Black Mesa

 PC
User Score
8.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1219 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,071 out of 1219
  2. Mixed: 101 out of 1219
  3. Negative: 47 out of 1219

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  1. Kiwgista
    Apr 1, 2013
    9
    How to make a better game out of a game that was already great. Well, just play Black Mesa an see for yourself how that can be possible. It's an improvment in every way.
  2. Outlander999
    Nov 17, 2013
    9
    Black Mesa is a great, very polished and totally free remake of the classic Half Life. What ask for more? If you loved the original, you MUST play this game. VIRTUALINN.IT
  3. Catric
    May 22, 2014
    10
    El nuevo sistema de manchas en las armas y el motor source hicieron un buen trabajo. Nos dieron un mejor punto de vista al accidente de black mesa. AQUÍ VIENEN LAS DESVENTAJAS, los BUGS... Pero aun así le daría un 9.8
  4. COTOR
    Jul 24, 2019
    10
    One of the best remake of all time for the best game of all time
    Waiting for Xen :)))
  5. RobiePax
    Sep 22, 2012
    10
    Truly amazing re-work. It turned out to be a lot better than I expected to. I'm also glad that Valve approved Greenlight for this mod, we need more worthy mods on Steam than crap like Revelations 2012 which is an Alpha stage non-free mod...
  6. sherbz
    Sep 23, 2012
    10
    There are some things in life that are not really recognised for how important they really are until perhaps years after they actually happen. Black Mesa fits in to that category. For a group of fans to create something so professional, so polished, and so good is truly an extraordinary thing in itself. But the sheer scale, scope and length of time devoted to Black Mesa demonstratesThere are some things in life that are not really recognised for how important they really are until perhaps years after they actually happen. Black Mesa fits in to that category. For a group of fans to create something so professional, so polished, and so good is truly an extraordinary thing in itself. But the sheer scale, scope and length of time devoted to Black Mesa demonstrates what fans can actually achieve when they work together. The developers managed to create a game that can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with the titles you go out and buy, but they did it for free, which i think is a beautiful and quite remarkable thing. Black mesa, like half life itself, is the new yard stick to compare fan created games, and will be for years to come.… Expand
  7. Bestpony
    Jun 3, 2013
    6
    I have the same problem with Black Mesa that I did with the original Half-Life. The first few chapters are an amazing horror experience where you make your way through a destroyed facility, just trying to get out alive, and if you play it on Hard, it's a challenging and rewarding experience. However, once the soldiers enter the mix, all the atmosphere disappears (it does come back later)I have the same problem with Black Mesa that I did with the original Half-Life. The first few chapters are an amazing horror experience where you make your way through a destroyed facility, just trying to get out alive, and if you play it on Hard, it's a challenging and rewarding experience. However, once the soldiers enter the mix, all the atmosphere disappears (it does come back later) and the game becomes a fairly boring shooter with frustratingly precise enemies. I'm not a shooter fan so the whole "shoot some guys, take some damage, find some health, repeat" thing wasn't all that interesting. Still, it's free, it's a classic, and you really owe it to yourself to check it out.… Expand
  8. MasteRR
    May 15, 2013
    10
    Black Mesa is a total Source conversion of the original critical acclaimed game Half-Life.

    For a mod, it does everything very well. The level design looks both similar to the original game, with Hi-Res props, much improved physics new animations and improved scripted events. The gameplay however feels even more linear, by unfortunately cutting a lot from On a Rail chapter, which    Black Mesa is a total Source conversion of the original critical acclaimed game Half-Life.

    For a mod, it does everything very well.

    The level design looks both similar to the original game, with Hi-Res props, much improved physics new animations and improved scripted events.

    The gameplay however feels even more linear, by unfortunately cutting a lot from On a Rail chapter, which in the original game it was far bigger, and more like a maze, now just activate this, enable this, and keep going. In original game the chapter took a lot to be completed, even after many times playing.

    However, the gameplay certainly feels a lot more intense, the new sounds, enemy design an AI makes everything feel both intense and realistic, but also more brutal sometimes. For instance, now when you kill a HECU soldier you get an exaggerated blood around him.

    In gameplay terms the mod brings some things not seen in any Half-Life game, the Gibing System. Basically it seems to have certain models, and works for certain kills, like when killing enemies with explosive barrels, grenades, RPGs, mines, and even headshots, which is a welcome and great addition.

