Happy Lunar New Year from the Black Mesa team! We wanted to let everyone know we are close to having a release candidate for Black Mesa 1.0! We also wanted to give an update on what is going to be included in the full release, what our road map looks like going forward, and to mention we are 20% off for the Lunar Sale. https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

Beta for 1.0

As soon as it is ready, we will push the build to public beta like we have in the past. After lots of internal and external testing, we will patch the build as needed, and finally, FINALLY (FINALLY!!!) release Black Mesa out of Early Access! This is a huge deal for us. The team has put in a ton of effort to improve the game in ways big and small.

1.0 Preview

The biggest change we have made is a complete overhaul of the HECU AI. Soldiers will now lay down suppressing fire, flank your position, communicate more, throw grenades more effectively, use their MP5 grenade launchers, and more. We have also evaluated and changed a number of the combat spaces to better utilize the AI and to reflect what we have learned since we first built Earthbound. It has been a lot of fun redesigning areas of the game to work better, and to use creativity through constraint to make the most of our levels without completely rebuilding them. The team watched a number of playthroughs and identified sections in the game where the pace came to a grinding halt. We redesigned or fixed these sections so that players can keep up their momentum. In addition to the design, we evaluated the art as well. We took what we learned in Xen and updated A FEW sections of Earthbound to better match Xen and current graphics standards.

We will fully support the game after our launch, and plan to expand upon this process to give the whole game an upgrade while keeping the performance the same.

Road Map

1.0

As mentioned above, we are close to a release candidate for Black Mesa 1.0. We will test the whole game internally, push the build to public-beta for even more testing, patch the build if necessary, then release the game in full.

1.5

We jokingly call this Black Mesa: Definitive Edition, but dont worry, it will not be any type of re-release or paid content. After 1.0 we will take a few months to go through the game, identify rough spots, and polish the art on Earth and Xen. Wed also like to continue to improve the workshop and organize team and community events to document as much as we can about the Source engine and how to best use it. We dont have a scope for these events yet, but after years of loving/hating/fixing/breaking the Source engine, we would love to help others get information and solve problems.

Thanks Again

We like to sign off these updates by thanking the community, but know they are not canned lines or something we tack on to look grateful. We are really proud to have been able to finish this game, and it would not have been possible without our patient and helpful community. I dont think it has fully set in that we are almost done with Black Mesa. We REALLY look forward to some low-pressure fun updates for this game, as well as starting in on new projects. Thank you for the support, thank you for the constructive criticism, and thank you for all the time spent in our game. We will be back soon with release notes and a beta! -The Black Mesa Team Discord - https://discord.gg/PSZfh8N