Black Mesa: The 16 Year Project to Remake Half-Life | Noclip Documentary

[@NoclipDocs]

Behind the scenes from this documentary on our NEW CHANNEL. Sub here: kzbin.info (and consider supporting our team at www.patreon.com/noclip )

[@RPRsChannel]

*_Argh...why didn't you split it into 2 or 3 parts..._*

[@codyisrude]

still hoping they somehow get this on consoles

[@kaloan999]

Music title around 46:40-46:50?

[@Taizunx]

@@kaloan999 It's "Whirlpool Galaxy" by Chris Warner

[@madawcofarreat2348]

Loved the documentary, guys. Great work. But it's a bit strange to me that there's no Joel Nielsen segment for the soundtrack, and I wish the devs would have talked about the 3Ds Max plugin that was developed for level design in order to make Xen look so good (for the most part).

[@mattcy6591]

When Noclip made their last half-life documentary, a few months later Half-Life Alyx was announced. Let's make this 2 for 2.

[@Die-Coughman]

I think you'll be greatly disappointed.

[@InMaTeofDeath]

Yeah I don't see it happening that soon either, that being said I am ok with waiting now since I'm still riding the high from playing HL Alyx for the first time last christmas. We may not know when but it feels like the promise that the next game will come has been made.

[@Gadtkaz]

you get citadel.

[@mattcy6591]

@@Gadtkaz I'll take what I can get haha

[@Rinocapz]

2 for 3

[@swatchbox6789]

Big thanks to Valve for not being like 99.9% of other big gaming companies and allowing such a passion project to be sold on Steam.

[@nozzzzy]

I'm glad they recognized the tremendous effort Crowbar Collective put towards the game. They deserve to make money on it.

[@hangry3102]

Valve is fckin awesome. They built their company from the ground up with people who were just passionate and they're able to recognize passion in their player base and they want others to accel just like they did.

[@All4Randomness1]

To be fair they're also happy to collect money off Hunt Down the Freeman

[@tarabelle7716]

The way valve treats people who mod their games is inspiring

[@All4Randomness1]

@@Dark-ld3tw They're waiting for VR to do Half-Life 3. I know you want your bideo bame but your fatphobia is just unnecessary and pathetic

[@cikame]

"We need more games like this" really hits home for me, Black Mesa borrows the design philosophies used for a game made in the 90's and in the 2020's somehow feels fresh and rewarding, it isn't a billion dollar budget AAA systems driven cinematic experience, and it isn't a retro inspired shooter with a simple level progression, it's in-between and uses the strengths of both. I want to see more games made with the goal of provoking the player into having a fun and rewarding experience purely through solid design, that's the best way i can describe "Valve design", if every level is consistently engaging because lots of thought and testing went into it, that makes a fun and rewarding game.

[@compufood]

I've always felt that Halo CE fit that mould more than people gave it credit for.

[@chaozzah]

There's a lot of really good game design that can be taken from Valve's perspective. It essentially expands on the principle of "follow the fun" that other studios want to apply too. I personally didn't really jam with the Xen levels, they did feel outdated to play for a big part, a lot of it was in the feedback it provides back to you as a player. People love to complain about modern games, but there's a lot of improvement there too. Regardless, I hope the team gets to make a new game, hell I'd even love them to make their envisioning of HL3 as they might be in a place now where they can make and ship it within 3-5 years. The fact that Black Mesa shipped at all is nothing short of a miracle, all thanks to the hard work of passionate gamers. I hope they have been well rewarded for their efforts.

[@cikame]

@@compufood Halo's strength was giving you a big sand pit and filling it with fun toys for you to play with, grenades you can lob like footballs, vehicles that bounce around like mad, the level design is simple not really having interesting corners to explore or storytelling in the map design but you can forgive it for the size of them, though the later levels such as the Library suffer from extreme tunnel syndrome, there were very few ideas that went into the 2nd half of the game.

[@saltifate]

What’s amazing as well is they have not sacrificed anything in the pursuit of modern “casualisation”. They have taken a product, paid homage to it and improved upon it only. Perfect remake.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

I think a good way of thinking about it is immersing the player in the ACT. It's immersing the player on the smallest parts first that create the big picture. Yes, you don't actually even need to immerse the player into the "world" or the "character" per se, just the act the character is doing. With something like Half-Life, you aren't really immersed with being Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicists with a fondness for crowbars, but you are immersed in using that crowbar and finding your way around the complex.

[@ApertureAce]

The Half-Life Alyx team referencing Black Mesa gameplay as inspiration would be to me the highest honor of game design. The chain of inspiration goes full circle, and it's a really beautiful thing to think about

[@greglmao6185]

Wait, where do the HL:A devs say that?

[@ApertureAce]

@@greglmao6185 it was in The Final Hours of Half-Life Alyx

[@ernesto-ortiz]

That game ALIX was to comply an agenda forgetting the needs of the real fans. That´s why the game fails.

[@ApertureAce]

@@ernesto-ortiz okay well I think it's actually the best Half-Life game ever made - and the HL series has been my favorite for a very long time. Alyx pushed the envelope of storytelling and fun gameplay further than I could have imagined, and I hope that you can play it in VR some day, because it's really a magical experience.

[@_mertk44ntr_46]

just read final hours but couldn't find it which chapter was that ?

[@Skyrionn]

Everyone loves a long documentary. That fact that you're still making Half-Life ones makes me so happy.

[@RBEmpathy]

Hey, get back to work! I want another video from you lol

[@NovaJR9]

Skyrionn! I love your videos

[@cordycat9798]

Yours are lovely as well

[@amandarose4399]

Ikr same.

[@AVGNROCKS1996]

Genuinely one of the greatest accomplishments in fan game history, to a point where it’s beyond just a fan remake it’s a standalone masterpiece. God tier work guys on both the game and documentary.