    About the animations, both for weapons and NPCs is nice, with very good lip syncing and detail. Unfortunately, the dying animation in certain situations look ridiculous. For instance, the dying scientist in the beginning of Blast Pit has an exaggerated death animation, being too convulsive.

    Also the mods features another new system, which adds blood/acid and others on player's hand, which is a lot more realistic, but could've been better, on some guns, the blood doesn't go in a precise mode, like on the Glock, when a half of the hands have blood on certain parts, and on the other one on other parts, which isn't realistic and very good.

    The levels like said before, are very similar, but some are different, such as On a Rail which is a lot shorter, which is a bit disappointing, but it eventually fits better.

    The weapons, compared to original game are well made, sound realistic, look HD and behave realistic, but some of them, if carefully watched, behave weird, for instance the Magnum sounds very powerful, but if not shot in the head, it can even take to up to 3 hits to kill an enemy.

    The shotgun also feels very light but it really powerful in fact.

    The voice acting is great, but not for everyone. Eli's voice doesn't really fit, sound like a child with a sore throat, rather than an adult.

    The addition of the female scientist is also a good thing, and their voices fits perfectly.

    This is mod's quality in gameplay terms, now let's see the graphics and the performance.

    The graphics can't be described very detailed, there are dynamic lights, very sweet particle effects and realistic physics, with some demos right after the Test Chamber explosion at the beginning, and also in Apprehension, right after Gordon is caught by the HECUs and placed in a room to be squished.

    The performance however isn't really good. After playing aprox. 1-2hours you might get the ,,Failed to allocate the required Memory,, error.

    Also the mod has a severe lack of optimization in some areas which really don't look to be so hardware demanding, such as the Resonance Cascade scene, the beginning of apprehension, when a part of the Hydro Electric Dam in Surface Tension, some areas in Office Complex, Blast Pit, and the fighting scene before jumping into the portal at the end of Lambda Core, which is quite disappointing for a game that was in development for more than 8 years, but this is how's happening when a game if not fully ready, the mod is missing the Xen chapters, but even so, it provides a great experience until then, and you can't be very curious to see the revamped Xen, which has the biggest potential to be vast with great graphics, effects, physics, and other great stuff.

    The mod has as well several bugs, such as non-matching textures, like Scientists and Zombie Scientist, Barney and Barney Gibs, and Sniper Bullet, which wasn't replaced at all, being exactly the same from Half-Life 2. Another not super great thing is that the portal to Xen looks very similar to City 17's Citadel Core, but even so, again, it fits well.

    The soundtrack is a brand new addition, instead of re-used songs from the original one, but is very well made, gives suspense, fits with the action and environment, especially with the combat.

    The brand new achievements are well made, but could've been a bit better, like, well... ,,Drown in he Lambda Core Coolant,,?

    So, final verdict. Black Mesa is a masterpiece for a mod, which is also absolutely FREE which is a very great thing, as it's a mod. And it's stopped from being rated with a 10/10 ONLY because of the few bugs and glitches, some exaggerated death animations, and the lack of optimization in some chapters, and some unbalanced weapons.

