#58 - Black Mesa (Half-Life)

Long time no see! I really need to stop promising to write about specific games. I get too in my head about it, then I feel obligated to write instead of wanting to write. This is supposed to be a fun personal writing project, not work!

But enough about me. This is a space for discussing games!  And as promised, today's discussion is on Black Mesa, a fan remake of Half-Life that was officially sanctioned by its creator, Valve.

The Black Mesa project was started in late 2004, shortly after the release of Half-Life 2, using Valve's new Source engine to rebuild the original Half-Life game from the ground up.  It would be 16 years before the game was fully completed, although you could play most of it online for many years.

With new advancements in the Source engine over the years, the fan team kept rebuilding and enhancing sections of the game. Eventually, Valve stepped in and allowed them to sell the game commercially so they could afford the commercial license for their newer Source engines. The fan team never intended to make money off this game, but a source of income did help them keep building and improving the game.

Black Mesa is still available on Steam for $20, and I highly recommend supporting the team and buying it over the original game. Valve makes tons of money with their Steam store; they don't need the income from their old game.

So let's get into this game. Apologies in advance; I played this in 4K resolution, which resized everything appropriately except for subtitles.  If there are subs, they're really tiny near the bottom of the screenshot. Open the image in a new window to see its full resolution and read the subtitles.

Black Mesa opens with you riding a tram line deep into an underground research facility in the New Mexico desert. You're playing as Gordon Freeman, a Theoretical Physicist with a PhD from MIT. You're running late to work today.

Side-note: I always saw Gordon as a much older man (I was a teenager when Half-Life first released), but now in my early 40s, finding out Gordon is only 27 makes me feel super old. He's so young! >_<

This game's opening was revolutionary for early games, as it played out like a film. You're stuck on this single-car tram for a few minutes, just taking in the sights of the research facility while opening credits slowly fade in and out. This was unheard of for a game in the late '90s and really pulled you into the world of the game. And this remake has so much more detail than the original game! Here's the same scene shown from Half-Life and Black Mesa, respectively:

In a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" scene, you pass by another tram on the left with a creepy-looking government man, or "G-Man" staring at you. He's wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. With all the scientists and security guards running around this place, this one G-Man stands out. This mysterious figure is important later in the game, but I'll let you discover that story for yourself.

If you're trying to find G-Man in the opening, you'll see him right before you approach a hazardous chemical spill.  If you see this, you just missed him:

Eventually, you'll reach your stop where a security guard will come to let you off.  He'll make a comment about you running late.  If you linger around other scientists and security guards at the beginning of the game, you'll hear some interesting and funny chats. You can also interact with everyone, although some people won't have time to chat with you.

You enter the research facility (see main screenshot) and are instructed at the front desk to hurry up and get ready. Everyone's been waiting on you. You go to the locker rooms and don the H.E.V. suit, or Hazardous Environment Suit. This orange and black suit will protect you from most damage, heal you if you're injured, and will give you a HUD (Heads-Up Display) with some information about your health and weaponry.

Its protection status is on a scale of 1-100 and you can recharge it at H.E.V. charging stations. You can also find Health charging stations, which will recharge your suit up to 100 health. Think of H.E.V. as armor and Health as... well... health. You'll be fine if your H.E.V. drops to zero, but the game is over if your health runs out.

After making your way deeper into the research facility, you run into several other scientists who give you more information on today's research project. You are doing an analysis on a sample and are instructed to go down to the test chamber to get started.

One of the scientists leads the way, where the two of you run into Eli Vance (on the left below). Eli wasn't in the original Half-Life game, but he is an important character in the sequel who apparently worked alongside Gordon at the Black Mesa Research Facility, so Black Mesa chose to introduce you to him before the game gets rolling.

There's a malfunction in their equipment, so Eli and the other scientist stay behind to fix the machines. They complain that there's been so many issues lately and they can't explain why. They instruct you to go ahead without them.

You run into two more scientists at the giant blast door to the test chamber. They're eagerly awaiting your arrival, but are also worried about the test potentially going wrong. They have the utmost confidence in your abilities though, and encourage you to do well today. They use dual retinal scanners to open the door for you.

You find yourself in a giant room with a Mass Spectrometer filling the center of the room. Once inside, a voice over a loudspeaker instructs you to get up on the catwalk and start the rotors from a computer so they can get the test going.

The sample is brought into the room through an elevator in the floor and you're instructed to push its cart into the beam of the Mass Spectrometer.

Once you add the sample to the beam, everything goes haywire! A Resonance Cascade occurs! The scientists feared this was possible, but the chances were so slim, they didn't think it could actually happen. And yet...

In a flash of green, Gordon finds himself in an alien world. The Resonance Cascade has opened a portal to another dimension!

Some intelligent alien creatures approach Gordon, speaking in an unintelligible language. We'll later learn these creatures are called Vortigaunts.

In another flash of green, Gordon finds himself back inside the test chamber, which has been destroyed by the Resonance Cascade. People are dead, the lab is destroyed, and all sorts of alien creatures are portaling through the dimensional rift to Earth. You run into Eli and he instructs you to get to the surface so you can contact someone and let them know they're all trapped deep underground.

