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It's become generally accepted that Half-Life 3 seems perpetually far away, but that doesn't mean the game is ever far from the minds of fans. In fact, plenty of impressive live-action videos, fan-made renderings and breathtaking modifications keep coming out for the game, even with the engine getting increasingly dated. With Half-Life 3 still without any official news, two fans of the game took it into their own hands to create an unofficial sequel - featuring everything from giant penguins to snowmobile duels against striders.

Simply called ICE, the modification places Gordon Freeman somewhere in the arctic, where a trash-talking robot akin to Borderlands' Claptrap aids players on their quest instead of Alyx, who presumably fell into a plot hole and hurt herself. Players will square off against the combine, arctic soldiers, ice troll monsters, and much, much more - even the iconic chum toad enemy from Opposing Force and Blue Shift makes a return. The battlefields look gigantic, and the new weapons in the game should get the attention of gamers looking to play a nostalgic-friendly mod. Each weapon seems to have an artic-based reskin, and the trailer features the ability to dual-wield SMGs, something the official Half-Life games never supported.

Half-Life Ice Mod

The game plays off of the alleged real-life hidden Dulce Underground Bases in the Archuleta Mesa near New Mexico, which could actually tie into the canon Half-Life lore pretty easily. Once the arctic giant penguins and monsters start coming in, though, it becomes clear that this modification is all about intense and fun action chapters rather than the suspenseful horror-action styles from the official series.

Co-developer Timian Ba stated that the modification was more than halfway complete, though they are looking for help with map texture creation and scripted scenes (interested gamers can click here to offer help). There's currently no release date set by the team, but we can only hope they keep working away at what looks to be a very entertaining modification.

What do you think, Ranters? Is ICE a fun-looking unofficial sequel, or would you rather see a more serious modification?

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Follow John Jacques on Twitter @Makelevi.

Source: Kotaku