Action · March 6, 2020

Black Mesa (2020)

trophy50 achievementslocal_offer-75% current discountgroup1M–10M ownerstrending_up907 peak concurrentrecommend128.0k recommendations
Relive Half-Life Black Mesa is the fan-made reimagining of Valve Software’s Half-Life . Black Mesa: Definitive Edition Update 1.5 brings together all the improvements to graphics and gameplay across 15 years of development to create the final version of Black Mesa. There has never been a better time to pick up the crowbar and play! Single Player Campaign You are Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist at the Black Mesa Research Facility. When a routine experiment goes horribly wrong, you must fight your way through an interdimensional alien invasion, and a bloodthirsty military clean-up crew in order to save the science team... and the world! Features A completely reimagined and refined single player campaign, including all new and expanded Xen levels 19 chapters of fighting through top-secret labs, running atop harsh desert landscapes, sneaking into abandoned railways, and leaping across dimensions Mind-Blowing graphics and effects, never before seen on the Source Engine Face off against an army of classic enemies, updated with new features and engaging AI Wield an arsenal of military hardware, scientific prototypes, and the iconic crowbar through incredibly detailed environments The all-new soundtrack and voice acting create a more immersive experience than ever before 50 Fun and challenging achievements Multiplayer Frag your friends across 10 iconic maps from the Half-Life universe, including: Bounce Gasworks Stalkyard Undertow Crossfire Workshop Create your own mods, models, and maps with the Black Mesa Source SDK, then share it with the community on the Steam Workshop. Steamworks Collect the full set of trading cards, backgrounds, emoticons, and achievements! Featuring Steam Cloud, Steam Workshop, closed captions in multiple languages and full controller support.

Action releases from 2020

236 Action titles launched in 2020 — top 6 by review volume.

Position in Action

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume127.7k Steam reviewsTop 5% in Action
Positive rating95% positiveGenre average: 83% — this title sits in top 14%
Metacritic84/100Genre average 77 — top 22% of Action titles
Concurrent peak907 playersTop 10% in Action by live player count
Engagement hours16 h averageTop 31% for session depth among Action

Peer Action titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • FPS · 1.1k
  • Remake · 991
  • Action · 920
  • Sci-fi · 861
  • First-Person · 795
  • Singleplayer · 776
  • Shooter · 704
  • Atmospheric · 685
  • Classic · 677
  • Story Rich · 656
  • Great Soundtrack · 632
  • Aliens · 615
  • Zombies · 569
  • Adventure · 555
  • Horror · 503

Localization Coverage

Interface / Subtitles (12)

  • English volume_up
  • German
  • Spanish - Spain
  • Finnish
  • Norwegian
  • French
  • Portuguese - Portugal
  • Russian
  • Italian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch

Full audio (2)

  • English
  • Lithuanian

Reception Metrics

Steam community

95%Overwhelmingly Positive · 127.7k reviews

121.3k positive · 6.4k negative

Metacritic

84/100 critic aggregate

Open Metacritic page

Metacritic user score

8.9/10

Curator recommendations

128.0k

Peak concurrent players

907

Features & Capabilities

Multiplayer

  • Multi-player
  • PvP
  • Online PvP
  • Cross-Platform Multiplayer

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Trading Cards
  • Steam Workshop
  • Steam Cloud

Accessibility

  • Captions available

Input & Comfort

  • Partial Controller Support

Other

  • Single-player
  • Includes level editor

Press Quotes

“A quality remake that broadens the scope of the original and massively improves its final chapters.” 84 – PC Gamer “Black Mesa Source winds up being exactly what it always promised to be – a modernised, faithful recreation of a deservedly landmark first-person shooter.” Rock Paper Shotgun “It's a brilliant tribute to one of the greatest videogames ever made, and it's also a good game in its own right.” 8/10 – Destructoid

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

16h

moderate (15–40 hours)

Median

8h

Typical completion time

2-week avg

3h

Current engagement

Achievements

50

Steam unlocks available

Release & Availability

Release dateMar 6, 2020
DeveloperCrowbar Collective
Base price$4.99 -75%
PlatformsWindows, Linux
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksOfficial site · Metacritic page · Support

Content Notes

Violence and death due to falls, blunt force, gunshots, and explosions. Over the top dismemberment of NPCs (gibing) that some may see as realistic.

Editions & Packages

  • Buy Black Mesa