[@fanaanefelibata5067]

@Telleva Omg omg please please I really hope it is 🙏

[@theninjamaster67]

@Telleva My hopes are high for Skyblivion and Skywind cause they've worked hella hard on them.

[@barbariangamer6209]

@Telleva are these new games made by the same team as well?

[@roelfkromhout]

Totally, they nailed it.

[@leandervr]

@Telleva I didn't know about the Skywind project, but now I really hope it delivers! Morrowind is the only elder scrolls game that really worked for me, because the world is so unique and exciting. If they can recreate that vibe, I'm gonna love it.

[@jephrenman]

This was spectacular. I want to give an extra shout for including matching footage for nearly every comment from every developer. It helps tell the story so much better than either just a talking head or just running unrelated stock gameplay. Thank you to the whole team for all the work that clearly went into this!

[@lucbloom]

Yes, they got that right!

[@trblemayker5157]

Gordon needs to hear this. Despite him being a highly trained professional.

[@NorseGraphic]

Don't expect Gordon to reply. 😂

[@Tclans]

The forever meme ‘when is Xen done’ redeemed itself so hard, it’s hard to remember it ever existed. The Xen part of the game is simply jaw dropping. I couldn’t tell you any other way. It has such a cool narrative and the story is told in such a subtle way. Not to mention it plays phenomenally (which should be any game goal if you ask me). Thanks to the Crowbar Collective for all their love and blood sweat and tears. I genuinely love my new visits to the Black Mesa facility and Xen of course!

[@tr3vk4m]

That's funny because I personally found it to suck balls.

[@ctons]

@@tr3vk4m ok that's pretty interesting because i didn't

[@garden0fstone736]

A little long but visually refreshing

[@mikeexits]

The glitchy HEV suit zombies were my favorite part of the short teaser section I watched VNN play. Can't wait to eventually buy it.

[@jonrich6193]

I fully agree. My only complaint with Xen was the way they handled the Gonarch fight, I felt it was entirely too frustrating and borderline tedious. However that's the only real criticism I have. The rest of it was pure perfection. The Nihilanth fight was insanely good, the world building and attention to the vortigaunts was amazing and really helped hammer home the empathy for their situation.

[@SlipRee]

I'm not sure if you named him but that dude from the dev team "Ben Truman" used to be my Game design teacher in high school. I could not and still cannot believe one of my favorite teachers had such a cool secret and I'm glad to see he is doing well!!

[@DrumsBah]

You had a game design teacher in high school?

[@flufficornss]

@@DrumsBah some schools have game design, coding, and adjacent things as electives

[@danieldraper6598]

​@Flufficorns private schools right?

[@VladDracula04]

Can't speak for that guy, but I went to a public high school and had similar electives available to me.

[@SlipRee]

I was at a normal ol’ school it was a charter but pretty much public

[@Ducksen]

If there's any team that Valve needs to hire, it's this one. A full-scale remake of the first Half Life driven by nothing but passion sounds like a recipe for disaster, and yet, it came together SO beautifully. The attention to detail that Black Mesa has is absolutely ludicrous, all the way down to unnecessary (but appreciated) details like how G-man's voice actor is the same voice actor as the security guards. Massive, massive props to the team that made Black Mesa, I'm so excited to see what they work on next.

[@jess648]

according to a comment response from Joel Nielsen on his upload of BM’s soundtrack Crowbar Collective is indeed working on a new project

[@RandomGuyCDN]

They also need to hire w/e team of people that are currently trying to make their own HL3

[@MalevolentMantis]

My favourite absolutely unnecessary detail from Black Mesa is how right clicking while holding the Gluon Gun (the alt fire) triggers the idle inspection animation, a bug from the original game. Absolutely blew my mind.

[@JoshHubi]

@@jess648 💯

[@CoolSs]

well . there is this remake of Half life 2 in source 2 by Project 17 . that look promising but still too early . also from the rumors i heard . the Crowbar Collective are working with new UE game . we don't know anything about the game but in few years we will see new game form them for sure .

[@digitalon01]

When Black Mesa was originally announced I had the Black Mesa theme song hooked up to play on my MYSPACE page, I was 15 at the time and now I'm turning 32 this year. That to me perfectly demonstrates how long this project has been in the works, it literally took almost HALF my lifetime for it to materialize as a real complete package. It was a long road for everyone involved but the team behind it can be very proud at the work they have done. Thank you NoClip for doing such a fantastic documentary about this legendary undertaking.

[@YellowSabre]

@@KZbinTookMyNickname.WhyNot 23.5 Goomba Buck Yu

[@NorseGraphic]

They learned everything from scratch, and they didn't have a multi-billion corporation funding them. And they still beat the pants off the other AAA-titles released by these companies. Any future project is going to become so much quicker, as they already have the habits ingrained from 15 years of working on Black Mesa. Not to mention communicating their ideas between each other so quickly so they can figure out what works. Hats off for the dev-team, they've done much more than I thought possible.

[@phantomtr1]

@@NorseGraphic goes to show how greed over creativity and passion ruins so many experiences and lowers the potential of art

[@jasonyesmarc309]

58:00 This was a genius idea. The biggest struggle I had in Xen in the original HL1 was that I spent the entire game fighting Vortigaunts, and never had a moment to slow down and notice that they were peaceful in Xen, because I was under so much pressure to shoot the enemy first. I was going through so much ammo and causing so many problems for myself that I could never beat the Xen levels. If my trigger-happy self had a moment where the peaceful Vortigaunt was specifically telegraphed, then Xen would have been a lot more feasible back then.

[@GraveyardTricks]

It's such an easy game though. Especially the xen levels

[@blmao5150]

@@GraveyardTricks Your comment literally has nothing to do with the original comment. Like seriously who asked?

[@ketaminepoptarts]

@@blmao5150 yeah, and it being easy for them means literally nothing for everyone else since theres tons of people who see it as impossible to beat

[@maskedbadass6802]

@@blmao5150 Sometimes one has to remind oneself that the internet it open to literally everyone, so sometimes those dumb comments you see are either from inexperienced children, people with genuine mental issues, or the socially inept.

