I was expecting a dark map, where night vision would possibly be a requirement, but instead, the only real changes seem to be that the sky was changed and the fog was removed, giving an even greater visibility than the previous map had. The light levels still seem to be as bright as if the map was in daylight, and the sun is still there, shining down brightly and illuminating the landscape.
Now I have been outside in the woods in winter under the light of a full moon, and it is surprisingly bright. Snow is very reflective, and there is a high contrast between it and trees and buildings. This was not present here, even the back side of the buildings were well illuminated. It honestly gave me a better impression of a lunar landscape than it did a city locked in a glacier.
My suggestions are this:
- Give a slight blueshift to the light, it doesn't need to be much but light on snow seems more blue at night.
- Drop the directional lighting from the sun/moon by at least 75% If not more.
- Remove Ambient Lighting or drop it down to a very minimal level so there is a higher contrast between light and dark areas.
- Change the "Sun" to be a moon instead, or remove it entirely, and also remove the directional lighting and leave ambient lighting from the stars to compensate.
I think these changes would give a much better "night time" feel to the map, and without as much ambient light, the contrast between the light and dark would hamper visibility, making night/thermal vision more useful.
Having the shadows be darker also gives more tactical uses, such as having a mech shut down in the shadow of a building where it would be much harder to see, in preparation for an ambush.