Recently, some images and teaser footage for Blue Shift have been unveiled. The screenshots show the environments from the Half-Life expansion, while the short video aims to demonstrate some of the game’s atmospheric sounds. Currently, episodes one, two, and three are available to download, with these latest screenshots and video representing the next episode. There’s no release date for the fourth installment just yet, but it’s apparently 70% ready and due this summer.
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Black Mesa’s new campaign screenshots were shown off last December. Referred to as Operation: Black Mesa, this new DLC aims to bring remakes of both the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansions that were originally released in 1999 and 2001, respectively. These new campaigns essentially told the story of the disaster at Black Mesa from different perspectives, with the former placing the player in the role of one of the marines, while the latter had them running around the facility as a security guard.
The fan remake of the original Half-Life was released in 2012 as a free mod before it became a fully endorsed project, with an early access version going live in 2015 and the final version releasing in 2020. Black Mesa made a number of changes to the original game. As well as a vast improvement to the visuals, it also changed up some of the environments, had new voices for all the dialogue, and significantly extended the game’s final sections that take place on the alien Xen world.
As one of the best video games of the 90s, Half-Life represented not just the next stepping stone in the FPS genre, but it also helped skyrocket Valve into overnight success. It was the new studio’s first release, incorporating environmental storytelling and compelling gameplay. Given its significance in a post-Doom industry, it’s hardly surprising that fans created a remake, and it’s nice that the studio behind it is also bringing back the expansions as well.
Half-Life was released in 1998 and is available on PC and PS2.
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Source: DSO Gaming
