Well, it looks official: Black Mesa is soon upon us. Not sure what I’m talking about? No one could blame you, given the storied history of the game. Kicked-off in 2004, Black Mesa intended to be an accurate representation of the original Half-Life – just with all of the goods that Valve brought to Source. That of course means improved graphics, more realistic physics, better audio and so forth.
There have been many times during Black Mesa‘s development where it seemed likely that the project died off, but fortunately, that never ultimately happened. This past summer, the developers released some new screenshots, and this week, word has arrived that the release date is upon us: September 14. Getting excited?
There’s one caveat – the game when released will only feature content up to the Xen level, which is very near to the end of the game. So while you won’t be able to complete the game at the get-go, you will be able to sink 8 or so hours into the content that will be here. There’s no word when the second portion will arrive, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. The fact that we’ll see the game at all does.
The developers will be giving the game away for free, but because it relies on a Source game to run, at least one such game must be installed (Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal and et cetera). If you’re a Valve fan, there’s little chance you don’t have a compatible game at the ready.
We’ll remind you when the release arrives, and of course have our own thoughts on it once we get to play it.