Fan-made, but with Valve’s blessing
BeforeHalf-Life 2, the Black Mesa universe gave birth to threeHalf-Lifespin-offs:Opposing Force,Blue Shift, andDecay(and where Gearbox Software got its start). The average person might not know this because they were never treated with the same reverence that mainHalf-Lifeinstallments were; still, they exist and they all expand on the Black Mesa Incident.
At the end of the first expansion,Opposing Force, we were left with a protagonist who was very much in the situation of Gordon Freeman at the end ofHalf-Life. Corporal Adrian Shephard was detained by the G-Man, the closing screen saying he was pending further evaluation. We never got any closure to his arc.
Next month, we’ll get some. A fan has been working on a project he callsHalf-Life: Prospektand it’ll release on February 11 onSteamfor the price of $10. The most notable thing about this is probably that Valve has given its approval for the creator to use the IP and assets and to sell it on its storefront.
Prospektis said to take place in theHalf-Life 2setting of City 17 concurrent to the events that find Freeman at Nova Prospekt. At some point, it’ll also venture to the planet Xen — a contentious location amongHalf-Life‘s faithful fans. The game consists of 13 levels and will be about the length ofHalf-Life 2: Episode One(four hours or so).
Valve’s blessing forProspektisn’t an unprecedented move. In 2012, fan-madeBlack Mesa(a remake ofHalf-Lifein theHalf-Life 2engine) also got the green light from Valve to piggyback off its property.
