Let's face it: the original Half-Life hasn't aged all that well. Not the gameplay or the level design, mind you - Half-Life still contains some of the best first-person shooter gaming ever. It's the presentation that hasn't really stood the test of time: there are only a few different character models, textures are either blurry or muddy (or both), and everyone looks like they're made of cardboard. Granted, the game was made in 1997, but still - it just doesn't look that good by today's standards.
That's why the Black Mesa mod is so perfect: it kept the original Half-Life gameplay intact while reworking everything about the presentation: new character models, new textures, new everything. When the first half of the Black Mesa mod was released in 2012, fans were able to play through a familiar game in a completely new way.
Since then, however, the team has stayed quiet. There were some sporadic updates here and there, but nothing of any real substance...until a mysterious timer appeared on the official Black Mesa website.
There are a number of different possibilities of what the timer could represent. The game was Greenlit on Steam several months ago, so the timer could be hinting at the game's official retail release. The game has undergone a rather lengthy and thorough makeover since the 2012 release (which will add the fan-favorite Half-Life: Deathmatch into Black Mesa), and while there hasn't been any confirmation, it's highly likely that the timer is counting down to the game's official release.
However, there's also a chance that it could be referring to the second half of the Black Mesa mod (which covers the final chapters of the original Half-Life). The 2012 release didn't feature any of the original game's final chapters, and fans have been patiently waiting for the second half of the remake...though the team did confirm that the Xen chapters wouldn't be ready in time for the game's retail release.
While the Black Mesa team is keeping quiet, at least fans won't have much longer to wait before they learn what the countdown is referring to: the Black Mesa timer is currently set to end on May 5.
If you're interested in playing through the original Black Mesa release, you can find it over at the team's official site.
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