[@driedink]

I kind of liked zen, it felt very desolate and liminal, needless to say the black Mesa one is fucking great

[@PBHorrorGaming]

The final build of this remake is amazing work, it even arguably surpasses the original which is pretty rare.

[@DasGanon]

Which considering the original is *Half-Life* is absolutely miraculous

[@myproductions6225]

@Denis YASS but no cuz it too scary

[@MajesticDemonLord]

Me personally, I prefer the original Half Life, and I'll freely admit at least 50% of that statement is pure Nostalgia. The thing about surpassing the original - I disagree though. If you play Half Life now, it's a good or even Great game, even compared to flashier, prettier AAA titles. However - I'm not sure how old you are, but playing Half Life when it was released was absolutely paradigm shifting. Half life was a Revolutionary game. So much so that it still holds up over 20 years later. That IMO is Half Life's greater legacy, not the game itself, but what it did for gaming - For a game to surpass the original, it would have to be equally revolutionary. Which (no disrespect to the Black Mesa team) it isn't.

[@erselley9017]

@@MajesticDemonLord you must be a boomer gamer like myself because I vividly remember playing it when it came out when I received it for my 12th birthday. Quick question. How long did it take you to beat it? You couldn't go on the internet and look up a walkthrough so you just had to figure it out on your own. That makes the game so much more enjoyable and I think that may be part of the reason we still love the original.

[@MajesticDemonLord]

@@erselley9017 I think I played it in 1999, so would probably be about the same age - I couldn't tell you how long it took me, but I do remember having to ask my Older Brother on a couple of sections.

[@tanks4nuthin964]

I had never played Half Life before Black Mesa but I was so hooked. It didn't hold your hand and give you a bunch of waypoints and list of objectives but at the same time both worlds felt so full and beautiful. Everyone who worked on this should be so proud of what they accomplished, because they made something better than most major developers make these days.

[@AKKK1182]

The fact that the whole remake feels so much like a Half-Life game, even the totally new areas with all the arenas, combat sections and puzzles is a testament to how much work and love went into this. Black Mesa truly is the "Half-Life: Source" we needed.

[@HistoryScope]

What I liked most about seeing the Vortogaunt society in Xen, is that when I played Black Mesa again, I tried avoiding killing them on Earth as well because they were just slaves.

[@Zeppelee]

You also get an achievement if you didn't kill any of the Vortigaunts, and dealt with their controllers instead.

[@yashjoseph3544]

Didn't expect to see you here.

[@teoborges3949]

I managed to do that, IN THE FIRST TIME WHEN PLAYING XEN!

[@BunnLilah]

I was really glad this was possible. When I first saw the controller scene, I set my own personal challenge of avoiding killing any of the Vortigaunts at all if possible, even if it made the game harder. I'm glad to see they took this into account and added behavior and such that reflected this.

[@Emuface77]

There is one stage where it gets difficult to avoid (due to the mind controlling), but I got through it. I just thought that was the game, I was actually surprised I got an achievment.

[@Vanq17]

Bit of a bummer the music wasnt touched upon, the soundtrack for this game was phenomenal.

[@onceonly1111]

12:00 They definitely did a good job with writing the smaller characters, the guards actually feel like security guards, like they are capable of doing their job and have a desire to live. Before now, it was kind of a joke to see how long they would last until something made them explode into giblets.

[@Resimaster]

This team of devs from around the world are not only smart, creative and knowledgeable - they're also incredibly passionate about the series and their game. You don't see this level of enthusiasm in many games today.

[@Shatsoup]

From a valve contractor and portal stories mel dev, brilliant work from you and your team Danny. And much love to the whole Black Mesa team! I was waiting for this remake before id even thought about a job, or even education in games art, and it was released after i had done work under valves label, very surreal. But im glad they took their time, it was worth it.

[@kesorangutan6170]

Dudeee, Portal Stories Mel is just awesome! I love how Valve community has all this talented people and they make amazing mods and full fledged games.

[@o.h3887]

When is half life 3. Tell me now

[@OriginalPuro]

@@o.h3887 The day you kids learn to end questions with a question mark.

[@matt0198922]

How come Joel Nielsen wasn't in this documentary or really mentioned at all (except one tiny time)? His soundtrack for this game is one of the main aspects as to why it's so awesome!

[@MCSNGR]

was an hour in until i saw this :(

[@Zaranell]

Agreed, I'd love to see a followup bonus episode talking to Joel about the OST; that music is absolutely 10/10.

[@ArmoniteQL]

No they must talk more about Xen!!

[@inthefade]

Too much to cover in one documentary.

[@matt0198922]

@@inthefade Not even close. Plenty of 2 hour or less documentaries have found at least a few minutes to talk about the music in games.

[@metatrontf]

Black Mesa has been an enormous part of my life since 2014. Like a great deal of people, I first played Half-Life when I was a very young child, then came back to it on my teenage years. Replayed all HLs and its episodes, then found my way towards the mod version of Black Mesa. It made me fall in love with the Half-Life universe all over again. It's the most wonderful application of creative design I've ever seen from a community. Watching this documentary and learning how it all came to be; you really outdid yourselves. Thank you for doing this game and its long journey justice.

[@JustAdude291]

same. I too waited from 2014 until the game was finally released. Had it when it was a free demo, then I preordered it once it came on Steam. Always hated getting to the part before you go to xen and then it cut to credits. I ended up playing HL1 until it was finally finished. It really did HL1 great justice and idk why more people aren't talking about it

[@miked7728]

Dang, that was a good documentary. I remember playing this before the Xen update and couldn't believe the game was free haha. I bought it anyways when the new levels came out and don't regret it one bit. I was blown away by the work done on Xen and all the extra stuff they put in like the labs. Amazing work by the people at Crowbar Collective, thank you for making me feel 12 again playing HL1 for the first time.

