Fans have been waiting a long time for a new Half-Life title. A long, long time.
So long that Half-Life 3 has become more of a punchline than an actual game that might exist. However, who would have expected that the official next story in the Half-Life saga would be coming from one of the same fans who has been patiently waiting for Valve to release the next chapter in the franchise?
Richard Seabrook, a modder, is doing just that. His new game, Prospekt, is set in the Half-Life universe and uses Half-Life 2 assets. Unlike many other Half-Life mods, however, Seabrook has Valve's permission to sell the game on Steam.
The $9.99 game is currently available for preorder. It will put players once again in the shoes of Adrian Shepard, the protagonist of the Opposing Force expansion for the original Half-Life.
"Prospekt begins in the Nova Prospekt prison in the Half-Life universe," the game's official Steam store description reads. "Gordon Freeman is slowly being overrun by soldiers in the prison, however unknown to him, his Vortigaunt allies manage to find some help from a forgotten hero."
Prospekt is said to be comparable to Half-Life 2: Episode One in length, with "13 new levels featuring fully-scripted puzzles and action sequences, all carefully integrated into the Half-Life 2 story." The game will also feature a number of graphical improvements over the original Half-Life 2 engine upon which the mod is based, including new models, textures, lighting effects and more.
The entire project began as an incredibly elaborate Valve job application. Though he didn't hear back from Valve when he shipped them a copy of his game as his resume, he did put the project on Steam Greenlight, only for it to be approved in three days. Valve then got in contact with Seabrook about readying the title for release.
This isn't the first time a fan-made Half-Life mod has been sold on Steam. A recreation of the original Half-Life titled Black Mesa, is also available on Valve's digital game store.
The mod-turned-game will be available in February. Those who pre-purchase the title before Feb. 11 will receive a 10 percent discount.