As a scientist, you're not especially trained to fight with heavy weaponry, so you make due with a crowbar you find on the ground, fighting through invading alien creatures on your way to the surface. Along the way, you'll come across the infamous Headcrab, which leaps at people's heads and munches on their brain, turning them into walking zombies.

There are also Barnacles, which attach to the ceiling and drop a super-sticky tongue of sorts that will grab you and drag you up to their awaiting mouth. Be careful; their lure is hard to notice if you're running around in dark hallways.

Then there's the Houndeye, a multi-eyed alien dog of sorts with a super-sonic bark that will injure you, even from a distance. And many more creatures to find along the way!

If you're paying attention, you might just run into G-Man again, who observes you curiously before calmly disappearing down a corridor. Who is this man?!

Once you get close to the surface, you learn the military has arrived and has orders to clean the entire site - terminating aliens and humans alike! They're intent on covering up the Resonance Cascade! If you manage to hold your own against the Marines, you'll earn yourself a nasty reputation and the military will call in Black Ops to take care of you once and for all. These guys are extremely fast and deadly:

Having nowhere left to go, you fight your way back into the underground facility and search for other survivors...

Why am I playing the fan remake instead of the original Half-Life game? Well, because Black Mesa was built not only to be easier to play through for modern gamers, but it also fixed plot and story inconsistencies, and flows better than the original. It's not just a visually-improved version of the game, but they rearranged parts of the story and gameplay to better introduce modern gamers to the world of Half-Life.

'Cause let's be honest, back in the late '90s to early 2000s, before games had standardized controls across platforms, FPS games were kind of the Wild West, with their control schemes varying from game to game. They were great fun in my childhood, but playing them nowadays is difficult and frustrating when there are much better controls in modern games.

So if you want to get into the Half-Life franchise and you're not sure where to start, Black Mesa is a great introduction to the series! The main games are Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The other games in the series are either expansions, multiplayer-only arenas, or spin-offs.

One could argue that the new VR game Half-Life: Alyx is part of the main series, but you spend the entire game playing as Alyx Vance, a side character from the series (and daughter of Eli). However, from what I've heard, it does advance the plot of the Half-Life franchise a little bit, so that sounds like it could be main game content to me.

Also, as I mentioned in my last post, the Portal games are set in the same universe as Half-Life. Their Aperture Science company is the competitor to Black Mesa; although the Resonance Cascade led to events that would negatively affect both companies. Portal and its sequel take place after the first Half-Life game.

EDIT: Here's a bonus screenshot for you. I really like this image, just because it's sort of an ominous "quiet before the storm" shot. Seeing both scientists watch you with silent anticipation as you're about to cause a world-altering event in that next room.

#40 - The Invincible

October is over, and that means I'm back to playing all variety of games, not just horror or Halloween-themed games.  But I did miss one day in my daily October marathon, and I said I'd try to make up for it.

So... consider this game to be a happy medium.  The Invincible isn't exactly horror - more sci-fi mystery/thriller than anything - but it is kind of a personal fear of mine: being stranded alone on an alien planet with amnesia, limited oxygen, and no certain escape.  I definitely shared in the anxiety and fear that the protagonist suffered at times on her journey.

The Invincible is a blend between a walking simulator and a visual novel.  You spend most of the game walking from one point to the next and performing some basic tasks along the way, while also communicating back and forth with your ship's commander.  It's not a particularly strenuous form of gameplay.

There are dialogue choices, but for the most part, the game plays out the same regardless of your choices.  Although certain choices can open up deeper philosophical discussions into the theme of the plot.  Also, investigating the areas around you might help you learn more about the planet itself, which provides a richer story experience than just trying to get to the end of the game as quick as possible.

Also, as the game progresses, your story path is documented in comic form, which you can pause and read at any time.

This game is actually based on a Polish novel of the same name, published in 1963 by Stanisław Lem.  Although I would recommend not reading the summary of that book, as its main plot gives away most of the mystery in this game's story.

The Invincible opens up with Yasna waking up on a rocky desert planet, with no memory of where she is or how she got there.  Her radio is broken, her locator beacon is missing, and she's all alone.  The only thing going for her is that she seems uninjured, and her space suit and oxygen tank are still intact.

She checks her notes and discovers she's there with her team of researchers.  Using her logs and hand-drawn maps, she triangulates her approximate position, then sets out to find their main camp.

Along the way, bits of her memory start coming back to her.  She remembers her research ship's commander, Novik, who is known for making rash decisions.  Previously, his insistence on making an unscheduled stop for a valuable mineral cost him a broken leg and severe pain.

Now, the team was finally on their way home when Novik awoke them early from cryogenic sleep.  He made the decision to stop at yet another planet, Regis III, because he has intel that it's potentially valuable to the Alliance, and he wants to find out what is so valuable that it would draw them there.

The book followed characters from the Alliance aboard their massive ship, The Invincible.  This game, however, follows a small research team of the Interplanetary Commonwealth, an opposing faction.  So it's important to Novik that they do their research quick, then get off-planet before the Alliance arrives in their deadly ship.

