/VERDICT
A thrilling and
meticulous
remake that
begins as a
nostalgia trip and
ends as a whole
new experience.OVERALL SCORE
90 %%
constraints of remaining faithful to the original (because
nobody cared that much for Xen anyway), Crowbar
Collective has let its imagination run wild, creating what’s
effectively a whole new chapter in the Half-Life story.
The Xen portion of the original Half-Life consisted of four
chapters, named Xen, Gonarch’s Lair, Interloper and Nihilanth.
Black Mesa follows this structure, but radically expands and
alters the content within those chapters. The first chapter itself
is a prime example. In the original Half-Life, this chapter is just
a few minutes long, and consists of Gordon hopping across a
few floating islands down to a larger island at the bottom.
Black Mesa’s Xen, by comparison, offers two solid hours
of nonstop exploration and combat, in the prettiest and
most detailed environments we’ve ever seen created in
the Source engine. The opening few minutes are a barrage
of kaleidoscopic alien vistas, a vast expanse of rocky
islands teeming with strange plants and wildlife. Crowbar
Collective’s work brings the Source engine about as close
to modern production values as possible.
Beyond the visual improvement, however, Black Mesa’s
Xen lends Half-Life’s alien world a far more coherent
sense of place. The ecosystem shows us multiple different
types of environment, ranging from those indigo islands to
lush green swamplands with leaves the size of cars. It also
shows us the Black Mesa facility’s own attempt to explore
Xen in much greater detail. One of the early highlights sees
you exploring an abandoned mobile laboratory established
by the Lambda team on the planet itself.
Xen has its fair share of combat encounters, but the
focus is more on exploration and puzzling. That all changes
in Gonarch’s Lair. Previously a straightforward boss fight,
Crowbar Collective has expanded this chapter into a
spectacular cat-and-mouse chase through Xen’s seeminglyendless subterranean caverns. There are some incredible
scripted sequences in this chapter. One sees you trapped in a
tiny cave while the Gonarch stabs at you from above with its
pincer-like legs. It’s phenomenal, breathless material that’s
up there with the best action sequences from Half-Life 2.
Gonarch’s Lair is the highlight of Black Mesa’s Xen remake.
By comparison, Interloper is where Crowbar Collective
stumbles. Most of this chapter takes place in a huge alien
factory, where Xen’s overlord, the Nihilanth, creates the foot
soldiers in its army. It’s an impressive piece of level design that
features puzzles galore. Unfortunately, it’s also too long, and
repeats the same beats and environments too many times.
There are good bits to it, but you’ll be glad once it’s over.
Luckily, Black Mesa ends on a high, with the titanic battle
against the giant, baby-headed Nihilanth. In the original
battle, Nihilanth had the ability to teleport Gordon into
various different places. Crowbar Collective has wisely
decided to remove this ability, refining the battle into a
straightforward and spectacular grudge match. If you ever
wanted to know what it’s like to have a building thrown at
you, well, Black Mesa has you covered.
At the time of writing, Black Mesa isn’t 100 per cent finished.
Crowbar Collective is making some final updates to the
multiplayer side of the game, as well as polishing up a few
areas of the Black Mesa facility itself to bring it more in line
with the visual fidelity of Xen. Even without those final tweaks,
however, Black Mesa remains a stunning update for Half-Life.
It’s comfortably as good as any remake from major studios
in recent years, happily sitting alongside big-budget redesigns
such as Shadow of the Colossus and Resident Evil 2. If you’re
thinking of replaying the Half-Life series in anticipation of Half-
Life: Alyx, we strongly recommend starting with Black Mesa.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
A thrilling and
meticulous
remake that
begins as a
nostalgia trip and
ends as a whole
newexperience.OVERALL SCORE
90 %%
constraints of remaining faithful to the original (because
nobody cared that much for Xen anyway), Crowbar
Collective has let its imagination run wild, creating what’s
effectively a whole new chapter in the Half-Life story.
The Xen portion of the original Half-Life consisted of four
chapters, named Xen, Gonarch’s Lair, Interloper and Nihilanth.
Black Mesa follows this structure, but radically expands and
alters the content within those chapters. The first chapter itself
is a prime example. In the original Half-Life, this chapter is just
a few minutes long, and consists of Gordon hopping across a
few floating islands down to a larger island at the bottom.
Black Mesa’s Xen, by comparison, offers two solid hours
of nonstop exploration and combat, in the prettiest and
most detailed environments we’ve ever seen created in
the Source engine. The opening few minutes are a barrage
of kaleidoscopic alien vistas, a vast expanse of rocky
islands teeming with strange plants and wildlife. Crowbar
Collective’s work brings the Source engine about as close
to modern production values as possible.
Beyond the visual improvement, however, Black Mesa’s
Xen lends Half-Life’s alien world a far more coherent
sense of place. The ecosystem shows us multiple different
types of environment, ranging from those indigo islands to
lush green swamplands with leaves the size of cars. It also
shows us the Black Mesa facility’s own attempt to explore
Xen in much greater detail. One of the early highlights sees
you exploring an abandoned mobile laboratory established
by the Lambda team on the planet itself.
Xen has its fair share of combat encounters, but the
focus is more on exploration and puzzling. That all changes
in Gonarch’s Lair. Previously a straightforward boss fight,
Crowbar Collective has expanded this chapter into a
spectacular cat-and-mouse chase through Xen’s seemingly
endless subterranean caverns. There are some incredible
scripted sequences in this chapter. One sees you trapped in a
tiny cave while the Gonarch stabs at you from above with its
pincer-like legs. It’s phenomenal, breathless material that’s
up there with the best action sequences from Half-Life 2.
Gonarch’s Lair is the highlight of Black Mesa’s Xen remake.
By comparison, Interloper is where Crowbar Collective
stumbles. Most of this chapter takes place in a huge alien
factory, where Xen’s overlord, the Nihilanth, creates the foot
soldiers in its army. It’s an impressive piece of level design that
features puzzles galore. Unfortunately, it’s also too long, and
repeats the same beats and environments too many times.
There are good bits to it, but you’ll be glad once it’s over.
Luckily, Black Mesa ends on a high, with the titanic battle
against the giant, baby-headed Nihilanth. In the original
battle, Nihilanth had the ability to teleport Gordon into
various different places. Crowbar Collective has wisely
decided to remove this ability, refining the battle into a
straightforward and spectacular grudge match. If you ever
wanted to know what it’s like to have a building thrown at
you, well, Black Mesa has you covered.
At the time of writing, Black Mesa isn’t 100 per cent finished.
Crowbar Collective is making some final updates to the
multiplayer side of the game, as well as polishing up a few
areas of the Black Mesa facility itself to bring it more in line
with the visual fidelity of Xen. Even without those final tweaks,
however, Black Mesa remains a stunning update for Half-Life.
It’s comfortably as good as any remake from major studios
in recent years, happily sitting alongside big-budget redesigns
such as Shadow of the Colossus and Resident Evil 2. If you’re
thinking of replaying the Half-Life series in anticipation of Half-
Life: Alyx, we strongly recommend starting with Black Mesa.
RICK LANE