place is closed and nobody hears again of the students, the teachers or Schuster himself, until “some friendly faces landed inside the cursed building”.

The snowy Cloister courtyard with its round fountain and its arcades, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

The Cloister

The snowy courtyard with its fountain, below a balcony of the library.

A circular map

The Workshop promises a “complete, circular and challenging map for regular zombie games”. Tinhorn describes classrooms, a dining hall, a library, courtyards and gardens with an ice rink, then a Boiler Room and mine tunnels below, fitted with teleporter technology.

The weapons

“WW2 and cold war era themed guns with custom PaP and working attachments”.

Two Easter eggs

An “Optional Major EE that starts with the release of a very hard Zombie Boss” and a “Secondary EE with mysterious rewards”, says the Workshop page.

The intro cinematic

An animated cutscene in the Bavarian Alps, in 1945: Doctor Schuster tells Doctor Maxis on the phone that his daughter Samantha has arrived and will be safe at the school. Its audio needs a separate Workshop mod, because of the way the game is coded, says the creator.

What changes from the World at War original

The Pack-a-Punch

In World at War it stands in the far corner of the map and only takes doors to reach. Here the power, a teleporter with levers, a bunker fuse and a missing lever lead to it, according to Tinhorn.

The main quest

The World at War quest asks for four coins, filled urns, a ceiling puzzle and a fight in the tomb. The remake replaces it with “Samantha’s Games”: four fuses won in four games that can be played in any order, a Simon Says and a portal. The ceiling puzzle of the tomb and the police box carried through time are callbacks to the original.

The cinematic

The animated intro and the in-game events, the music box and the bombing run, are new. Tinhorn calls the remake a full remaster that modernises the gameplay.

Same reward

In both versions the end of the quest gives the Blundergat and Perkaholic.

These comparisons come from Tinhorn’s retrospective of May 2026. The World at War map also has its own leaderboard on the site, under the same card of the custom maps page.

Characters

The Workshop page only calls the heroes “some friendly faces”. The story is told through the intro cinematic and in the main quest: Doctor Hermann Schuster, director of the school, Doctor Ludvig Maxis on the phone, and Samantha Maxis, whose ghost leads every step of the quest.

Enemies

Zombies in uniform charging across the frozen ice rink of the gardens, Return to Das Herrenhaus, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

Zombies

The undead of the school, soldiers among them.

Exploding zombies

Suicide bombers whose blast damage was rebalanced by the day-one patch. Pankake101 warns that two of them can down a player.

The special round

Every few rounds a loudspeaker calls “Attention all students”, the map turns orange, ash falls and burning Pest zombies come out of fiery tornadoes. The round ends with a Max Ammo, says Tinhorn.

The Dictator

The boss of the main quest, a zombie Adolf Hitler wrapped in blue flames, as Tinhorn shows him. He only appears once the music box of Samantha’s room is played, walks slowly after the players, sprints when shot or after a Nuke, strengthens the zombies around him, and his ground slam takes a perk away. Nothing kills him until the end of the quest.

Spiders

They come down during the puzzle of the tomb, “more of a distraction than a danger” for Tinhorn.

Perks

The guides name these machines on the map. A player holds four perks at first; the green key raises the limit to six.

Quick Revive

No guide shows the machine. The HUD of a record run shows Quick Revive, and Sassy Asi sends players from the spawn through “the door to the left of Quick Revive”, towards Double Tap.

Double Tap Root Beer

In the corridor between the spawn and the library.

Juggernog

In a room of the library, the one with the glass case of the yellow key.

Speed Cola

In the Cloister, between the courtyard and the dormitories.

Stamin-Up

In the dining hall, the room of the teleporter.

Widow’s Wine

In the Student’s Residence, the dormitories.

Mule Kick

In the Boiler Room.

Deadshot Daiquiri

In the basement, at the top of a staircase.

The power, the teleporter, the Pack-a-Punch and every perk

Weapons

The Workshop page promises “WW2 and cold war era themed guns with custom PaP and working attachments”. The guides place a BAR, an M1941 and an STG-44 on the walls, and their footage shows World War II weapons such as the MP40, the PPSh-41 and the MG-15 next to the Galil and the Grease Gun. The Mystery Box holds the wonder weapons that open the keys of the side Easter eggs.

Thundergun

From the Mystery Box; it blows out the candles of the blue key.

Ray Gun and Ray Gun Mark II

From the Mystery Box; either one lights up the paintings of the yellow key.

Blundergat

Free behind the glass case of the yellow key, and given to every player at the end of the main quest.

The wall weapons, the Mystery Box and the wonder weapons

Power and Pack-a-Punch

The power switch is at the bottom of the Boiler Room, under the spawn. Turning it on opens the kitchen and the dining hall, where the teleporter stands. Its levers choose where it goes: the bird to a tower room that leads to Samantha’s room, the lion to a bunker. A fuse found after a teleport powers the bunker, a lever found inside completes the panel, and the third symbol, a looped cross, takes the players to the Pack-a-Punch, behind a 250-point door.

Pack-a-Punch step by step

Easter egg

The main quest, “Samantha’s Games” in the Workshop discussions, starts in Samantha’s room with a music box that frees the Dictator. Four games with the ghost of Samantha give four fuses: the clocks, the Morse code radios and their air strike, the power boxes of the police box, and the puzzle of the tomb. Charged with souls in lion heads, the fuses power the teleporter; a Simon Says opens a portal, the Dictator is lured into it, and every player gets the Blundergat and Perkaholic. An escort of Samantha then ends the game. It can be played solo or in co-op.

Samantha’s Games step by step

Secrets

Four keys

A pink heart key, a green club key, a yellow spade key and a blue diamond key, each won with a small hunt: the tomb, two more perk slots, a free Blundergat and 25,000 points.

The star

Four Mario parts brought to a skeleton in the tomb build a star power-up of 30 seconds.

GobbleGums

The machines are “out of gum” until a crate of gumballs is found and brought to them.

The shield

Three parts, each with three possible spots, built at the workbench outside.

The keys, the star, the GobbleGums and the shield

Trivia

Luigi’s Mansion

The side Easter eggs borrow their sound effects from Luigi’s Mansion, says Tinhorn.

The weight

The map weighs 9.04 GB on the Workshop.

Five patches in eight months

From the day-one patch of January 8, 2019 to version 1.05 of August 26, 2019. Version 1.04 added two guns to the Mystery Box and raised the price of some doors; version 1.03 added another gun and fixed the snowfall outside.

A Workshop favourite

17,195 players have it in their favourites on the Workshop.

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