
It began nearly 10 years ago as a simple mod, aiming to bring the original Half-Life game to the Source engine with updated graphics, physics and gameplay.

What is Black Mesa?ĭeveloped by Crowbar Collective, Black Mesa has been on a long journey. Worry not though, because whether you’re losing your mind over the wait for Alyx, or are weeping at the price of a Valve Index, there’s a new Half-Life game you can enjoy right now, and it’s called Black Mesa. But if you’ve been having fun with the free official Half-Life titles in advance of Half-Life: Alyx’s imminent debut, here’s your chance to see a modern vision of a classic game.That Half-Life: Alyx gameplay sure looks fun, huh? Too bad it’s not out until March 23rd, and even then, only for those of us lucky enough to own certain VR headsets. It’s planning a “Definitive Edition” update with additional gameplay tweaks and improvements to the modding workshop, and it wants to hold community events for people who are interested in working with Valve’s Source engine. Now, in 2020, the whole game has been polished into an official non-beta release.Ĭrowbar Collective isn’t quite done with the game. Late last year, Crowbar Collective released the ending - a dramatic reworking of the infamous Xen levels, one of Half-Life’s weakest areas. Then, Valve granted permission to make a standalone commercial game, and an incomplete version appeared on Early Access in 2015. It launched as a mod for Half-Life 2 in 2012, earning overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Developer Crowbar Collective finally launched a 1.0 version of Black Mesa, which updates the 1998 first-person shooter with smarter enemies, levels built from scratch, and a level of detail that wasn’t possible two decades ago.īlack Mesa has been sort of playable for some time. Black Mesa was once a humble video game mod - but as of today, it’s a full-fledged remake of Half-Life, newly released out of Steam Early Access.
