Did you know that in 2004 Valve launched Half-Life 2 [official site]? And did you know that Episode 1 followed two years later and Episode 2 a year after that? Did you know it’s now been ten years and besides a mass of rumours, bad jokes and conversations with unverified sources, Gordon Freeman’s elusive third Half-Life outing – be that Half-Life 3 or HL2: Episode 3 – is still Not A Thing?
I’m sure you did. Let me now ask you this: do you know about Half-Life 2’s modding scene – a community which has been producing consistently brilliant tweaks and tinkerings to Freeman’s Combine-killing shooter for over a decade? Built from Valve’s Source Engine, the following list is comprised of single and multiplayer mods for the Seattle-based dev’s seminal and ever-enduring FPS – some of which are set in Freeman-familiar worlds, others which take on completely new looks entirely.
I know it’s hard to swallow, but Half-Life 3 might never happen. Play these mods instead.
Get a Life
By Cide
Get a Life was one of the first Half-Life 2 mods I ever played, and I instantly loved how different it was from its source material. Playing as Alexander Zemlinsky, you assume control of a vulnerable subway technician suffering from leukaemia and are tasked with taking on an unscrupulous agency and waves of otherworldly beings.
As an everyday civilian, Zemlinsky can barely handle the mod’s 13-weapon arsenal and afflictions such as bleeding, dizziness, shaking while aiming, and limping make combating its 60+ enemy types across its 24 maps less than straightforward. Add that to the mod’s limb damage system and you’ve got your work cut out for you. Upgradable weapons and drugs that trigger a special bullet-time mode work in your favour across Get a Life’s ten hour or so runtime.
GoldenEye: Source
By Team GoldenEye: Source
Designed to reimagine the Nintendo 64’s wonderful GoldenEye FPS from 1997, GoldenEye Source is a fan-made Half-Life 2 total conversion mod with one goal in mind: “To bring the memories and experiences from the original GoldenEye64 back to life using Source technology.”
It’s been around for almost 12 years and has been consistently updated along the way – having launched its version 5.0 last year. Classic maps such as the Bunker and the Dam return, however while its team promise to maintain the “original feel” of the game now two some decades old, naturally it’s been brought up to speed with ten multiplayer game modes, 25 maps in total and all 28 weapons from the original. Here’s its latest trailer:
Neotokyo
By Studio Radi-8
Set in a fictionalised cyberpunk Tokyo some 30 years into the future, Neotokyo is best described as a class-leaning Counter-Strike mixed with the Japanese fantasy/sci-fi manga series Ghost in the Shell. Government corruption is said to have turn the Japanese capital as we once knew it into a dystopian nightmare where war rages between the military sect Jinrai and the National Security Force. In practice this means loads of twitch shooting and relentless warring across Team Deathmatch and Capture the Ghost – the latter of which is portrayed by a female robot and is, as you probably expect, this mod’s version of capture the flag.
Once housed on ModDB, Neotokyo now exists on Steam and can be downloaded without owning Half-Life 2 itself which is pretty neat.
Minerva: Metastasis
By Adam Foster
Perhaps Minerva’s greatest achievement is that much of its sprawling levels play out in tight corridors and confined spaces, yet it rarely, if ever, feels cramped or claustrophobic. And this is testament to lone creator Adam Foster who, through this wonderfully designed three-episode mod, wound up with a full-time job at Valve.
Filling the boots of an unnamed hero, you’re tasked with uncovering the mysteries of the heavily Combine guarded island you’ve been held prisoner on. “Something is going on here,” suggests the mod’s blurb. “Your goal is to uncover what that is and destroy it.” Doing so will lead you into the island’s central mine shaft and with the help of the titular Minerva – who only exists via on-screen text messaging – you’ll set about taking down whatever it is that’s keeping you trapped on the archipelago.
First released in 2007, Foster launched Minerva on Steam Workshop on 2013. You’re required to already own Half-Life: Episode One to play.
