There is danger, yes, but in the three chapters on offer in the beta, itвЂ™s a whole different feel and pacing from the non-Xen chapters.ДЄdmittedly I didnвЂ™t have time to replay all of Black Mesa/Half-Life in order to carve the most organic path into Xen possible, but my sense and seared-into-my-brain memory of one of the greatest games of all time tells me that Xen will fit nicely into the overall Half-Life arc. A couple of the jumping puzzles even managed to stump me for a few minutes, which I appreciated the new Xen is no literal walk in the (extraterrestrial) park. Purples, blues, and greens abound, in sharp contrast to the grey that dominates a lot of the Black Mesa facility in the front end of the adventure. The long-jump ability built into GordonвЂ™s HEV suit is put to liberal use here, but whatвЂ™s bound to jump out at you first is the color palette. The beta consists mostly of exploration gameplay. The new Xen is no literal walk in the (extraterrestrial) park. That slice is due for an imminent public release, if youвЂ™re curious.ДЄBOVE: Watch the opening minutes of the new Xen chapters in Black Mesa, the Valve-sanctioned Half-Life 1 remake. The beta I played includes three chapters from the brand-new levels. The Crowbar Collective team is finally almost ready to finish the job with Xen, which fleshes out the alien portion of the story with an aim to make it stand up to the rest of ValveвЂ™s masterpiece. The community-developed remake, Black Mesa, has been a multi-year effort, and the pre-Xen part of the game has been available on Steam Early Access for four years now. The alien dimension is placed right near the end of Gordon FreemanвЂ™s Excellent Science Adventure, and it was.a let-down, for sure, after the GOAT-quality experience up until that point.Д«lack Mesa: Xen seeks to right Half-LifeвЂ™s lone wrong. But what knocks Half-Life 1 down a peg for a lot of folks вЂ“ and this is hard to argue against вЂ“ is a particular part of the campaign: Xen.

With no disrespect to Alyx, Dog, or the gravity gun, the mystery of the Black Mesa facility, the slow onion-peeling reveal of one weird layer after another, the mystery of the G-Man and, lest many forget, the two endings(!) that the original delivered always left a more lasting impression for me. I, for one, have always preferred the original Half-Life. Many gamers consider Half-Life 2 to be ValveвЂ™s greatest achievement and one of the best games ever made.

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