Black Mesa, the long-awaited Half-Life remake, is finally on Steam Early Access with classic Deathmatch maps.
Remember that mysterious countdown on the Black Mesa website? Well it’s finally ended and as suspected, it was all about the Half-Life remake’s new Steam launch. More specifically, it’s an Early Access release while we wait for the Xen chapters – but the return of classic Half-Life Deathmatch should smooth that detail over.
For those who haven’t been following Black Mesa, it began life as a mod project to bring Half-Life to the updated Source engine. Its creators first released the mod in 2012, which quickly gained Valve’s attention and eventual permission for a full release. The team has since been hard at work porting Black Mesas to a new engine and updating the experience of the original mod.
Black Mesa currently includes 85% of Half-Life‘s single-player campaign, revised and updated for a smoother gameplay experience. It also features remakes of classic multiplayer maps – Bounce, Gasworks, Lambdabunker, Stalkyard, Subtransit and Undertow. Presumably the team will now turns its attention to the still-absent Xen levels, but considering many players never enjoyed them to begin with? This should prove a popular launch for Half-Life players of all stripes.