Research and Development
By mbortolino
A non-combative game before non-combative games were cool. Crafted in 2009, two years after the aforementioned Minerva, R&D was often uttered in the same breath as Adam Foster’s work by way of its originality and ambition. Minus guns, besides the Gravity Gun, Gordon Freeman must here rely on his wits as you guide him through a series of tricky, often mind-building and sometimes infuriating puzzles. Occasionally, you’ll face the odd baddie who wants nothing more than to see you dead, but only by leveraging your surrounds can you see them off.
“You’re definitely not Edward Pistolhands,” said Alec not long after R&D’s release, before saying this:
“The best comparison, oddly, is the original Half-Life – a game whose noble puzzle values its sequel largely abandoned in favour of super-atmospheric action. There is very much that sense of strange tricks and traps born of scientific experimentation, and your largely non-combative persona is in many ways more in keeping with the mind-over-matter character we’re often told Gordon Freeman is than the openly, incongruously murderous role he dons in Valve’s games.”
Games such as the Talos Principle have since performed the idea better, but R&D was well ahead of its time some eight years ago.
The Stanley Parable
By Cakebread
How to explain The Stanley Parable without spoiling it? And how to explain it without sounding mad? Two tough questions that I’d honestly rather you worked out for yourself because The Stanley Parable really needs to be experienced to be believed. You probably already know this mod went onto become a fully realised paid-for game – which is absolutely worth paying – however its less sophisticated, rougher-around-the-edges, and free mod version can still be played and enjoyed today.
Exploring themes of 9-5 culture, the illusion of choice, and the contradictions of self-fulfilment, The Stanley Parable takes you on a journey where your only friend is an omnipresent, overseeing narrator. But do you trust him?
“You will make a choice that does not matter,” suggests the mod’s description. “You will follow a story that has no end. You will play a game you cannot win… it’s actually best if you don’t know anything about it before you play it.” I agree.
Black Mesa
By Black Mesa Dev Team
Put simply, Black Mesa is a mod project that started in 2012 with the aim of reimagining the original Half-Life in its sequel’s Source Engine. Having somewhat grown arms and legs since, Black Mesa now exists as a free mod which its creators the Crowbar Collective are no longer progressing, and a paid-for Early Access game, which will receive the most attention.
For example, this means Xen – the otherworldly zone Gordon Freeman visits towards the end of the original game – will not feature in Black Mesa’s mod version, and the premium version plans to add ten or so hours which won’t feature for free. That said, about 85 percent of the single player game does exist in the mod and is for the most a beautiful reinterpretation of Freeman’s first outing. Perhaps the best testimonial I’ve spotted for Black Mesa is tied to generational differences: “Now I understand what people felt like in 1998,” said ModDB user HunteR4708 which is probably absolutely right, even if it makes me myself feel old.
Silent Hill: Alchemilla
By White Noise
There are loads of horror-inspired Half-Life 2 mods kicking around these days, however 2015’s first-person Silent Hill: Alchemilla is my favourite. While it claims to tell a “completely original story”, Alchemilla is heavily inspired by the first game and reimagines its world – particularly the titular hospital and the outside otherworld areas – to terrifying effect.
Without spoiling anything, its puzzles are a little on the light side, so it’s perhaps best to avoid diving into this one expecting a revolutionary first-person modern day retelling of the 1999 debut – a la Resident Evil 7. That said, while Alchemilla promises to entertain “fanatics of the original game”, there’s definitely enough meat on this ‘uns bones to impress series fans of all understandings.
Synergy
By Synergy Team
If co-operative multiplayer is your bag, look no further than Synergy. Another long-standing mod that’s since been housed in the Steam Workshop, Synergy was born from a number of other mods – DC Co-op 2, Dev Co-op, Tim-Coop, for example – and stands to let players play through Half-Life 2’s otherwise single-player campaigns with friends.
Be that Half-Life 2’s base game, Episode One and/or Two, you and your pals can take down Headcrabs, Gunships and Striders to your heart’s’ content – and Synergy now even works with other user-made mods such as the aforementioned Minerva: Metastasis. Synergy also brings a handful of its own levels to the table, which means there’s plenty here to hold you and your pals’ attention.
