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Do yourself a favour and check out the amazing community remake of HL1, Black Mesa! https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/ https://store.steampow

Do yourself a favour and check out the amazing community remake of HL1, Black Mesa! https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

augstein 7y ago
Wow, this looks really amazing. HL1 is still one of my favorite games. They even completely remade the Xen part and according to reviews, its better than the original, which some players did not like that much.
- thrower123 7y ago
  Xen was pretty terrible in the original. I always loved the middle act of the game, basically from We've Got Hostiles onward until going through the teleporter, but that's usually where I stopped playing. The really alien, slightly demonic aesthetic didn't really appeal to me. Or the headcrabs... My real favorite was Opposing Force. It's unfortunate that games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly that that font of creativity has pretty much dried up. I'm amazed at Black Mesa, but back in the early 2000s, you didn't need a large team to make decent levels, or even total conversions.
  - dorkwood 7y ago
    What's the equivalent of half-life mods these days?
    - spydum 7y ago
      Minecraft mods?
      - tialaramex 7y ago
        Minecraft modding is fairly out of hand. But that's only for Java (PC) Minecraft where they basically couldn't stop it once it had started. In Minecraft you've got a situation where there is such a vibrant modding community that curation and configuration of mods to produce a complete working system with some particular flavour or theme is a whole separate skill. It's like the skill needed to make a decent container for a particular piece of server software. The right pieces but badly tuned may still be a miserable experience. It's actually very strange now for me in "vanilla" Minecraft because I'm so used to certain features "everybody" mods into the sort of packs I play. Vein mining is an example: Most packs these days recognise that individually mining several adjacent blocks (or similar with other tools e.g. chopping down a tree one block at a time) is busywork, so they eliminate it. Hold down a modifier, hit one block, all identical blocks are affected at a proportionate cost to hunger and wear on the tool used.
    - dwyerm 7y ago
      Anything and everything made with Unity.
    - throwaway8941 7y ago
      Arma 3 devs are very friendly to the modding community. There are some quite nice (and intrusive, in a good way) things built for it.
  - sdenton4 7y ago
    "games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly that that font of creativity has pretty much dried up." I dunno... Seems like general purpose engines are much more readily available. The best mods were similar in scout to writing a new game in a very very hacky engine... I imagine the ones who once would have been modders are now just making games.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    > It's unfortunate that games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly... Garry’s Mod was pretty popular a few years ago (not sure about today). It’s a very mod friendly game as it itself is a mod. There’s also Minecraft. But yes, you are correct than many big (AAA) games don’t support mods anymore. I believe there three big reasons: * Server control / licensing: With games like Minecraft where you can run your own server, you get to choose what mods are on the server. The publisher running their own server with other people’s mods could get them into licensing trouble. * Complexity: Mod support takes time and effort. You need to ensure a stable API (or stable enough) do mods don’t break every time you update your game. Yes, you could just break the API, but fans of your game aren’t going to like that. And finally, the big one: * Money: Why add support for mods if you can’t make money from that feature? Yes, you could make it a DLC, but why put in the effort if there’s no guarantee of an ROI?
gombosg 7y ago
Oh heavens. I played the free version in 2009. That was more than 10 years ago! Only Xen was missing back then... so I waited. And now it seems to be ready :D
aschismatic 7y ago
I just started playing Half-Life for the first time a few days ago. Would you recommend playing Black Mesa in lieu of Half-Life, or in addition to it?
- city41 7y ago
  I'd probably say in lieu. If you like it and it gets you into the HL universe, then going back and playing the original HL is an interesting treat. Keep in mind Black Mesa isn't quite finished, they are still polishing off the final levels. But there's still a good 10-20 hours or so of gameplay.
- throwaway8941 7y ago
  "A few days ago"? It only takes like 20 minutes to finish it. https://youtu.be/VtI5HM7GVGY https://youtu.be/VtI5HM7GVGY
  - AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
    Speedrunning is not really a viable way to judge the game's completion time. Howlongtobeat.com rates the original Half-Life at about 10-12 hours, which seems to gel more with my memory. My own Steam record says I logged about 10 hours on it.
    - asutekku 7y ago
      It was most likely a joke.
- RandomOpinion 7y ago
  I would say in addition. Black Mesa has rather uneven difficulty which detracts from the experience.
- out_of_protocol 7y ago
  Black Mesa - definitely. Preserves everything in HL1 and adds a lot more. Xen is like 100% different though, Black Mesa's one is waaaaay better but if you want to experience HL1 version...
MeltySmelty 7y ago
this game is a joke that took too long. you are better off playing the original how he devs intended it to be played. be warned this games applies its own artistic license.
sillysaurusx 7y ago
And if you don't want to play the game, you can still enjoy it. Watch Freeman's Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc Basically someone used the HL universe as a roleplaying environment. He pulls it off! EDIT: I'm not sure this is the same version of the game, but I don't think it's the original. There are some physics things in it. Still worth a watch.
- rimunroe 7y ago
  Freeman's Mind uses Half-Life: Source, which is Half-Life 1 ported (no new models or textures) to the Source engine (which was the one used for Half-Life 2). Half-Life: Source was released at the same time as (or right after?) Half-Life 2 in 2004. Black Mesa is a recreation of Half-Life 1 in the modern Source engine completely from scratch. I've followed its development for over a decade and have been consistently impressed by how good it is. They just released the last couple chapters too, so now's a great time to try it out.
- throwaway8941 7y ago
  Looks like Half-Life: Source to me. It's a remake of the original, they simply ported the original resources on top of the Source engine, and modified the physics engine so it would feel closer to the first one. It generally doesn't get much love in the community and I am not sure why he chose it. I am not a great fan and have only replayed it a few times.
  - throwanem 7y ago
    Freeman's Mind predates Black Mesa by almost a decade.
- Terretta 7y ago
  The first episode is the most intense 5 minutes and 30 seconds of Twitch TV you’ll ever see.
bmn__ 7y ago
Price 18€? When I played it – about five years ago? – it was gratis.
Psyladine 7y ago
And do yourself an even bigger favor and use the original game's HE marine voices.