    But overall, it certainly deserves the Mod of The Year award and can't wait to see what will bring Xen and BM:DM.    … Expand
  9. Kingmannie
    Oct 2, 2012
    10
    Wow. The amount of memories that come flooding back to me was incredible. This project puts a lot of professional projects to shame. From a technical perspective the voice acting is a bit strange but the atmosphere that's obviously been a labor of love for the devs - smashes any negativity. Surprising, tense and thrilling are some of the feelings you will get if you play this for theWow. The amount of memories that come flooding back to me was incredible. This project puts a lot of professional projects to shame. From a technical perspective the voice acting is a bit strange but the atmosphere that's obviously been a labor of love for the devs - smashes any negativity. Surprising, tense and thrilling are some of the feelings you will get if you play this for the first time. A sincere feeling of nostalgia is what you will get if you played the original like me. For free this is 100% worth your time.… Expand
  10. bethegame
    Sep 23, 2012
    10
    When I first played the Half Life games, I thought to myself, these games can't get any better than they already are. Shows you what I know. This game is perfect. No doubt about it. A ten all the way. In every aspect that Half Life was perfect in, Black Mesa perfected the perfection. The graphics are great for this game are much better than the first Half Life, (it did come out in 1998,When I first played the Half Life games, I thought to myself, these games can't get any better than they already are. Shows you what I know. This game is perfect. No doubt about it. A ten all the way. In every aspect that Half Life was perfect in, Black Mesa perfected the perfection. The graphics are great for this game are much better than the first Half Life, (it did come out in 1998, great graphics for then) the plot is almost the same so far, (some levels are different) and it is easy to tell how much these developers really love the game. They put all there passion into it. I am glad that now not every scientist is identical. I would say this game gets 98 out of 100 or above. Now, about Half Life 3...… Expand
  11. ConsumedKangi
    Sep 23, 2012
    10
    I've been looking forward to this for the whole of this year. Half life introduced me to awesome first person shooters by Valve. Then once I heard of Black Mesa I expected the best thing ever. It did not fail my expectations. Flawless design. Everything has been rebuilt very accurately with extra additions of perfection to top it off. There's been no bugs at all and I just can't seem toI've been looking forward to this for the whole of this year. Half life introduced me to awesome first person shooters by Valve. Then once I heard of Black Mesa I expected the best thing ever. It did not fail my expectations. Flawless design. Everything has been rebuilt very accurately with extra additions of perfection to top it off. There's been no bugs at all and I just can't seem to point out anything wrong. This is a mod of Gods!… Expand
  12. The_Doc
    Oct 29, 2012
    8
    It's quite good, especially for a fan made mod. Seeing the whole BM facility rebuilt really presses the right buttons. Now it looks a lot less like a game level and more like an actual place where people work. I only found 3 things I didn't like about this mod: they changed the ammo carrying capacity to HL2 standards (ie: too low), the enemy soldiers have godly accuracy and perfectIt's quite good, especially for a fan made mod. Seeing the whole BM facility rebuilt really presses the right buttons. Now it looks a lot less like a game level and more like an actual place where people work. I only found 3 things I didn't like about this mod: they changed the ammo carrying capacity to HL2 standards (ie: too low), the enemy soldiers have godly accuracy and perfect reflexes, and they changed the sound and firemode of the SMG. Other than that I loved every second of it.… Expand
  13. xxdiyxx2
    Jul 3, 2013
    10
    Taking into account that the game is free, you can say that this is a masterpiece from the team of fan developers. there were some flaws in artificial intelligence, but again, the game is free. Done a lot of work on the subject, it became more interesting, without disturbing the original. The music in the game is good. Graphics to the limit game engine in 2006, very good.
  14. Ceully
    Oct 14, 2013
    10
    What do you get when you mix one of the greatest FPS ever made and a fresh new engine Black Mesa. This mod is truly excellent, as a fan of Half-Life, playing the story with the HL2 graphics was very pleasant, you feel like playing a new game... but with familiar sensations, very cool.
    Everyone who enjoyed the original should give this mod a try, you won't be disappointed
  15. bazkie
    Sep 24, 2012
    10
    black mesa is probably the best halflife 1 remake possible. there's clearly been a lot of attention to details, and the atmosphere is very similar to the original - in my eyes an important trait for a remake of any game. i was expecting much from black mesa, after all these years of waiting, but it delivered, at least for me!
  16. Dune_Jumper
    Mar 12, 2015
    9
    Black Mesa is the Source remake of Half-Life we've always wanted. It (almost) has the same amount of polish an official Valve game would have. The only reason I don't give it a perfect 10/10 is because the AI is pretty bad. The soldier AI is especially horrible. However, this will likely be fixed in the full Steam release. So I'll raise my score when that comes out.
