Xen Officially Released for Black Mesa

Black Mesa, Crowbar Collective's independent, ground-up remake of Valve's Half-Life is nearing a full release with the official launch of the long-awaited "Xen" levels on 24th December. Generally regarded as one of the original's weakest segments, the Xen sections have been reworked, expanded and improved to make Black Mesa the most enjoyable Half-Life experience on the market.

Black Mesa began as a passion project in 2005 that aimed to re-make Valve's debut title more thoroughly than the official, lacklustre remake, Half-Life: Source. Releasing as a free standalone mod in September 2014, the project continued to grow until Valve officially endorsed the project in May 2015 and allowed it to release on Steam via Early Access. While still in Early Access to this day, the release of Xen marks the final major content update needed to make Black Mesa a full experience. A final pass of the game's AI, multiplayer mode and Steam Workshop support —as well as an all-round bug fixing sweep— will be undertaken by the developer before it is ready to commit to a full release. 

A series of bug fixes and minor improvements also join the major content additions in this latest update, for the complete change log check out the game's latest Steam news page.

Despite Black Mesa still being in Early Access, Steam Achievements are the only feature still missing from the game. For players who aren't concerned by this, the game is fully ready to play; as the Crowbar Collective states: "If you have been holding out for Xen, this is what you have been waiting for!".

Black Mesa is available on PC via Steam for £14.99. Right now, to celebrate this content update, the game is currently 20% off at £11.99. The Xen content update is out now.