Yasna reaches her team's base camp, only to find one of the members in a stupor, babbling unintelligibly.  His vitals are all normal, but he's unresponsive and helpless.  Yasna takes his radio and is finally able to speak with Novik, who is aboard their spaceship orbiting the planet.

Novik has been unable to reach the team for a while now.  He's grateful to speak with Yasna and instructs her to find the rest of the team.  She catches up on their research notes and sets out to round up the team.

The team was investigating a strange metallic structure sticking out of the ground.  It proved impossible to unearth, and scans with their metal detectors showed it stretching underground like tangled metal roots.  One of the research team, Dr. Gorsky, ventured off in search of the end of this metal root structure, so Yasna pursues his trail.

She bumps into a damaged probe and, with the help of Novik, is able to boot it up.  Using the probe, Novik is able to remotely control it and assist Yasna more directly on the ground.  You get the opportunity to pick its name, if you like.

Pursuing her team, Yasna explores complex metallic structures, finds herself lost in underground caverns, and even has run-ins with the Alliance!

Finding all of her team members and getting off-planet proves to be a challenge, with setback after setback.  It's up to you whether she'll find the courage to proceed, or succumb to hopelessness and depression.

This was a fantastic story that explored deeper philosophical topics on life and biology, evolution and invasion, and of course, the will to survive.  It's an easy-going game, where the most dramatic twists and turns come more from the dialogue than the action.  If you want a simple sci-fi game that lets you ponder life's greater mysteries instead of shooting aliens, this may be for you.

Plus, you get to drive around in a little rover!  How cute is this thing?

#24 - The Fabled Woods

The Fabled Woods is a short narrative "walking simulator" that explores the lives of several strangers in the woods and how they're connected. While enjoying picturesque scenery and a short jaunt down a forested path, you're treated to the short tales of Larry, Sara, and Todd.

Larry suspects there's someone watching him in the woods, while Sara is investigating a crime scene in the woods.

As you listen to their individual stories, you'll get an option to "remember," which will turn everything dark red except for a glowing-red blood path pointing you toward an object. Taking hold of the object will take you to this dark floating path in a red sky, where you'll hear darker and more intimate details behind each person's life.

Todd's story will tie all the others together, explaining how each person is connected to each other. It's a pretty short game. While taking my time and exploring the beautiful imagery of the forest, it took me about an hour to complete. Most people say they're done in about 40 mins.

There were complaints on Steam that this game was way overpriced for its short and simple gameplay. The developers responded by permanently reducing the price. And it just so happens that it's currently 90% off right now, so if this sounds even remotely intriguing, you can get it for less than a buck until October 27th.

I always buy my Steam games on sale (which is how I could afford to buy over 3,500 of them over the years!) so I like to point out good deals if I find them. The story was mildly interesting at best, so it's definitely worth a buck. I probably wouldn't pay more than that, personally.

#19 - The Exit 8

Today we’re diving back into the world of psychological horror with the Japanese game The Exit 8. This game is a walking simulator, except the purpose is to escape a single underground passageway that you’re stuck in. Every time you round the corner, you find yourself back in the same hallway you just left.

The rules are simple. You start at Exit 0 and walk down the hall. If you notice something changed or abnormal in the hallway, turn around and go back the way you came. If you don’t notice anything out of the ordinary, keep going.

Once you round that corner, if your exit sign on the wall has moved up a digit, then you’re one step closer to finding Exit 8 and escaping. If it has reset back to Exit 0, then you made a mistake and will be starting your journey over.

You need to pay attention to details in this game, because some changes can be extremely subtle. Like the guy in the hallway smiling as he walks:

Or perhaps more obvious, like the eyes of this poster darting back and forth instead of staring straight ahead.

Or they’ll be glaringly obvious, like walking into the hall to find it covered in no smoking posters:

Some of the abnormalities are sounds, like the vents clicking noise will be slightly different. Or there will be a banging noise coming from one of the doors on the right. Sometimes it will just be a slight change to a poster on the wall, and if you haven’t studied the posters, you might miss it.

There are 32 anomalies, and you might be exposed to a random one every time you go down the hallway. If you can successfully avoid all anomalies, you’ll find yourself at Exit 8, which is a stairway back to the surface. I won’t give away too many of the anomalies, but here are a few others to look out for:

That last one is the closest to a game over you get. A rushing river of red water comes at you quick, and if you don’t turn around and run, it will overtake you and the screen will go black, before you find yourself back at Exit 0.

The Japanese developer (KOTAKE CREATE) also made a sequel game of sorts, called Platform 8. It’s the exact same premise, except this time you’re stuck on a subway line, trying to find your way to the front train car.

And if you enjoy these kind of games, there’s yet another game called Shinkansen 0, made by Chilla’s Art, a small 2-person indie development team who makes Japanese horror games. As you may know, the Shinkansen is what we English-speakers call the bullet train. This is a very similar game to Platform 8, except for a few more horror twists in it.