[@reezlaw]

Valve is such an amazing company for making excellent games, embracing something like this, pushing Linux gaming, hardware you can repair and so much more

[@bigbutterbuns360]

As a level designer working on Call of Duty, I can say I was overwhelmingly humbled by the overwhelming genius of the Level Design work done in Black Mesa. This game is a masterpiece.

[@questionsfrog1918]

You make very good corridors 😍

[@pgetheelderscrollsturkiye68]

@@questionsfrog1918 LMAO

[@pgetheelderscrollsturkiye68]

COD DEVELOPER ROASTED HAHAHAHAHAH

[@uberschnilthegreat22]

Ayo what's the status of MW2 2024, still in bare bones state?

[@tedkaczynskiamericanhero3916]

@@IoiniEverson I think the lack of response and the "working on Call of Duty" answers that lol

[@jeremybjayne]

I love when we get to do feature-length documentaries about Half-Life.

[@Jagerbomber]

Feature-length? It’s not 3 hours.

[@silkwesir1444]

@@Jagerbomber 3 hours is long even for feature length. Feature length could be as short as ~80 minutes...

[@Jagerbomber]

@@silkwesir1444 woosh

[@recklesflam1ngo968]

@@Jagerbomber That's not how wooshing works

[@Jagerbomber]

@@recklesflam1ngo968 How would you know when it also went over your head?

[@PeninsulaCity2024]

"How much recognition do you expect from a reproduction though?" "You should focus on making something new and unique." Clearly, Black Mesa has been strongly recognized to warrant a professional-grade documentary on it's development and history. And I hope one day, Crowbar Collective would return to make an original masterpiece with the knowledge they learned. Even if it isn't Half-Life related.

[@HomelessFish139]

Maybe quake or actually remake San Andreas or vice city. And actually make it the definitive edition not the “””definitive””” edition rockstar made

[@kesorangutan6170]

They are actually planning an original game with the things they learned from Black Mesa.

[@cursedhawkins1305]

@@HomelessFish139 You understand how licenses work right? They can't just MAKE a remaster like they originally did at first, their a company now, and as a result there's some legal battles they will have to overcome, Valve letting them make Black Mesa was a gesture out of how Valve has always handled their modding community, however not every company is this welcoming of a modding community as Valve, Nintendo comes to mind where they will shutdown any fan made projects if they feel like they are intending to sell the project without their consent first, and how Rockstar would react to such a project would probably make them pay more attention to the already made GTA rip-offs that are out there.

[@zarnox3071]

@@cursedhawkins1305 You're not quite right with regards to Nintendo. They'll shut down a project regardless of if it's being sold. It simply existing is enough for Nintendo to want to do this, and they have an annoying habit of waiting until it's almost but not quite finished before hitting them with legal stuff, which only makes it all the more painful to see.

[@cursedhawkins1305]

@@zarnox3071 From what I heard Nintendo's fine with fan made stuff, as long as its being done without profitable gain, the last project I heard about getting C&D was a Metroid remake that rumor be told was someone was going about social media that they were making it for a profit which Nintendo then heard of this and much like a contractor getting pissed that someone would break a contract they made, they took action.

[@TheSlayer.]

The way the developers explain many of the games mechanics it did hit me while I was playing the game from the Valve classic way of teach players the game mechanics to the Gonarch battle where they would supply you with large quantities of ammo and health giving me the feeling of something is about to hit the fan to them making us sympathize with the vortigaunts. This remaster was truly a masterpiece. Thank you, Crowbar Collective.

[@HoffayStudios35]

This documentary really explains a lot of why it took me a long time to really enjoy and appreciate Half-Life 1. The adding to scenes with different characters to make an otherwise silently confirmed situation feel more real and alive. The puzzles that you solve without even realizing making for confusing and frustrating progression (Especially when you're a noob and everything kills you). The big open spaces amplifying the previous issue and also resulting in my getting lost constantly. Literally the entirety of Xen. My god *it's so beautiful and alive and alien and wonderful now.* The reworking overall of unpopular chapters to make the game more enjoyable overall The added/more fleshed out narrative of Xen's existence and Black Mesa's exploration into Xen prior to the events of the game There's so much more too that I'm missing cause I've been adding as I go but *god Black Mesa is a blessing.*

[@bugjams]

I feel like Valve really loved their take on Xen, because in HL: Alyx, the bits of Xen flora and fauna you see infecting some buildings look much more like Black Mesa's Xen than the original Half Life. More glow-y lights and bright colors. If I'm right, then that's a very cute little nod to Black Mesa.

[@buragi5441]

It doesn't actually look much life Xen life from Black Mesa, it has striking similarities with the texture of the rocks in the original Xen, meaning that they weren't just rocks but were fully overgrown with the sort of fungal growth of different organisms.

[@bugjams]

@@kakophonien6514 Then maybe it's just convergent game design... would make sense that Valve themselves would also want to improve what bits of Xen they bring back in a new HL game. Guess they just ended up looking similar because they were both essentially after the same goal, to make Xen flora look better in a newer engine.

[@ArtofZenDigital]