Dino D-Day
By Digital Ranch Interactive
Besides having the best name on this entire list, Dino D-Day almost certainly has the best premise: during the second World War, Hitler has discovered a way to resurrect dinosaurs and, by fighting online, players can either choose to side with the Allies or the Nazis.
Now, a war-based Deathmatch-style shooter that lets players ride around on dinosaurs is probably enough to sell those of you inclined, however Dino D-Day offers a host of classes which vary on each side, a range of dinos, and an impressive arsenal of weaponry.
Dino D-Day is another mod which has since graduated to paid-for Steam release, however the original freebie itself is still available to download and packs five maps and three game modes – the latter of which includes team deathmatch, king of the hill, and objective mode.
Honourable Mentions
Garry’s Mod
By Garry Newman
By Garry Newman
The archetypal mod – Garry Newman’s Garry’s Mod offers players a sandbox and tools to make it their own. There are no rules or objectives, but tens of thousands of players and game modes.
Prospekt
By Richard Seabrook
By Richard Seabrook
Prospekt has received middling reviews on Steam, however is a fun one-man project which furthers the story Adrian Shephard, star of Half-Life 1 expansion Opposing Force.
Dear Esther
By The Chinese Room
By The Chinese Room
The non-combat exploration game, or Walking Simulator if you prefer, that started it all.
HL2: Capture the Flag
By MeNtHoL
By MeNtHoL
Simple, yet necessary. The Half-Life 2 Deathmatch mode than never was.
Nuclear Dawn
By GameConnect
By GameConnect
A lovely FPS/RTS hybrid.
As noted above, Half-Life 2’s modding community has now been operating for well over ten years. This means I’ve definitely missed some crackers, but the above list should more than get those of you new to the scene started. Again, these are my own favourites but, as always, I’d love to hear which ones I’ve missed in the comments below.
This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
Editor’s Note: With the economy tanking and the holiday season breaking the bank, Daniel’s found some amazing free-to-play Half-Life 2 mods to help keep you from hemorrhaging money. I’ve checked out four of his six recommendations myself, and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed by all of them. -James
I love Half-Life 2 mods, but you won’t find me spending much time with Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, or any of the other popular multiplayer games — I’m more of a single-player kind of guy.
In my search for single-player mods, I stumbled upon a handful that are on par with full retail releases, and I decided to share them with you.
Note: You must own Half-Life 2 or another Source engine game to play these mods.
Most single-player mods fall into one of two categories: expansions on Valve’s existing universe and wholly original concepts (also known as total conversions). Let’s start with the former….
Half-Life Universe Expansions
Minerva Metastasis — Adam Foster
Minerva Metastasis is probably the most popular and highly praised Half-Life 2 mod. The guy who made it, Adam Foster, was actually hired by Valve. Why? Professional-grade level design.
The entire game is a linear adventure that takes place on a tiny island, but despite its linearity, it feels like it’s happening in a real, dynamic space.
You play as a captured Combine soldier pitted against his comrades by a mysterious woman named Minerva. At first, you get the sense that she is pushing you through a rat maze, but the game opens up as the player’s changing relationship with Minerva becomes the focal point.
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It’s short — three to four hours, so I don’t want to give too much away — but Foster manages to use the familiar tools of Half-Life 2 to create something that approaches the quality of an actual Valve product. Even better, he mostly avoids the load times that have plagued every official Half-Life release.
Minerva Metastasis is a textbook lesson in minimalistic game design. It shows how preparing the same, old ingredients in a new way can yield interesting results.
Rock 24 — Henley Bailey and Richard Acherki
Rock 24 probably gets my vote for the most underrated Half-Life 2 mod. It was made by former professional level designers who applied their skills toward a pet project they clearly loved.
While most of the Half-Life 2 mods new chunks of the timeline, Rock 24 doesn’t really connect to anything significant in the main story. It’s a one-off adventure starring Gordon Freeman.
Your job is to rescue a fellow scientist held in a mountain prison called Rock 24. Throughout six chapters, Gordon and the scientist escape the prison as it collapses around them. Of course, you fight off evacuating Combine, too. It’s a lot like the Nova Prospekt chapter in Half-Life 2.