Do yourself a favour and check out the amazing community remake of HL1, Black Mesa! https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

augstein 7y ago

Wow, this looks really amazing. HL1 is still one of my favorite games. They even completely remade the Xen part and according to reviews, its better than the original, which some players did not like that much.

thrower123 7y ago
Xen was pretty terrible in the original. I always loved the middle act of the game, basically from We've Got Hostiles onward until going through the teleporter, but that's usually where I stopped playing. The really alien, slightly demonic aesthetic didn't really appeal to me. Or the headcrabs... My real favorite was Opposing Force. It's unfortunate that games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly that that font of creativity has pretty much dried up. I'm amazed at Black Mesa, but back in the early 2000s, you didn't need a large team to make decent levels, or even total conversions.
- dorkwood 7y ago
  What's the equivalent of half-life mods these days?
  - spydum 7y ago
    Minecraft mods?
    - tialaramex 7y ago
      Minecraft modding is fairly out of hand. But that's only for Java (PC) Minecraft where they basically couldn't stop it once it had started. In Minecraft you've got a situation where there is such a vibrant modding community that curation and configuration of mods to produce a complete working system with some particular flavour or theme is a whole separate skill. It's like the skill needed to make a decent container for a particular piece of server software. The right pieces but badly tuned may still be a miserable experience. It's actually very strange now for me in "vanilla" Minecraft because I'm so used to certain features "everybody" mods into the sort of packs I play. Vein mining is an example: Most packs these days recognise that individually mining several adjacent blocks (or similar with other tools e.g. chopping down a tree one block at a time) is busywork, so they eliminate it. Hold down a modifier, hit one block, all identical blocks are affected at a proportionate cost to hunger and wear on the tool used.
  - dwyerm 7y ago
    Anything and everything made with Unity.
  - throwaway8941 7y ago
    Arma 3 devs are very friendly to the modding community. There are some quite nice (and intrusive, in a good way) things built for it.
- sdenton4 7y ago
  "games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly that that font of creativity has pretty much dried up." I dunno... Seems like general purpose engines are much more readily available. The best mods were similar in scout to writing a new game in a very very hacky engine... I imagine the ones who once would have been modders are now just making games.
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  > It's unfortunate that games have become so complicated and mod-unfriendly... Garry’s Mod was pretty popular a few years ago (not sure about today). It’s a very mod friendly game as it itself is a mod. There’s also Minecraft. But yes, you are correct than many big (AAA) games don’t support mods anymore. I believe there three big reasons: * Server control / licensing: With games like Minecraft where you can run your own server, you get to choose what mods are on the server. The publisher running their own server with other people’s mods could get them into licensing trouble. * Complexity: Mod support takes time and effort. You need to ensure a stable API (or stable enough) do mods don’t break every time you update your game. Yes, you could just break the API, but fans of your game aren’t going to like that. And finally, the big one: * Money: Why add support for mods if you can’t make money from that feature? Yes, you could make it a DLC, but why put in the effort if there’s no guarantee of an ROI?