2:04:25 at this point, one of the lead level designers for Half Life Alyx says that he played Black Mesa’s remake to get reacquainted with the original game’s level design rather than the original game. It’s also mentioned right before this time stamp that while many of the devs of Half Life Alyx didn’t play the work in progress, there were a few that did as some of the lead Black Mesa designers met with Valve in 2016. This project took so long to finish that there were even reports outside of the No Clip Documentary of other Valve employees playing the remake as it was being made as well. It only makes sense given that the first game is quite dated to a point where the finished Dreamcast port that was cancelled due to Sega stepping away from console hardware development, which eventually leaked online, actually had slightly higher polygon counts, somewhat better lighting effects, and outside of exceptionally long loading times, was actually a generally smoother looking experience than the original. Keep in mind that the Dreamcast hardware was fully designed well before the end of 1997 in order to be mass produced and released in November 1998 in Japan. With how dated the original 1998 Half Life PC version became, even the massive early quality of life updates in the initial stages of the Black Mesa remaster felt infinitely more modern. It would be the best reference point for the younger developers of Half Life Alyx. Even at that time that Half Life released, graphics and gameplay were progressing in leaps and bounds. Sega’s arcade hardware had already leapt past PCs by a wide margin. In 1996, Scud Race and Virtua Fighter 3 were the first games in history to push 1,000,000 polygons per second. By comparison, the actual average polygon numbers of the PS1 were 80,000, with the most ever recorded at 120,000, but that’s only in the unplayable in game into demo in Tekken 3. In gameplay it’s 95,000-100,000. The N64 claimed to push 1,000,000 polygons or more, but that was widely debunked, as there’s not one N64 game that looks better than Scud Race. The highest counts on the N64 were roughly 160,000 per second with effects, ai and lighting enabled. This is why emulated PS2 games with filters look just as good as, if not better than most N64 games. The Dreamcast version of Dead or Alive 2 has been confirmed to push 2.8 million by beyond 3D forums using actual scene rips, 47,371 triangles per frame at 60fps. By comparison, to all of these, the Dreamcast port of Half Life has roughly 300,000-450,000 polygons per second depending on the scene, at 30fps. The highest polygon counts for characters on the PC version was slightly over 2,000, while the average was bellow 1,000. On Dreamcast, the highest polygon counts per character were increased with a maximum of 2,300, and an average of 1,000. The Dreamcast version runs at 480p on VGA, while the PS2 version, which was officially released, is 480i, rendering only 240 pixels on vertical pixels with a very rough looking field rendering solution that lowers the overall image quality by comparison. It does have much better loading times and controls than the Dreamcast version though.

[@dustypaint]

Black Mesa's Xen flora has nothing to be related with HL:A's Xen infestation. In BM Xen everything looks so warm, beautiful and colorful, Xen is a living world, even Gonarch is admirable. It all feels like an Avatar movie. You want to live in Xen. In HLA, Xen Flora is disgusting and overwhelming, it is so dangerous that even the Combine tried to contain the infestation. Xen flora is absolutely unhealthy to any Earthbound fauna or flora. It doesn't feel like an Avatar movie at all, it feels like total dystopia.

[@Jed_Rowahnn]

I was brought to tears multiple times through my first full playthrough of Black Mesa. Half-Life couldn't have been given a more perfect love letter

[@halflife3181]

I was so excited when this was announced. Thanks for all the hard work everyone has put into this documentary and the devs who made the remaster possible.

[@olzhas1one755]

When you coming out my man?

[@MaxArceus]

I will also be excited when you get announced.

[@SPCHC]

Holy shit it's Half-Life 3

[@geoffdb8118]

Sorry to be pedantic, but this is a remake not a remaster.

[@Rays_K]

Half life 3 CONFIRM!!

[@thenihilanth3382]

I remember when I bought Black Mesa and played Xen for the first time I was with my mouth open the whole time, I couldn't believe what my eyes saw.

[@thedreamer6930]

Thank you CC for that you did. I know I'm just one guy but this game meant a lot to me and my younger brother who passed away... I'll never forget not being able to get past the part in office complex when all the vorgs rush you and had the barnacles hiding around the corners near the scientists. I kept running out of ammo. But my brother jumped on and just tore through the last remain vorgs with the crowbar lol. I am a better person and gamer because of him and I'm sad that I didnt get to play this with him before he left... love you little brother. Thanks again CC. Means more to us than you know.

[@antonhasle3495]

What I loved most was the example from the Writer, how he managed to enhance the office complex. I remember loving that part in the original Half Life as a kid, but seeing it nowadays made it feel a bit dull. Now in Black Mesa they added a lot more feeling of survival and sense to it by just enhancing the dialogues and animations. Everything I was building in my mind as a kid was added to Black Mesa now in that scene. This shows perfectly how this isn't just a graphics overhaul, but a true modern Half Life game! Thanks a lot for everything - the game and of course the documentary about it!

[@bugjams]

Exactly, writers don't just deal with the over-arching story beats, but the little interactions in between. Even scripted animations without any dialogue need a writer. Easy to forget that when there isn't anything being spoken, but rather shown.

[@MrMoriardy]

Anyone who was on the original Black Mesa forums as a young Valve addict back in the day, knows that this was the most exciting project to follow, the early progress from the community every day was incredible to witness. I spent hours on the forums gawking at high-detail crate trash.

[@Greenday5494]

If you know, you know

[@hanshotfirst4266]

It makes me so sad that the bmsforums are gone

[@mini_bunney]

hell yeah! I lurked in the forums for most of my teenage years, never saying much because I was a shy awkward teenager, but being blown away by the fun, friendly atmosphere and the amazing images from recent developments! one of the prop design contests even got me to learn 3D-modelling, I wasn't very good at it but still had fun :D man I miss that place

[@NorseGraphic]

When I watched the first Black Mesa-trailer, I was floored. Here's the one from 2008: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWSVkKSVaMqmbqc

[@Greenday5494]

@@NorseGraphic I remember that one.

[@DazmonW]

The music was wonderful too definitely deserves credit it immersed me into the story and had that perfect half life vibe 10/10!

[@Hanfgurkenhasser]

Pretty much the only gripe I have with this documentary, the music. MY GOD, THE *MUSIC*! It's so brutally good and fitting and Joel Nielsen elevated the entire experience to a whole new level. I've had at least four magic moments with Black Mesa and I seriously doubt they would have hit as hard, had the OST not been as on point as it was.

[@charno_zhyem]

Sorry to be the only dissenter here, but especially the earth levels is where the music was a let down. It felt not weird enough for such a weird feeling game. It was what made the earth levels not feel like old Half Life, which was much more unique. That changes for Xen, where musical invention rises dramatically.