Great set pieces, a fun narrative, and halfway decent voice acting (by fans — be lenient) tie Rock 24 together. The whole thing culminates in one of the biggest and most intense battles in any Half-Life game, official or otherwise.
Research and Development — Marcello Bortolino
Research and Development hit the scene just recently, and some are calling it the best single-player Half-Life 2 mod ever, even pinning it above Minerva Metastasis. Those people may be right. It is definitely one of the smartest and most inventive mods I’ve seen.
Basically, it turns Half-Life 2 into an action-puzzle game. Fighting your way through Combine, you escape from the lab where the gravity gun was first created. The campaign never gives you any firearms; you’ll run the whole gamut of the Half-life 2 rouges gallery, but instead of blasting your way through the usual suspects and obstacles, you’ll need to think your way around them. All you have is a crowbar, a gravity gun, and one antlion minion.
Research and Development should definitely be near the top of your list of Half-Life 2 mods to check out, especially if you’re looking for something a little different from the original.
If you’re sick of the Half-Life universe, don’t fret. Try one of these:
Total Conversions
NeoTokyo — NeoTokyo Team
NeoTokyo is the only multiplayer game on my list. For those who follow such things, NeoTokyo was featured on the 1UP Show years ago…and it seemed to turn into vaporware. Well, it rematerialized recently and was actually released back in April.
Basically, NeoTokyo is a cross between Counter-Strike and Ghost in the Shell. It’s a team-based, tactical shooter that combines realistic lethality with a cool, sleek aesthetic.
A couple of bullets are enough to kill you, and you don’t respawn, so most matches are really a few minutes of strategic maneuvering punctuated by a quick firefight. Because of the somewhat slow pacing, players don’t seem to work alone. Even without voice chat, they generally form groups.
NeoTokyo is the only Source engine shooter I’ve played that features leaning and iron sight aiming; it discards leftover rounds when you reload, as well. With a cloaking device in addition to all of this, the game plays like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six dipped in a bucket of 90s-era anime.
NeoTokyo’s presentation and soundtrack are amazing. It is one of the coolest, most unique multiplayer creations I’ve seen.
Dear Esther — The Chinese Room
Dear Esther isn’t really a game at all, but it deserves mention for what it does with the interactive medium. It’s a short story told via the Source engine; a narrative experiment from a group of British college students.
You play as an unnamed man traversing a deserted north-Atlantic island. While you’re moving about, a narrator reads a series of letters addressed to someone named Esther. The letters touch on the different landmarks of the island as you encounter them, and the effect is genuinely creepy.
You won’t interact with anyone, or even really doing much, but that’s OK. Dear Esther is all about observing. It starts on a sad, despondent note and gets very dark as you discover the underbelly of the island. The narrative gives the story just enough context for you to feel its weight.
Korsakovia — The Chinese Room
Korsakovia is a sort of spiritual successor to Dear Esther — made by the same team, with the same dark tone, but as more of an actual game.
The result: a horror mod very much in the vein of Silent Hill 2. In Korsakovia, you travel through the shattered mind of a man, named Christopher, as a psychiatrist tries to prod his mania.
Armed with only a flashlight and a crowbar, you move through Koraskovia’s eerily bland, moribund hallways. Enemies often attack unseen and seem completely unfazed by the player’s reprisals.
Like Silent Hill, atmosphere makes Korsakovia great. Psychological interviews work as a sort of narration and really add to the moodiness. The game never lets up — it just gets more tense as reality begins to unwind and eventually shatter.
This blog was cross-posted with redswirl.1up.com
The half-life of iron is near infinity. Iron is a stableelement.
How do aluminum and iron differ in at least one chemical property?
Aluminum and iron differ in their half-life properties. Aluminum has a half-life of 0.73 million years, while iron has a half-life of 2.6 million years.
When was Half Chance Iron Bridge created?
How much iron is in half a cup of spinach?
A half cup of raw spinach has about 0.4 mg of iron and a half cup of cooked spinach has about 6.4 mg.
Does Half-life opposing force require Half-life?
