A few weeks ago I wrote about the intro of MGS getting remade in the Unreal 4 engine and today I’m here to tell you about Project Lambda, a two-man effort by SilverTM to remake Valve’s much loved 1998 first-person shooter, Half-Life.
This isn’t the first time that Half-Life has inspired a remake. The most successful to date has been Crowbar Collective’s effort, Black Mesa, which remade the entire game, populating the world with more assets and characters, going so far as to remove the criticized endgame, resulting in a tighter, more streamlined experience.
Project Lambda (Lambda referencing the greek letter λ and half-life) is utilizing Unreal 4 for their remake and it’s looking remarkable, making the world feel a lot chunkier, and lived in. Project Lambda, however, only has the first chapter done. It’s playable and free to download and the devs say that with support, they will continue the project.
Half-Life was a surprise hit after being released with the expectation of selling less than 200 000 units. Almost 10 million units have been sold and the game is widely regarded as one of the best and most important video games of all time. Its sequel was even more popular and received nearly perfect scores across the board. One publication even broke their own rules awarding it an 11 out of 10.
Half-Life 2 released in 2004 to more critical acclaim, similarly becoming heralded as one of the most significant and influential games of all time. Half-Life 2 was expanded through two additional story episodes of a proposed three. Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two were also released to critical acclaim, but Episode Three never appeared. Valve has since focused on Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, Dota and their upcoming digital card game… game, Artifact.
Black Mesa is currently for sale on Steam and I have no doubt people would pay through the nose for Project Lambda. The fact that Valve hasn’t capitalized on this age of remasters is beyond me. Why they haven’t capitalized on the Half-Life love is beyond me but there we go. At least someone is doing it.
For fun, here are the same sequences from the original Half-Life and Black Mesa.
