The Best Game to Play Before Half-Life 3 Isn’t Made By Valve at All

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Half-Life 3 is arguably the most disappointing game project in recent years. The original Half-Life and its sequel were groundbreaking, especially the second game which really changed what first-person shooter games could achieve. However, despite Valve having plenty of resources, Half-Life 3 still hasn’t been released.

Despite the long wait, fans haven’t lost hope for Half-Life 3. Similar to the anticipation surrounding GTA 6 before its trailer release, gamers often speculate and create theories whenever news or hints about HL3 appear. Recently, rumors suggested an announcement at the 2025 Game Awards, but that didn’t happen, and the game remains unreleased. If you’re a disappointed fan, Black Mesa is a great way to experience the original story – it’s a fan-made remake of the first game created by Crowbar Collective.

Black Mesa Is an Ambitious Recreation of Half-Life 1

Man, I first played the original Half-Life back when it came out in ’98, and it totally blew my mind. The way the story unfolded in the levels, and how puzzles felt like part of the world, was something else back then. But honestly, playing it now in 2020? It shows its age. The graphics are pretty basic – textures are blurry, characters move like robots, and a lot of the indoor areas feel really similar and cramped. And when you compare how it plays to anything Valve has made since, especially Half-Life 2, it just doesn’t hold up as well. It’s still cool to see where it all started, but it’s definitely a product of its time.

Valve initially tried to enhance the classic Half-Life by releasing Half-Life: Source, which updated the 1998 game with a more powerful engine. However, this version didn’t offer enough new features or improvements. This led a group of fans to form Crowbar Collective, with the goal of completely rebuilding Half-Life from the ground up using the Source engine.

After a lot of hard work, the team at Crowbar Collective finally got the thumbs-up from Valve! That means we can now officially buy and play Black Mesa on Steam, which is awesome!

Crowbar Collective aimed to improve and update the original Half-Life, and they did so by making several key changes, including:

  • All-new textures
  • New character models
  • Reworked puzzles and encounters
  • More advanced enemy AI

Black Mesa’s Expanded Xen Levels

A common criticism of the original Half-Life was its portrayal of Xen, a strange, otherworldly dimension known as the Borderworld because it connects different galaxies. While it was the most obviously science fiction part of the game, many players found it disappointing. The main complaints focused on how disconnected and lacking in content the Xen levels felt. Players didn’t respond well to the sudden change in gameplay—the puzzles, platforming, and enemies were very different—and many felt that this section of the game didn’t have the same strong story or consistent rules as the rest of Half-Life.

The team at Crowbar Collective then began the most challenging part of recreating Black Mesa: rebuilding the Xen levels. While Xen only took about an hour to play through in the original Half-Life, it now takes around four hours in Black Mesa. To make this expanded Xen experience the best it could be, the developers streamlined earlier sections of the game, focusing on making Xen a compelling and important part of the story. They also redesigned the bosses and puzzles in Xen to be more consistent with the rest of the game and less difficult. Many fans believe this results in a Xen experience that is far more fun, engaging, and well-designed than the one in the original 1998 game.

Black Mesa became available in early access in 2015, but the full, official version wasn’t released until 2020. The 1.0 release included a completely rebuilt Xen chapter.

Black Mesa Offers a Fresh Take On Half-Life’s Multiplayer

Beyond recreating the single-player campaign, Crowbar Collective also rebuilt the multiplayer from the original Half-Life, a detail often missed when talking about Black Mesa. While the shooting and movement feel updated, Black Mesa‘s multiplayer stays true to the original by sticking to classic deathmatch and team deathmatch modes. Several maps from the original Half-Life were also visually overhauled to match the quality of the rest of the remake.

  • Bounce
  • Gasworks
  • Lambdabunker
  • Stalkyard
  • Subtransit
  • Undertow

Black Mesa Isn’t Half-Life 3, But It’s a Perfect Entry to the Half-Life Franchise

Although it doesn’t replace a brand new Gordon Freeman story, Black Mesa is a great way for players new to Half-Life to begin. Its biggest accomplishment is updating the original game’s older gameplay and graphics to be more enjoyable for today’s gamers. This makes Black Mesa a more accessible version of the Half-Life experience, and arguably a better place to start than Half-Life 2, which is how many people have discovered the series in recent years.

If you’re familiar with the original Half-Life, Black Mesa takes everything to the next level. It looks and plays much better, and includes extra gameplay and story content, especially in the Xen sections. Plus, improvements like smarter enemy behavior make the experience even better. It’s not Half-Life 3, but it’s a fantastic way to revisit the world while you’re hoping Valve announces the sequel.

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2025-12-27 16:05