[@tycho_m]

the Half-Life franchise was my first experience with the immersion that a videogame provides into a story as a much less passive observer than with a book or movie. It was my gateway to videogames and science (fiction). Black Mesa captured the awe I felt playing the original. Impressive work that totally deserves these impressive documentaries!

[@WikiPeoples]

half life 1 was my childhood and remains my favorite game of all time... im playing through Black Mesa right now and cannot thank this team enough. It's so so so so sooooo good.

[@DimitriosChannel]

Old games like these were made to impress players these days games are made to impress shareholders and bean counters......................

[@ResidentNEMES1S]

Are you kidding me? Carrying that gnome through the game was one of the funnest things I've ever done. More games need challenging and original ideas like that

[@edskt_]

LOL

[@MMallon425]

*Everyone disliked that*

[@Fallen608]

I did it. I did it fair and square. I also fucking hated trying to jam that shitty gnome into the car.

[@daepikpman1204]

@@Fallen608, I relate SO. DARNED. HARD. I wanna press the gas when I'm being chased by a helicopter, but I can't or else my beautiful Gnome man will fall out. I mostly saw him as a VIP Escort the whole time, but in the vehicle parts he was an object *THAT KEPT FALLING OUT THE FRICKIN' MUSCLE CAR* to me.

[@_sam29]

I was having a headache while doing the gnome achievement, so that wasn't a good experience

[@sonks336]

Can't wait to watch this. The way they remade Xen was just incredible. I don't think even Valve themselves would've managed to make it this good.

[@guidodurante9495]

The explanation of the different portal technologies at 51:27 is superb. I had the impression that the Combine lacked any type of portal technology and they simply appropriated the Xenian method, but the way it's explained here is amazing and marks a clear difference between the 4 types. That should be quoted everywhere for anyone asking for the HL universe lore: it's simply different portal technologies that move the main plot forward.

[@spoolyz0296]

Seeing this game go from a mod concept to this is actually insane. The 16 year old me is pleased.

[@Marksman3434]

As someone who never played the OG Half-Life and just went straight into Black Mesa as my first entry in the franchise, I absolutely had a great time playing it and hooked me immediately into the series. Made me get Half-Life 2 and its episodes right away.

[@nozzzzy]

Black Mesa is a big deal to me. Inwas obsessed with Half Life when I discovered it in the early 2000s. No game up until that point had immersed me so much and felt like a real place I was exploring. When BM was first announced and I saw early videos/screenshots I was ecstatic because I loved HL2 and thought reliving the experience of the 1st game in that engine sounded amazing and it would allow me to re live that experience I had with HL1. I remember thinking "I can't wait to play this on my summer break" as a freshman in highschool. Little did I know I wouldn't get to play BM in its full glory until I was in my 30s. I anticipated this game for 2 decades and it often felt like it was never going to happen. When I finally did get to play it my expectations were surpassed by miles, even after 2 decades of hype. I will replay this game over and over every couple of years and never get bored of it. The sense of being there in Black Mesa and dealing with that resonance cascade never gets dull for me, it's always immersive. It lots me relive that HL experience on steroids forever and it will always be one of the most powerful gaming experiences I will ever have. Someday I'll actually own a PC that can run it on max settings and it will be like playing it for the first time again lol. Phenomenal work on the game and this doc. There aren't even words to describe how much I love this game.

[@Projectz1122]

I'll be honest with you, I've never played a half-life game. I missed them when they originally came out and just haven't gotten back to them. But the documentary really shows the passion this team has for the game, as well as their own visions/ideas for improving half-life. I really enjoyed watching this, thanks.

[@nekokna]

Ditto! 💓

[@oopsidaysy8546]

Never too late to hop in and become a fan! Black Mesa and the 'Valve Complete Pack' bundle always go for great prices on the Steam sales!

[@tommychoppa7564]

I played and beat every episode/dlc of hl1 and 2 for the first time like 2 years ago and they were top10 if not top 5 the greatest games ive ever played. Lots of games are too sci fi but the theme of hl seemed extremely realistic(except the alien design was kind of cartoony). It's style of gameplay is unique and while playing I could tell how it influenced so many other games. Since HL2 is a totally different environment and feel than 1 it's a perfect feeling to play black mesa last cause it's that original feeling of the game where you're really escaping a high level government facility. The original even with its old ass graphics stood up against modern games, no wait. It was BETTER than modern games but that's partly cause of my somewhat bias against new games being as good as old but I feel like it's warranted. It's an obvious fact that the game industry is saturated with for profit titles nowadays while back in the day it was a lot more passion and freedom of ideas which resulted in longer and harder work put into games. Rambling but there's a reason my top enjoyed/appreciated games are things like Starcraft 1, Counterstrike Source, Halo 1-3, Cod mw 1-2/WaW,Starwars battlefront 1/2, starwars republic commandos, 007 nightfire, NFS underground 1/2, FO3/NV and motha fuckin runescape 2(before it turned into that modern weeaboo crap). It's hard to praise any modern games as legendary or game changing but i didn't get to play a lot due to being poor. BF4 and Cod MW is the only thing I can think of atm. Sorry I had to ramble cause I miss old games and that special feeling they gave. Part of it was being younger and less desensitized/demoralized to life/games but the other part was the actual quality/vibe of games. LOSTGRAVITY IF YOU READ THIS AT LEAST GO GIVE THEM A CHANCE. YOU MIGHT GET HOOKED WITHOUT EXPECTING IT. IF YOU HAVE TOO GO TORRENT(SAFELY). GL AND HF

[@dr_birb]

Black Mesa first scene in Xen is so beautiful, it's like having a masterpiece drawing inside your masterpiece of a remake of a cerftified classic game. And it's not just visuals that are pleasing, the whole feeling of experiencing it with everything before and the delivery is what makes the whole the biggest reason I keep replaying BM.

[@Rewen89]

Finished it yesterday. The entire Xen part felt like a whole new game. The environment was just jaw-dropping. The soundtrack was something else. Having played the original HL for only an hour or so, this mod was worth the wait. The end credits made my eyes watery because I knew I will never experience the same bliss I had when I first started playing this masterpiece. Great job, Noclip studio.