    Sadly, Xen is missing    Black Mesa is the Source remake of Half-Life we've always wanted. It (almost) has the same amount of polish an official Valve game would have. The only reason I don't give it a perfect 10/10 is because the AI is pretty bad. The soldier AI is especially horrible. However, this will likely be fixed in the full Steam release. So I'll raise my score when that comes out.
    Sadly, Xen is missing entirely. We'll just have to be patient, and wait for the full release on Steam. The developers are also working on multiplayer, which is awesome.    … Expand
  17. XhAPPYSLApX
    Mar 11, 2014
    10
    Simply one of the best tributes to anything ever... This is the Half Life: Source we should have gotten. Great graphics for a 10 year old engine, fantastic gameplay, great story. And just near perfect all round in my opinion, I hope Valve hires these people to make Half Life 3, that is how good they did in my opinion.
  18. Bax21
    Sep 23, 2012
    10
    So much waiting, and now after 8 long years im completly overwhelmed by Black Mesa. It's really stupid to call this masterpiece a "modification" for HL2. It's f***** more than that! Its deserves to be an absolutely great remake of legendary Half Life. Many thanks for creators of this new,fine version, whoever u are!
  19. Stickheadz32
    Feb 19, 2013
    10
    I have to say right out that this is the best mod ever created. Really smooth gameplay with the Source engine, level design is really complex, enemies in the game are worth the challenge, great AI with humans, HECU soldiers and aliens. Again, there's lots of freedom you can have in the maps, even though some of them may be linear, it leaves a great space of open field, so we won't careI have to say right out that this is the best mod ever created. Really smooth gameplay with the Source engine, level design is really complex, enemies in the game are worth the challenge, great AI with humans, HECU soldiers and aliens. Again, there's lots of freedom you can have in the maps, even though some of them may be linear, it leaves a great space of open field, so we won't care about linearity at all. Amazing re-recorded monologues and dialogues and even the new ones. Everything else is also very awesome. The graphics at high and very high levels are stunningly beautiful in everything. At that preset when I turned around after fleeing from the Tentacles when I watched them, the framerate dropped down to 40 on my GTX660Ti. The soundtrack is also really good and it's a mix of atmospheric and action tracks. As i played it in almost 5-6 days and completed the game I feel satisfied and amazed about the game. It's free, it's a mod, you do need Source SDK Base 2007 to run it, but by all words, this is an immersion.… Expand
  20. Jacer200
    Mar 10, 2013
    9
    This is one of the best re texturing and full modding of any pc game I have ever played. The sound is awesome and plays well with most modern gpus. The game has a few glitches here and there but the fact that it is free I can look past it. With the game set to hard you will have a great experience. This game is one of the holy trinity of first person shooters that set the game industryThis is one of the best re texturing and full modding of any pc game I have ever played. The sound is awesome and plays well with most modern gpus. The game has a few glitches here and there but the fact that it is free I can look past it. With the game set to hard you will have a great experience. This game is one of the holy trinity of first person shooters that set the game industry standards. Wolfenstien, Doom, Half Life.… Expand
  21. Lazy_Ninja
    Jan 2, 2013
    9
    This is a masterpiece of work for 40 volunteers. They have not really created a mod, but a full game that does a very good job recreating the good moments of the long timed Half Life, released in 1998. And obviously, it rocks HL Source very easily, both on graphics and gameplay. Unlike some say: It is not required a top GPU to run the game. It runs well on a GT 240 128 bit DDR3, but exceptThis is a masterpiece of work for 40 volunteers. They have not really created a mod, but a full game that does a very good job recreating the good moments of the long timed Half Life, released in 1998. And obviously, it rocks HL Source very easily, both on graphics and gameplay. Unlike some say: It is not required a top GPU to run the game. It runs well on a GT 240 128 bit DDR3, but except some lag in graphically intensive moments. Summarizing: It does a fantastic job to recreate HL, and I think this is not really a mod, but a new game with a very similar story to the original HL, with some ambients completely recreated. It brings back to life the long forgotten HL, now replaced by some mods, being only a shadow of the original HL, namely: Counter Strike, Day of Defeat or Team Fortress(the former i liked it pretty much). But it also haves it some con aspects. While it does not require a top Graphics Card to run, do not except to run this game, even on medium details, with a 8400GS or a 8500GT. And also, there are some FPS issues on some parts, namely after the first chapter of the game, on the exploded power reactor. Other than that, i would give it 9.7/10 easily.… Expand
  22. HipsterMonster
    Jun 9, 2013
    10
    I am going to write my review in Spanish because I do not want to write anything wrong for the review of this game.

