Black Mesa, the stellar remake of the original Half-Life, has just plopped its previously teased Definitive Edition update, intended to further improve the Version 1.0 release, into public beta.
Developed by Crowbar Collective, Black Mesa – which started out as a fan project before shifting to a Valve-sanctioned commercial release – finally got its full launch back in February, five years after entering Steam early access and a whopping 16 years after development began.
Writing at the time of Black Mesa’s release, Crowbar described Version 1.0 as “the best, most polished, and most fun version of the game yet”, but had already announced plans to revisit certain parts of the experience post-launch for polishing and improvement.
The first fruits of that process are now available in public beta as part of the jokingly titled Definitive Edition update, and it’s a whopper, making extensive changes and enhancements throughout the game – but particularly focussing on areas that, as a result of Black Mesa’s protracted development, looked dated in comparison to more recent additions.