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Black Mesa Half-Life mod launching September 14

First part of Source-powered community mod will be released next week; initial release will stop at Lambda Core level, offering 8-10 hours of gameplay.

234 Comments

The community behind the development of Half-Life mod Black Mesa (formerly Black Mesa: Source) has announced that the first part of the game will finally be released on September 14 this year.

Black Mesa will be released next week.
Black Mesa will be released next week.

The mod's official website has been updated with a countdown timer, and Black Mesa project leader Carlos Montero posted on the site's forums confirming the game's official release.

"On September 14th you will see the first release of Black Mesa," Montero said in his post. "This will include our re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core. We believe this is a great way to provide a complete-feeling 8-10 hour experience with a solid ending, make our fans happy and help us make the best overall game possible."

A remake of Valve's original 1998 title Half-Life using the Source engine, Black Mesa promises a fully reconstructed Half-Life universe built from the ground up with new models, maps, soundtrack, voice acting, and textures. The remake will include the original game's protagonist, Gordon Freeman, as well as the original cast of characters and environments.

The mod project was launched in 2004 following fan disappointment over Valve's official Half-Life remake, Half-Life: Source. According to the project's site, Black Mesa will not require Half-Life: Source to play--just a copy of any Source engine game installed on Steam.

The Black Mesa soundtrack is now available to download via the project's site.

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Daian

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It's about damn time, but I think I'm gonna have to wait for all of it to be done, why release just a part? I can't have a taste of it and then wait forever for the rest, it's torture, it's all or nothing.

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Bardan_Jusik

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@Daian I copied this directly from the BMS forums. "[Will] Xen be completely removed?" "No. Development on xen is already underway and we hope to have it finished up in a reasonable timeframe. Xen is going to basically be a complete game in its own right, it's not going to be just an epilogue to the game; more of a whole new chapter. It'll be pretty well expanded."

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SauhlGood

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damnit newell. hire some more people and start working on part 3 already

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jarheadalex

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I love how we haven't heard anything from them for years and now it's announced for 11 days. Can't wait.

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therealgreek89

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I've been waiting for this for so damn long, now that it's here the excitement has kind of gone....

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son_hai

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nice job guys ^^

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Vixremento

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Looking forward to visiting the original Half Life universe again...it was something so unexpected back then when I played it - something I instantly fell in love with.

Plus I haven't really cared much about Half Life these last few months/years because there's been nothing else to care about with Valve most likely focused on the Steam platform and a new graphics engine.

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gamingfrendly

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i know i still have all the half life games short cuts somewhere in steam all those crazy sales filled my account with so many games it is a pain to scroll through them :p but still it will be worth it lol

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obsequies

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I can't believe its been 7 years...and its only the first part of the game..fukc sakes

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Dugular

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@obsequies Well, Lambda Core is right by the end of the game, so you're not only getting the first part, you're getting everything except the last part (which you really don't need anyway). I wouldn't mind them re-writing the end of Half-life for fun's sake, let's hope they actually do that and the announcement of it being up to Lambda Core is part of the trick.

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SirNormanislost

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@obsequies Mate.....its a small modding team doing it in there spare time go to the site and look at the work they've done recreating every area it's dam impressive

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Sardinar

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This will make the wait for Episode 3 much easier, thank you ...

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deactivated-5abc14ca5e8cc

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Is it a test run for the new engine that will run Half Life Episode III or Half Life 3?

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Sardinar

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It's a fan-made recreation of the original Half-Life using the good old Source Engine. Valve had no hand in this, as far as I know .

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Zondergrod

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@Sardinar They're certainly toting it around though. Good to know they didn't get all bent outta shape over a remake like square did with chrono trigger.

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Dante200X

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@Zondergrod @Sardinar lol it's Valve we're talking about. They don't give a shit about what fans make FOR FREE. There's already hundreds of half life 1 and hl2 mods and valve encourages them.

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roosteraxe1

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Edited By roosteraxe1

I had given up on this one a long time ago. It's awesome that it's finally coming out. Hopefully it lives up to the wait. I know these guys put their hearts into this and are giving it awesome fan service. Just hope it's not another Duke Nukem Forever (at least it's free if it is).

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RussianMeatClob

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Edited By RussianMeatClob

Nice been waiting awhile.

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zyxahn

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Still fun to play now even with awsome pixelated graphics. So this should rule.

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never-named

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Looking at the website, that's a LOT of busywork for a mod! That's the kind of dedication that makes things possible...!

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esba160

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no way its coming.. its been 7 years... i grew out of my puberty, knocked up my baby moma, got gray hair on my head and elsewhere...

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HAZCHEM88

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@esba160 Sounds like side-affects of cloning

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samlans

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Edited By samlans

I had seen some leak pictur they looked great hope this is great to

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tgwolf

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Some say that this was a great game, and yet I can't see how this is so very much better than any other shooter.

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toshineon

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@tgwolf Because back then, "any other shooter" didn't really exist. Same as why some N64 games are remembered by people to have great controls, they did by their time's standard.

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iluvOP

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@tgwolf It was innovative for its time. It hasnt aged well but for its time it was a pretty good game.

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Vaultboy-101

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Xen is still being developed, it's been largely extended.

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B-boy

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I been f@cking for waiting for remake, for 3 years

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Nawras

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At least someone is working on Half Life.

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conspirethis

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Really wish they would just wait to release the entire game. It's not two episodes but, one movie.

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Tixylixx

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@conspirethis

They're...

Just missing out Xen because it sucks.

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GhoX

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This is hardly a mod. This is a creation.

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thom_maytees

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Edited By thom_maytees

That is interesting to see and shows how PC games can be modified unlike console games.

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PeterDuck

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OMFG

Finally.

One more reason to live.

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