[@floriuszz]

gonarch fight got me confused, i asked myself a couple of times if should i be running from it or shooting at it. I gotta say though, beginning of this fight was incredible, gordon looking at the tower, seconds away from being teleported and this monstrosity rushes you and knocks the teleporter down, i liked it

[@UltimateEnd0]

That mother was hard af especially on hard. Took so many rockets but I adore a good challenge so I welcomed it whole heartedly

[@floriuszz]

@@UltimateEnd0 For me personally the best moment was right at the end of Interloper, when you are standing at the top of this tower and in front of you is this teleporter that will take you to the Nihilanth. It was so good

[@squiddyte4552]

“touching up a old gem can lead to unforeseen consequences” is such a banger of a line

[@niles6159]

"Unforeseen consequences” ??! That's from the original game! "Yea Yea Yea"

[@qwasd0r]

I JUST recently played through this and was blown away from beginning to end. Such a fantastic adaptation, it improves on the original in every aspect.

[@pRaX85815]

Thank you Noclip. Thank you Crowbar Collective. The Doc was awesome, Black Mesa and it's Soundtrack are amazing and so was the journey waiting for and following the game's completion since all those years back then. What a ride. Really, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. What a ride. Everyone involved at CC, be proud.

[@BleakVision]

I‘d love for these guys to make a game set during the 7 hour war.

[@xen2297]

This is such a heartwarming documentary. Well done to everyone involved

[@ShellComics]

1:19:44 Best part of Black Mesa haha XD Fantastic job on the doc, Noclip!

[@alex.104]

Idk if I'm seeing it wrong but after refreshing it says this came out 28 min ago for me and here you are 1.19.44 min in after watching for 5min of it being out 😂

[@harryvincent1478]

@@alex.104 if you become a member of their channel, you can gain access documentries earlier

[@IcyPheonix3]

I didn't even realize this was something you could do until I watched this.

[@alex.104]

@@harryvincent1478 oooh okay I didn't know that sorry

[@sudstahgaming]

This is a lesson of how passion can bring people of all levels and work commitment into developing an amazing project from practically nothing, as a race if all of us did this shared project work think how far the human race would go into solving all our major problems.

[@william8217]

Such an insane remake of an insane classic. I hope other games from this era like Descent get the same treatment.

[@sirjohngg]

There is, from the original developers : overload

[@davejones1959]

@@sirjohngg or Jedi Knight

[@graytoby1]

Unreal...

[@Vorgaloth]

Imagine a Black Mesa/Half -Life trilogy movie with Denis Villeneuve as director and Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049 & Dune) doing the cinematography in collaboration with Valve and the Black Mesa team co-writing the story. How incredible that could potentially be.

[@SpiderInStockings]

We can only dream 😢

[@inqizzo]

Deakins could even play a scientist

[@Damin-Danger-Ledford]

Wow. I'm barely a fan of the Half Life lore. Benet played the games, tho I love Portal (shrug). But I gotta say this idea sounds phenomenal.

[@shaise]

I prefer David Finch

[@skysamfreeman]

I remember being so hyped for this when it was announced. When the first images, teaser, and music were released. Thought the project was dead for a while. Then finally playing it was like a dream come true. Just an incredible game.

[@destroyuttobots]

Great documentary, but i was waiting the whole time for a few minutes about the soundtrack, and even an interview with Joel Nielsen. The soundtrack was just too good to be overlooked!

[@KZMShintaro]

This is so beautifully made. The interviews, the words, the philosophies, the principles, the unsaid views, the perspective, the entire package that "beyond words", really hard to explain with our limited..vocabulary. But that part where Adam said "We saw a couple of people welling up there, and getting some sort of emotional impact" @ 1:45:54 , That is the real deal, I believed a few people felt the same, and for me, I felt that way from the moment Black of Mesa Inbound. Forreal, I was jaded as heck about Remakes, 'HD Edition', Remasters etc, growing up through games that fling around these terms and totally just being disappointingly bland and or downright bad. Black Mesa just shattered that view, and took good care of all my sweetspots about HL and with all the beautiful modernizations. If I were to be be as cheesy to say it: It feels like eating you favorite food once again, but with all the new things that you like alongside it as well. *Nicely Done- Crowbar Collective, Noclip.* *We'll see you up ahead*

[@Whompa02]

God Half-Life and NoClip are just made for each other. Amazing documentary.

[@Saztrah]

I think the Gonarch lair remake is one of the most brilliant things I've experienced in so long. The hunt, the chase, the constant reversals, it all felt like a true battle of strength and wits and endurance. And by the end, I respected Gonarch as a worthy opponent. It was like an ancient epic, the kind of battle or hunt that warriors spend their whole life chasing the high of.

[@jaigray5422]

It took a long time but they made one of the best remakes ever made if not the best. Now if you think it's the best or not is down to personal preference but no one can deny what this team was able to achieve mostly in their spare time is nothing short of remarkable, and I thank them for it was worth every penny for the steam version and well worth the wait. P.S great video as always, thank you this must've taken along time to put together.

[@HafCoJoe]

Incredible documentary. Watched through the whole thing as soon as I had time, and the writing to get each step of the journey from mod to full fledged game, then "second game" is masterful.

[@Sikik1313]

Amazing documentary, it's almost a tutorial for level designers/artist

[@Gabriel87100]

I remember when I first played it, hearing the Emergency Alert System in some random guard post shack in a rare moment of silence and calmness after Gordon saw several of his colleagues die... That was way too chilling. This game has tons of little details that can easily be missed, and it's the perfect inside look at the events we wanted to see more of in the Half Life universe, before the Combine.

[@ArtLike]

Just an absolutely unbelievable remake/reimagining of the original Half-Life, which to this day...to me...is one of the greatest and most memorable video games ever made. Huge congratulations to the team for actually completing their vision. And as always, amazing video by NoClip.

