Back when "Half-Life 2's" Source engine was open for mod building, fans have often wondered if there will be a "Half-Life 1" remaster - and, no, this isn't the "Half-Life: Source" game being talked about here. "Black Mesa" is a total conversion mod that brings back fans to the events of the first game remastered in the latest Source engine capabilities. However, a lot of complained about one thing: Where was the alien world Xen? As a result, developer Crowbar Collective has already announced that the last level(s) from the original game are in development for the mod.
Based on a post from Steam, Crowbar Collective announced that the update for the Xen levels will be released on summer 2017. In spite of the fact that it is still a long way from now considering the delay after the mod's release, it is still good news nonetheless.
"We can't overemphasize how much work it was to get the game on Steam," said the post from the developers. "Most of our effort before launching was put into porting to the retail engine and getting the game to work better than it did in the mod. Since release, the team has been focused on developing Xen. We even planned our updates to have features that would help improve the earthbound levels and Xen."
When the "Black Mesa" mod for "Half-Life 2" was released on Steam, the developers wanted to make sure that they would give a lot of time and effort in pulling off the Xen levels well, according to Gamespot. Of course, this recent update of theirs was a response to that.
"For the last 15 percent we want to not only recreate it, but improve upon it to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience," they explained. "We feel it will take us considerable time to get the last 15 percent up to our standards, and putting a time estimate on it would be a total guess."
They further added that they wanted to keep on improving the Xen levels hence the 2017 release, to give it "the definitive climax to the 'Half-Life 1' story." The developers further added: "To do this we have completely redesigned and expanded the Xen levels to what we think Valve would have done without the limitations of the time."
While fans hope for a different (and improved) experience for "Black Mesa's" Xen levels once its released, those who haven't tried the mod yet can avail of the game at a discounted price from $20 to $8, as part of the ongoing Steam Halloween sale.