    Cuando jugué esta mod por primera vez, realmente me pregunté ¿Es esto una mod?, Porque resulta que lo es. Ademas lo bastante bien hecha como para superar al original Half Life o el Propio juego modificado, Half Life 2. Es sencillamente una obra maestra que no debería    I am going to write my review in Spanish because I do not want to write anything wrong for the review of this game.

    Cuando jugué esta mod por primera vez, realmente me pregunté ¿Es esto una mod?, Porque resulta que lo es. Ademas lo bastante bien hecha como para superar al original Half Life o el Propio juego modificado, Half Life 2. Es sencillamente una obra maestra que no debería recibir criticas tan bajas por parte de las webs de criticos. Se nota cuando algo esta hecho por una empresa sin ánimo de lucro y de un juego gratuito.    … Expand
  23. polyakoviv
    Apr 7, 2013
    9
    just play it- you'll love it. And it is free, so yay! I played the original HL1 back in the days and revisiting it with Black Mesa was a great experience.
  24. chaotic_mayhem
    Nov 24, 2018
    10
    This game captures the imagination, and awe that was the original Half Life with updated visuals, sound, and gameplay.

    You know the story: You're a scientist named Gordon Freeman. Accident happens. Xen aliens run amok throughout the facility. Survive and fix the mess you caused. While Xen has been teased for a 2019 release date. This game does an excellent job at recapturing almost    This game captures the imagination, and awe that was the original Half Life with updated visuals, sound, and gameplay.

    You know the story: You're a scientist named Gordon Freeman. Accident happens. Xen aliens run amok throughout the facility. Survive and fix the mess you caused.

    While Xen has been teased for a 2019 release date. This game does an excellent job at recapturing almost everything that players had to go through the first time. While also offering some interesting spins.

    Multiplayer is in this game
    Controller use is in this game.

    This isn't a mod. This is in my opinion a well-done remaster of the original Half Life game. If players are seeking to play the Half Life series; i must say it's best to start here because the original does have some clunky mechanics, etc. That here in 'Black Mesa' the team was able to polish and update to give a smooth experience.

    I recommend it    … Expand
  25. MichMart
    Mar 1, 2014
    10
    This is one of the largest and best mods ever made! It was in development for 8 years and it was really worth the wait. Some of the "worst" parts of Half-Life are deleted and some parts are even more impressive now, which makes Black Mesa an even better game than the original one!
    It can't of course revolutionize the FPS and the graphics are not top notch for today's standards, but for a    This is one of the largest and best mods ever made! It was in development for 8 years and it was really worth the wait. Some of the "worst" parts of Half-Life are deleted and some parts are even more impressive now, which makes Black Mesa an even better game than the original one!
    It can't of course revolutionize the FPS and the graphics are not top notch for today's standards, but for a mod it's a masterpiece for sure. Now we have to wait a bit for xen...    … Expand
  26. B1ackGuard
    Jul 14, 2015
    9
    Eleven years ago, when I had a personal computer, Half-Life was the first first-person shooter in which I fully played. Then I do not know how to play the game of this genre. The game seemed to me difficult, could not even aim properly, let down coordination. But the game was so interesting that it took probably twenty times. Now remember with a smile. For its time, Half-Life was anEleven years ago, when I had a personal computer, Half-Life was the first first-person shooter in which I fully played. Then I do not know how to play the game of this genre. The game seemed to me difficult, could not even aim properly, let down coordination. But the game was so interesting that it took probably twenty times. Now remember with a smile. For its time, Half-Life was an important milestone in the development FPS, innovative gameplay, interactive environment, unusual story etc. Without Half-Life would not have games like F.E.A.R, Crysis etc. And now, after eleven years is a remake Black Mesa. How's great to play in the good old Half-Life in a new way with nice graphics, advanced physics... one word... nostalgia… Expand
  27. Mariogamer1231
    Jan 13, 2014
    10
    Black Mesa basically, improved the original Half Life. Though it's not completely done, it still improved the graphics using the source engine. I would give a 10 to the developers.
  28. DeadpoolDash
    Jan 3, 2014
    10
    This is an excellent remake, it has new voice acting and a new soundtrack which fit perfectly with the original game. The plans to remake the latter stages of the game will be interesting to see but since there is no info on that I cannot comment about it, the same goes for the upcoming multiplayer.
  29. NatT96
    Jun 14, 2015
    9
    The best game remaster I have seen in years! This is a great re-invitation to Half-Life's beginning. The games visuals with be sure to take you on a pc nostalgic thrill ride that won't disappoint....well except the loading portions of the game, they drive me nuts, like I have more than enough power in my PC, unnecessary loading pauses is something I hated about the original.
  30. thygpig
    Feb 4, 2020
    10
    this is a amazing remake and very impressive for being a indie team. this is one of my al time favorite games and can't wait for it to be finished. i hope they remake the expansions for the original as well!
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Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best PC Game of 2012
30
#30 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
25
#25 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. GameGrin
    Feb 8, 2021
    70
    Black Mesa remains true to the original Half-Life with updated graphics, improved sounds and redesigned levels. However, the graphics still look old for a “modern” game and loading screens are still a pain as it freezes the game for a few seconds.
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  2. Washington Post
    Mar 31, 2020
    80
    Those with a taste for retro-gaming or lighthearted sci-fi shooters, take note: few games with a foot in the nineties hold up this well.
    Read full review
  3. GameStar
    Mar 23, 2020
    87
    Reasonable innovations and a completely new Xen complement the authentic Half-Life atmosphere: This is what a remake should look like.
    Read full review
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