No. Half Life: Opposing Force does not require neither Half Life nor Half Life: Blue Shift.
What isotope iodine iron phosphorus radium has the longest half-time?
Phosphorus, iron, and iodine all have at least one isotope that is stable, and any of these would do for the longest half life. In fact, the radioactive isotopes of phosphorus are all synthetic, so radioactive phosphorus is not found in nature.
What is the ISBN of Life in the Iron Mills?
What is the atomic number of Iron-59?
The atomic number of an isotope is the same as the element - so Iron-59 would have an atomic number the same as Iron - or 26. Iron-59 specifically is a radioisotope of iron having a half-life of 45 days; used in ferrokinetics tests to determine the rate at which iron is cleared from the plasma and incorporated in red cells. Symbol 59Fe.
If chromium undergoes gamma decay what does it become?
It would become vandium, iron, titanium or maganese depending on the amount of decay and the half-life of chromium
Will there be a Half life 3?
Half-life 2 Episode Three will be the next Half-Life game created by Valve. It is not known if there will be an official Half-Life 3. Originally, Gabe Newell planned the Half-Life 2 episodes to actually be Half-Life 3.
How much iron is in spinach?
A half cup of raw spinach has about 0.4 mg of iron and a half cup of cooked spinach has about 6.4 mg.
Is half life opposing force on Playstation 2?
Is there more blood in half life or Half Life Source?
What is the best way to say I missed half of my life or I've missed half of my life?
You say 'I've missed Half my life' which is short for : 'I have missed half my life'
How many pages does Life in the Iron Mills have?
How do you import half life 1 weapons into half life 2?
Buy Half Life: Source Or Buy Garrysmod a Half-Life 2 Modification and get the addon 'Half-Life Rennaisance' Link to Half Life Rennaisance: http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=57033 Enjoy!
The time it takes for half of the radioactive element to decay is the element's what?
That's called the 'half-life'. That's called the 'half-life'. That's called the 'half-life'. That's called the 'half-life'.
What is the half life of antibiotics?
What is the half life of the earth's magnetic field?
Magnetic field doesnot have a half life. Elements have half life.
What is a half life earth science?
Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life may also refer to: In science: Biological half-life, pertaining to organisms (also refers to 'elimination half-life', a pharmacokinetic parameter in medicine) Effective half-life, the effective radioactive half-life in organisms after accounting for excre
How do you add enemy for half-life?
Can half-life source be used for half-life mods?
No. Half-Life: Source runs on the Source engine. The original Half-Life doesn't. You cannot use mods made for the original Half-Life on Half-Life: Source because they run on different engines and it won't work.
How much of a sample of radioisotopes remains after two half-life?
One quarter of the original. After one 'half-life', half of the radioactive atoms will have broken up; after another half-life, half of the remainder will decay.
Is half life 3 online?
There is no 'Half Life 3' If you're talking about Half-Life 2, then no, but you can get Counter-Strike.
Does cocaine have half life and what is its strength of half life?
No half is a game. Shelf life? Then yes varies with temp and humidity
Half life of helium?
Do you need to have half life or half life 2 to download one of its mods?
Yes you do. Counterstrike: Condition Zero, however, is not a mod of Half Life, and therefore, does not need Half Life to acquire.
What is the half life of promethium?
Promethium 145 has a half life of 17.7 years. Promethium 146 has a half life of 5.53 years. Promethium 147 has a half life of o.22 years.
What is chlorine's half-life?
What is the half life of a radioactive substance if it takes 6 hours for 50 percent of it to decay?
That is the half-life - the 6 hours in this case. That is the half-life - the 6 hours in this case. That is the half-life - the 6 hours in this case. That is the half-life - the 6 hours in this case.
What is the explanation for the process of radioactive half-life?
The half-life of an isotope is the time it takes for half of the atoms of a sample to decay.
Where can you download the half life 1 soundtrack for free?
http://www.sound-test.org/soundtracks/half-life/half-life-1/
As a sample of a radioactive element decays its half-life?
The half-life means how long it takes for half of a sample to decay.
