A new Half-Life update of a mysterious nature has been added by Valve just ahead of the epochal sci-fi shooter's 25th anniversary. Sneaked away in the backend of Steam, the update potentially suggests new material for the original Half-Life, as we also await the arrival of Half-Life 2 RTX. However, after all this time waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Half-life 3, it seems advisable to keep expectations low. Something is happening with the original Half-Life, and it seems likely Valve would commemorate the silver anniversary of its Gordon Freeman, Black Mesa, and the G-Man's first appearances, but it's all very hush-hush.
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A fan-made project centering around Half-Life's original 1998 build, with new enemies, levels, and weapons that didn't make it into Valve's original FPS, is back from the dead. With a release date set for the game's 25th anniversary, Half-Life: Absolute Zero is coming back, and it's showing a lot of promise.
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The opening section of Half-Life is iconic. In 1998, 'Anomalous Materials' revolutionized shooter design and narrative delivery in action games by impressing story rather than instant spectacle. You don't just spawn in, grab a gun, and start blasting - the tram ride introduces you to Black Mesa, and the opening walk through the lab gives you a concrete sense of your character, your companions, and why you're doing what you're doing. Smart and original, Half-Life's first level is one of the best, early examples of Valve's approach to writing. But I want you to imagine an alternate universe where that never happened, where instead of narrative and characterization, Valve's focus was on guns, kill streaks, and Gordon Freeman shouting "I have the power!" This is Half-Life by way of Doom Eternal. Welcome to Blood Mesa, the ultimate boomer shooter homage.
Half-Life and Doom. I struggle to think of two games that have influenced me more. Between the iconic, flickering corridors of Valve's Black Mesa and the run-and-gun fury of id Software's defining FPS, my own taste in videogames is irredeemably shaped by these giants of PC history. Without Half-Life, there would be no Counter-Strike 2, no Portal, no Left 4 Dead - maybe even no Steam. Take Doom out of the equation, and the shooter as we know it might never have existed. Now, Gordon Freeman and Doomguy are finally united, thanks to an imaginative new Doom mod that incorporates the instantly recognizable sounds and effects from Valve's 1998 classic. It's not exactly Half-Life 3, but it's a heck of a substitute.
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