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Black Mesa
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#100+
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9.3 user review score. Average score out of 10, based on 20 review scores” style=”background: #4db53c”>
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7.5 optimisation score. Average rating, based on 24 user ratings” style=”background: #dddd22″>
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Black Mesa will remain in the gaming halls of history as one of the most interesting games in development: the game that began development way back in 2004 as a fan-made project to remake the original Half-Life using the same engine that Half-Life 2 was made with, and after receiving a blessing from Valve, is now officially releasing version 1.0 and leaving Early Access as of next week.
“For Black Mesa, the quality of the source material, and the excitement of the community when we would post even the smallest amount of media is what kept us going.” – Adam Engels
The news comes from a heartfelt blog post written by the Project Leader, Adam Engels, that seems to be more about following your dreams and inspiring others to do the same rather than a release announcement:
“The fact is, all roads are long roads. If you fear that, you’ll shy away from choosing the one that excites you most, and has the biggest reward,” Engels continues, “if there is something you want to accomplish there’s nothing left to do, but to do it. You can not win the game if you don’t play.”
The whole thing is a very wholesome post and if you are at all interested in working in the games industry, this message along with the entire story of development surrounding Black Mesa is a must-read. It’s an absolutely fascinating story and a testament to the passion and determination for what you love.
“Through luck, hard work, and maybe a bit of ignorance we didn’t shy away from our goal of bringing this game to completion. We are proud of what we built. We think this upcoming 1.0 release is the best, most polished, and most fun version of the game yet. The anticipation and excitement around our project is beyond flattering.”
Engels also wants to make it clear that the game is not entirely finished, but that Crowbar Collective, the development team behind the project, will continue to work on it in the future: “Black Mesa is a video game, it is our video game, and it has its strengths, and its flaws. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned” and while we plan to fully support this game after 1.0 with bug fixes and more, it will never be a perfect game.”
Why do I get a sense that the phrase “art is never finished, only abandoned” is all-too-true in today’s game development scene? Anyway that’s a different story, the point here is that Black Mesa is officially launching next week on March 5th. If you want to support the team, the game is currently $19.99 / £14.99 on Steam. If you’ve never played Half-Life: Source (or even Half-Life 2, but let’s be honest who hasn’t? Valve practically gives away copies of Half-Life 2) then this is a pretty good time to jump in.
If you want to read the whole blog post you can click here.
Are you excited for Black Mesa? Have you ever played the first Half-Life game? Let us know!