What is the half life of magnesium?
There is no half life of Magnesium. The concept of half life exists only for Radioactive metals which get deteriorated with time.
What is the half life of nickel poisoning in the blood?
Nickel poisoning does not have a half life. Half life refers to the breakdown of radioactive substances.
How does nuclear decay impact half-life?
It doesn't 'impact' half-life. Half-life is used to describe how quickly the material is undergoing decay.
What is the half-life of Thorium?
There is actually no single answer to this question, because Thorium has several isotopes, each with its own half-life. In order of atomic weight, these are: Th228: half-life 1.9 years Th230: half-life 75,400 years Th232: half-life 14,000,000,000 years Th234: half-life 24.1 days
Half-life is defined as what?
Smod 2
Half-life is the amount of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive atoms to disintegrate.
What is the half life of a half of a suboxone pill?
The half life of Suboxone will depend on the dosage taken. For example a 4 milligram dose has a half life of 72 hours
What fraction of a radioactive sample remains after one half-life?
By definition, half the sample remains after one half-life. Half of one half, or one quarter, remains after two half-lives, etc.
Is iron radioactive?
For all practical purposes, any iron you come across is not radioactive. To be more precise, however, 5.8% of iron found in nature is radioactive, but its half life is extremely long, at more than 31,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years (3.1 x 1022 years). Like all other elements, synthetic radioactive isotopes of iron exist.
Which isotope has the longest half-life?
Selenium 82 has the longest recorded half-life at this point in time. It has a half-life of approximately 1.08×1020 years.
What is the half life of deuterium?
Deuterium is stable and so does not have a half-life.
What is the half life of alumina?
How do you use the word half-life in a sentence?
Half-life means how long it takes for half of an element to decay. Find the half-life of that element and write it in your notebook.
Do gamma rays have a half-life?
Not the rays themselves, but the nuclei emitting them do have a half life
When does Half Life 3 come out in stores?
Answer Instead of Half Life 3 the developers made Half-life episode 1,2,3 half-life 3. it comes out when ts finished >:( HURRY UP VALVE!
What is half life period of radioactive substance?
The time taken to half the initiating mass is half life
A substance is the time required for half the atoms in a sample of a radioactive isotope to decay?
The time it takes for half the sample to decay is called the half-life. The time it takes for half the sample to decay is called the half-life. The time it takes for half the sample to decay is called the half-life. The time it takes for half the sample to decay is called the half-life.
The half life of iron-59 is 44.5 days How much of a 50 g sample would remain after 178 days?
If the half-life of a nuclide is 44.5 days, then 178 days is four half-lives. After four half-lives, 0.0625 (0.54) of the original nuclide remains. If 50g is the original mass, then the mass after 4 half-lives is 3.125g. AT = A0 2(-T/H) A178 = (50) 2(-44.5/178) A178 = 3.125
What are examples of Half-lives of radioactive isotopes?
Bismuth-209 has a half life of 1.9 x 1019 years. Potassium-40 has a half life of 1.248 x 109 years. Uranium-225 has a half life of 7.038 x 108 years. Carbon-14 has a half life of 5730 years. Hydrogen-3, which is commonly called tritium, has a half life of 12.32 years. Xenon-135 has a half life of 9.14 hours. Silicon-27 has a half life of 4.16 seconds. Lead-180 has a half life of 0.0045 seconds… Read More
Half-Life 2 turns 12 this year, and thanks to its powerful, if a bit creaky Source engine it remains as popular with the modding community as ever. Over the years we've seen all manner of excellent mods emerge, adding co-op or competitive multiplayer, shiny graphical updates, new story content, and even full conversions that bear little or no resemblance to the original game.
It's the latter two we're going to focus on today, as we round up the best single-player Half-Life 2 mods. We've chosen mods that stand up as separate adventures, sometimes set in worlds far removed from Combine Earth.
The Stanley Parable
This is the story of a man named Stanley. Or rather, it's the story of the story: a deviously clever, reactive adventure that second-guesses your every move. As Stanley—or, perhaps more accurately, as the player controlling Stanley—you're free to follow or ignore the various instructions the wonderful narrator bellows over you, resulting in a tangled, branching story that rewards your curiosity, imagination, and defiance. The original Source mod was later expanded into a full game, one our Phil thought extremely highly of in our review.