gombosg 7y ago

Oh heavens. I played the free version in 2009. That was more than 10 years ago! Only Xen was missing back then... so I waited. And now it seems to be ready :D

aschismatic 7y ago

I just started playing Half-Life for the first time a few days ago. Would you recommend playing Black Mesa in lieu of Half-Life, or in addition to it?

city41 7y ago
I'd probably say in lieu. If you like it and it gets you into the HL universe, then going back and playing the original HL is an interesting treat. Keep in mind Black Mesa isn't quite finished, they are still polishing off the final levels. But there's still a good 10-20 hours or so of gameplay.
throwaway8941 7y ago
"A few days ago"? It only takes like 20 minutes to finish it. https://youtu.be/VtI5HM7GVGY https://youtu.be/VtI5HM7GVGY
- AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
  Speedrunning is not really a viable way to judge the game's completion time. Howlongtobeat.com rates the original Half-Life at about 10-12 hours, which seems to gel more with my memory. My own Steam record says I logged about 10 hours on it.
  - asutekku 7y ago
    It was most likely a joke.
RandomOpinion 7y ago
I would say in addition. Black Mesa has rather uneven difficulty which detracts from the experience.
out_of_protocol 7y ago
Black Mesa - definitely. Preserves everything in HL1 and adds a lot more. Xen is like 100% different though, Black Mesa's one is waaaaay better but if you want to experience HL1 version...

MeltySmelty 7y ago

this game is a joke that took too long. you are better off playing the original how he devs intended it to be played. be warned this games applies its own artistic license.

sillysaurusx 7y ago

And if you don't want to play the game, you can still enjoy it. Watch Freeman's Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc Basically someone used the HL universe as a roleplaying environment. He pulls it off! EDIT: I'm not sure this is the same version of the game, but I don't think it's the original. There are some physics things in it. Still worth a watch.

rimunroe 7y ago
Freeman's Mind uses Half-Life: Source, which is Half-Life 1 ported (no new models or textures) to the Source engine (which was the one used for Half-Life 2). Half-Life: Source was released at the same time as (or right after?) Half-Life 2 in 2004. Black Mesa is a recreation of Half-Life 1 in the modern Source engine completely from scratch. I've followed its development for over a decade and have been consistently impressed by how good it is. They just released the last couple chapters too, so now's a great time to try it out.
throwaway8941 7y ago
Looks like Half-Life: Source to me. It's a remake of the original, they simply ported the original resources on top of the Source engine, and modified the physics engine so it would feel closer to the first one. It generally doesn't get much love in the community and I am not sure why he chose it. I am not a great fan and have only replayed it a few times.
- throwanem 7y ago
  Freeman's Mind predates Black Mesa by almost a decade.
Terretta 7y ago
The first episode is the most intense 5 minutes and 30 seconds of Twitch TV you’ll ever see.

bmn__ 7y ago

Price 18€? When I played it – about five years ago? – it was gratis.

Psyladine 7y ago

And do yourself an even bigger favor and use the original game's HE marine voices.