Unless you are a soulless beast, enjoy being chased down the street by angry mobs, or a Sims aficionado, you are probably a fan of the original Half-Life. The title burst onto the PC gaming scene in 1998 and catapulted Valve to instant gaming fame.
Now, 14 years later, we are nearly ready to return to the Black Mesa research facility, in all its totally overhauled, high-resolution glory.
The Black Mesa mod (originally Black Mesa: Source) is a community project started back in 2004 with the aim to recreate the original Half-Life using the advanced features of Valve’s Source Engine and modern high-resolution textures. The mod will be a free release, with the only requirement being that players own a Source Engine game on Steam.
The project makes use of the 2007 Orange Box version of the Source Engine, bringing advanced particle effects, facial animations, and multi-core rendering support. Black Mesa hasn’t merely recreated Half-Life 1, but has tweaked level designs where the team deemed necessary, meaning some segments are shorter, while others are scaled up.
The 14 September release will be the first playable release from the project, allowing gamers to get up to the Lambda Core section of Half-Life 1.
The Black Mesa team is seeking help from the Steam Community to assist in getting the greenlight for the mod to be listed on Steam. To lend your support, head on over to the Black Mesa Steam Greenlight page, check out what the mod is all about, and if you are impressed, give it the thumbs up.
“When we are on Steam we’ll be able to reach more players and make installation and future updates easy for everyone,” said project leader Carlos Montero.
Black Mesa requires only a free installation of the Source SDK Base 2007.
More about the Black Mesa total-conversion mod
- Black Mesa requires only a free installation of the Source SDK Base 2007.
- 8-10 hours of single-player gameplay, up to the Lambda Core chapter.
- Feast your eyes on over 2,000 custom models and 5,000 custom textures – more than HL2.
- Experience over 2,000 choreographed scenes and over 6,500 lines of dialogue from all new voice acting.
- Immerse yourself in an all new soundtrack and over 2,300 custom sound effects.
- Feel the impact of custom systems such as the Face Creation System, Custom Gib System, Deathcam and more.
Future Plans
- Steam stat tracking along with Steam Achievements.
- Steam updates to address community feedback.
- Future additions of Xen and Black Mesa Death Match.
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