Half-Life remake Black Mesa has reached a remarkable milestone, hitting 90,000 "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam. The game is one of the best remakes of all time, and this achievement reflects that perfectly.
When Black Mesa finally released after 16 years of development, it was a massive hit among gamers. It remained extremely faithful to the original Half-Life, while making enough changes to make it feel modern and fresh. It didn't stray away from making larger changes where necessary, too. The Xen chapter is commonly seen as the worst part of the original game, and developer Crowbar Collective made sure that it received a total overhaul to ensure it didn't drag down the remake. Black Mesa is a shining example of how a remake should be done, and the fact that it started life as a fan-made project just makes it even better.
The huge news came from the official Black Mesa Twitter account, confirming that the impressive milestone had been passed. The game has certainly had plenty of time to do it. Black Mesa first released on Steam Early Access all the way back in 2015, and even then gamers were impressed with everything it had to offer. It had a long way to go for sure, but the potential was clear. It even released without the entire Xen section of the game, which wouldn't be ready for several years. As updates continued to improve upon Black Mesa, the great feedback flooded in, leading the game to where it is today with over 90,000 "Overwhelmingly Positive" Steam reviews.
To celebrate this amazing achievement, the Black Mesa team is hosting a giveaway of three Crowbar Collective Science Team shirts. This giveaway is available to enter until June 9, when submissions will close. It's free to enter, and gamers don't even have to own Black Mesa on Steam in order to take part.
It will be interesting to see what developer Crowbar Collective will create next. The studio has remained quiet for several years now, so likely has something in the pipeline. Half-Life 2 is already getting an unofficial fan remaster, but it certainly would be the most obvious route for the developer to take, especially with the game turning 20 next year. With its solid relationship with Valve, it's possible it could even be a commercial release just like Black Mesa. This could all be nullified if Valve has a remake of the game in the works itself, but right now that seems to be an unlikely prospect.
Black Mesa is available on PC via Steam.