On this day, 20 years ago, Half-Life was released. Makes you feel old, doesn't it? It's because you are old, you wrinkler. November 19th, 1998 - what were you doing then?
Anyway forget that, there's a new Half-Life game in development. No not Half-Life 3, although if Half-Life were 30 years old I could have written "Half-Life 30 today", which for a moment reads as "Half-Life 3", which is really exciting, isn't it?
The new game - or part of a game, really - is Xen, the final piece and pièce de résistance of Half-Life remake Black Mesa. But Black Mesa's Xen is much more than a simple remake of Half-Life's Xen.
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The already-delayed Xen levels of Half-Life remake Black Mesa have unfortunately been delayed again. Rather than be released this summer they will now arrive in December.
The Black Mesa team is really going to town remaking the final Xen levels of Half-Life 1, hence why they're taking so long. But we now have a summer 2017 completion target to go by.
The gap will begin to widen between the paid and free-mod versions of Black Mesa, a Valve-sanctioned remake of Half-Life 1.
Hands up if you haven't played Half-Life before. Embarrassingly, that's me. One of the all time greats and I missed it. It's been available to play on Steam for ages, but I find it hard to muster the enthusiasm to play a game from 1998 when I'm already behind with games from 2015. This week, though, I'm thrown a bone by Black Mesa, a total remake of Half-Life 1.
The long-awaited and Valve sanctioned Half-Life 1 re-envisioning Black Mesa has been released on Steam Early Access for £14.99.
In her infinite wisdom, Cher once sang, "If I could turn back time, if I could find a way." Really makes you think. Mind you, the cruel and inexorable march of time is good for some things, like bringing us this bunch of video game remakes that, in one way or another, managed to surpass their progenitors. Who would have guessed back in 1998 that the one thing missing from Half Life was Paul and Barry Chuckle? Technically that's two things, but you get my meaning.
Fan-made Half-Life remake, Black Mesa, has been given the go-ahead by Valve to become a commercial product on Steam.
Valve will name the next round of games to be approved via community ratings portal Steam Greenlight on 15th October.
It's Black Mesa, but not quite as you knew it. A tight edit of the familiar, the sublime and those ridiculous scientist ties, this free re-imagining of Half-Life is packed with new dialogue, subtly altered levels and all the fiery and physical powers that the Source engine can imbue.
Half-Life fan remake Black Mesa is among the first ten games to be accepted by Valve on its new community rating portal, Steam Greenlight.
