When Half-Life 2 released, it made us realise just how old the original Half Life game was. To ensure that we didn't become rabid, order following soldiers too much, Valve blessed its users and early buyers of Half-Life 2 with a version of the original game, Half Life: Source.
It wasn't very good, compared to everything that the second game in the series offered.
Now, some fifteen years later, Black Mesa is out. A fan made project by the aptly named "Crowbar Collective", Black Mesa modernises Half Life 2 without the full fledged re imagining of a game series reboot.
All the guns are there. All the enemies are there. There's more detail in every environment, and there's more better everywhere you look - textures, 3d models, animations, lighting, its got it all.
The guns are just as satisfying as they were in the original game. The 357 is still a slug firing machine. The crossbow is still so very lethal. The shotgun's alternate fire mode is a satisfying beast of a weapon, in first person shooter tradition.
Key parts of the voice acting are untouched, while others are re imagined.
Enemy character models are amazing, on par with what you'd expect from a modern game.
Some animations don't translate as well - like the assassins that try to pursue you through various parts of the game.
On the whole - if you want to replay Half Life, do it this way. While the original game is now ported to so many platforms (you can even play it on a Nintendo Switch, if you mod the switch) - this is the only acceptable way to play such a classic PC game - in as many frames per second as you want, on a keyboard and a mouse.
The title is stable, and given that it uses the source engine, a literal potato could run the game.
The only thing is that we've waited such a long time for this project to complete. That is literally the only negative I can think of to mention when it comes to Black Mesa.
Given that Half Life remains one of the best video games ever made, this makes it worth the wait for Black Mesa.
If you've never played Half Life, get this game and enjoy what PC gamers mean when they talk about atmosphere, first person puzzle-based shooting, and an excellent way to tell a story through doing, and showing, and not telling.