Download:ModDB, Steam.
Minerva: Metastasis
Adam Foster's Minerva comes close to the quality of Valve's own Half-Life 2 Episodes—in fact, Valve was so impressed Foster joined the company. It's a sizeable story, about the length of an official chapter, with considered level design and a high level of polish. You begin the game strapped to the underside of a helicopter, before being dropped on a mysterious island with a sinister secret.
Download: Steam.
The Citizen
Gordon Freeman ends the Half-Life series as a crowbar-wielding superhero, a figure of legend in the Half-Life universe. Two-part mod The Citizen provides a new angle on the world, casting you as an ordinary oppressed citizen of City 17. Obviously, said ordinary man soon acquires a gun and starts killing people, but you might snap too if you called that dystopia home.
Download: ModDB.
Get a Life
This lengthy, ambitious mod swings from horror to all-out action. Occasional cutscenes tell the story of a subway technician suffering from leukaemia, but Get a Life's unlucky hero Alex also has to contend with the mod's new limb damage system, which causes effects like dizziness and limping, depending on where he's hit by enemies.
Download:ModDB.
Mission Improbable
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to step into the sneakers of Gordon Freeman and set off to repair a Resistance listening post. This impressive Episode Two mod begins with Gordon rowing to a distant coastline: a coastline that reminds you just how pretty the venerable Source engine can look in the right hands. The right hands in this instance are a couple of established game devs, and their experience shines through pretty much every crevice of this slick, well-paced adventure.
Download:ModDB.
Research and Development
Thanks to its then-revolutionary ragdoll physics, a lot of time in Half-Life 2 was spent throwing chairs at NPCs, or flinging teacups with the gravity gun. In that spirit, Research and Development does away with offensive weapons altogether, leaving just a couple of secondary tools to let you manipulate gravity or order Antlions about. Puzzles are the order of the day here, and it's surprising just how easily Half-Life 2's toolset translates to this new focus.
Download:ModDB.
Nightmare House 2
Where there are modding tools, horror mods are sure to follow. You don't need to have played the original—in fact, it's included as a prologue, giving you the chance to explore both a haunted house and a spooky hospital. The horror on offer here is mainly of the jump scare variety, so if you were hoping for the psychological horror of Silent Hill, move on to the next item in the list. Nightmare House 2 is basically FEAR—it even features its own creepy ghost girl—but more FEAR is hardly a bad thing.
Download:ModDB.
Silent Hill: Alchemilla
The impressive Alchemilla drops you in the world of Silent Hill, endless fog, Dark World and all. Not only have the developers nailed the grimy aesthetic of Team Silent's classic series, they've matched its colour palette, borrowed its sound effects, and recreated its lonely atmosphere. It's such an uncanny representation that it may take you a while to notice there are no enemies traipsing around, but then those games were hardly known for their satisfying combat.
Download: Alchemilla mod.
Water
Until now everything we've featured has been strictly first-person, but Water bucks that trend. In fact, it bucks a lot of trends, given that it's a third-person puzzley adventure starring a mermaid. Yes, a mermaid. While you're (initially at least) limited to a fantasy city's waterways, this smart mod soon finds ways to get you exploring land too, using a number of innovative systems. The developers of Water went on to make From Earth, another, similarly inventive Source mod.
Download:ModDB.
Half Life 2 Best Mods
Black Mesa
Well, we couldn't ignore Black Mesa, could we? For the unaware, this recreates the original Half-Life in its sequel's shinier engine, and it's been in development since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Much more than a simple port, Black Mesa updates Valve's game with fancier assets, new voice acting, a reworked campaign and more. The team have also excised Half-Life's much-maligned Xen section, albeit only temporarily until it's been remade to be, somehow, good. While the older mod is free, you'll find the newer version on Early Access, accompanied by a price tag.
Half-life 2 Iron Sights Mod
Download:Official site.