[@BovineDesigns]

These are the kinds of video essays i enjoy watching/listening to. I love how straight forward and professional it is.

[@rasmusjurs7073]

Great doc. But i feel like it is 80% Xen and 98% level design. I would have loved to hear about what they did in other aspects of the project. New models, new engine, new audience expectation, working on a project like this. It feels like a single chapter of a documentary.

[@whatkindofnameissoap4822]

Agreed. It was a bit too hyper-focused on those aspects for my taste. Still an interesting doc.

[@ArmoniteQL]

As a documentary this was actual garbage. Black Mesa deserves better.

[@lucastws]

What these guys did to Xen was hautingly beautiful.

[@Theonetrueerenyeager]

I'm so glad black mesa is getting more attention. This game is honestly one of the most, if not the biggest, underrated masterpiece(s) out there.

[@toainsully]

Now we need remakes of the expansions, Blue Shift and Opposing Force

[@Kbognoy]

To the people who made this; U made/finished the product that I call my GOAT FPS campaign at the moment of writing this. Congrats and thank you for the hard work. Keep developing games, Crowbar Collective.

[@DeltaZeroFoxtrot]

My heart is still bleeding that this awesome breathtaking story ends unfinished with Episode 2, but this team made me feel a lot better with the remake of one of the greatest games ever. Can´t wait for Oposiong force and Blue shift remake...and for everything that might come after it. Thanks a lot ❤❤❤

[@DimitriosChannel]

Old games like these were made to impress players these days games are made to impress shareholders and bean counters......................

[@Nolaris3]

On my first playthrough one interesting impression I got was after the resonance cascade happened. In the original you get the crowbar wedged in a door and you can start fighting the aliens. But in Black Mesa, you instead find a security guard and he is the one who shoots the aliens for you while you navigate back to the reception. I like this change as it essentially shows how Gordon only started out as a defenseless physicist and not immediately a superhero.

[@512TheWolf512]

xen is simply STUNNING! Black mesa in the whole is a genuine masterpiece.

[@kimjongun3890]

2:07:07 "It is almost Half my Life working on this project"

[@dogboy0912]

Play Black Mesa if you haven't. Having played all the main half life releases besides Alyx, I believe Black Mesa is the best half life game. It's made with a meticulous care and reverence for the source material that you would only expect from fans. Valve made Half-Life, but Black Mesa knew what made it Half-Life, and made it even more Half-Lifey.

[@rvgr420]

I agree. I've accumulated approximately 235 hours in Black Mesa on Steam. If someone spends THAT long playing your game, that's when you know that you've made a masterpiece.

[@steelknight2000]

Outstanding film, this and Black Mesa itself are a love letter to Half-Life fans around the world. Thanks for reminding me why I love Half-Life.

[@AleksWorkshop]

Thank you for this

[@CoolSs]

16:01 that roof sniper encounter in end of Surface Tension is such a great addition to the game .

[@shrewbu]

This was an absolutely captivating documentary, from beginning to finish. Well done!!

[@tesco-cs]

Even though the Levels are the same on Black Mesa, it feels like a totally different game. I've just got up to the fish monster part, loving it so far.

[@Bolloxed]

That's tonight's entertainment sorted. Thanks!

[@neptuneraven1133]

Oh hai Bolloxed!

[@damirs3430]

First time playing through Black Mesa as a finished game, I immediately realized that Xen is where the team really flexed their creativity. Everything up to Xen is a beautiful homage, but Xen... Xen is my favorite part. Xen is amazing.

[@Glenn_Quagmire]

They should make a remake for half life 2 and fix up the canals like they did with xen. They could undoubtedly finish it before hl3 comes out in 2045

[@RamChop451]

Sometimes I just sit back and remember this game. How fantastic that it's even real. What an incredible accomplishment. Truly, all the accolades to the crew behind this. It's a true masterpiece and as a fan, I thank you to the bottom of my heart. Also, this documentary is very illuminating and so well put together, thank you for this

[@excellenceinanimation960]

Back Mesa was my introduction to half life and I was just about to start playing it again! Love it!

[@drumnbreakz]

I'm a huge Half Life fan myself, but didn't really know a lot about this project... well, I'm blown away...

[@loco4loco]

Half life is a black mesa rip off

[@nickg5250]

Absolutely outstanding, to both NoClip and the Black Mesa team. I remember seeing the first bits of this, and seeing how they've elevated the source material/lore is just great.

[@brya9681]

As much as I love Half Life and still think it holds up so well, I think Black Mesa is the definitive way for someone in 2022+ to experience Half Life for the first time. Then go play the original one and realize how awesome it also is. Black Mesa isn't a replacement, its a companion piece.

[@gregoryberrycone]

i still think the original plays/feels much better, honestly looks better in some ways if im being honest

[@elliot9634]

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@thejananigans431]

You're work you put into your documentaries is legendary

[@gamongames]

the*

[@durtysouth85]

this is pure GOLD, thank you for such an amazing Doc!! Congrats to all involved in Halflife-Zen and NoClip

[@Mr-Mania]

I just want to point out that hardcover copies of Raising the Bar go for over $250 and buying that just for this video is real dedication

[@weekendwarrior5303]

The youtube algorithm knows this is going to be a banger! And has blessed me with the quickest of suggestions. I'm not even subbed to this channel.

[@NoclipDocs]

Wow, that's awesome to hear!

[@VoXeR91]

Now make a small extra video interviewing Joel Nielsen about the soundtrack! That aside, this is one of those project I've followed for... A long time. At least sometime between 2010-2011. Amazing to see you bring more light on this absolutely amazing love-letter to a great game

[@Ryebread06]

I have been waiting for this specific doc for almost two years now. Let's go!!!

[@mattwhite399]

What this team accomplished is already legendary, and rightfully so. I would immediately preorder any new game from Crowbar Collective.