At 17 years old, it's safe to say that Valve's Half-Life 2 is now an old game. But that doesn't mean it isn't considered a classic, or that fans have turned their collective backs on it. As hopes of there ever being a Half-Life 3 continue to be shot down, the first two games are fondly remembered by the community, with the sequel being a strong continuation of what was already an influential original. With talks about recreating and remastering classic games currently in vogue, a group of Minecraft fans have been hard at work on an ambitious Half-Life 2 project.
Beginning in 2016, a team of modders have spent the last five years recreating the world of Half-Life 2 in the Mojang blocky game. Entitled "City-17 [Grand Project]" the group is still beavering away at the recreation, with the intended goal of not just building the entire game within Minecraft, but making it open world as well. This means that, unlike in HL2 itself, this version will do away with loading screens between areas, making it an expansive, if somewhat low-res, reimagining of Valve's classic.
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As if that wasn't enough, the modders are also adding in the Borealis. For those who are unaware, the Borealis mission was originally cut from episode two of Half-Life 2, along with other content which was also removed from the commercial release of the game. Seeing that this mission was never put into the sequel, many assumed that it would appear in the third episode, and then eventually Half-Life 3. Given the fate of the third game, the fact that it's now being put into the Minecraft recreation is pretty astonishing, and it will be interesting to see how the mission plays out and how it ties in with the official Half-Life lore.
The modders are also not the first people who are putting in effort to keep the Half-Life memory alive. Recently, a fan-made Half-Life 2 remastered collection was leaked online, which is said to be coming to Steam. This joint effort will feature new lighting, particle effects, tweaks to fix bugs, and audio commentry, so that's something fans can look forward to.
As for Minecraft, it is a testament to the game's sandbox potential, combined with the community's talent and efforts, that entire games like Half-Life 2 can find new homes in them. With some pretty exceptionally complicated things being built in Minecraft, it begs the question of whether any other fans will come along and rebuild their favorite games in the blocky universe.
Half-Life 2 is available now for PC.
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Source: Planet Minecraft
