Fans of Valve’s classic Half-Life should be delighted by the news that the semi-sanctioned remake of the seminal first-person shooter Black Mesa just got a major new update. With Xen, the massive project which started as a community effort is nearing its final phase of completion soon.
As is the case with everything Valve, gamers still need to muster up some patience as Xen isn’t really finished. The new Xen update merely is a technical beta for eager fans and doesn’t contain the entire Xen chapter, but the levels which are present now are more than enough reason for players to download and play it immediately. The developer is also promising that it won’t take too long for the entire chapter to release.
Black Mesa’s history is almost as old as the history of Half-Life. Shortly after Valve released Half-Life 2, the developer ported the original game onto the updated new Source Engine, which also powers Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike and basically every Valve game ever since. Fans weren’t really thrilled with the outcome as the game was still looking and playing exactly the same. What they wanted was more. And here is where the modding community stepped in. 15 years ago, a small group of modders banded together and worked ever since in creating a true remake of Half-Life in the new Source Engine.
In 2015, Black Mesa was finally released on Steam via Early Access. The game was complete for the most part, with just the final portions still being worked on. The Xen chapters. Xen is the alien planet of the enemies which invade the world in Half-Life. Recreating this unique world took the developer Crowbar Collective a long time but at long last, gamers can now play half of it.
Those interested should head on over to Black Mesa’s store page where the game is currently discounted at just $7.99, courtesy of the Steam Summer Sale.
