In the next couple of years, Half-Life 2 will officially be twenty years old. For some, this is a mind-blowing thought, especially given that the game has aged really well and many are still hopeful of a new installment. Sadly, with the cancellation of Arkane Studios' Ravenholm spin-off, hopes of a continuation of the influential franchise have been dwindling. Still, the modding community is very active, and there's one that's due out soon which tells the story of City 17 from a different perspective.
As spotted by PCGamer, a new mod called "Entropy: Zero 2" is due for release next month. As the title suggests, this custom add-on, created by a team of independent developers, is actually a sequel to "Entropy: Zero," which came out in 2017. Both mods task the player with taking on the role of a Combine solider in Half-Life 2 and feature a brand-new story. Playing as Bad Cop, fans will have the ability to not only command their own army of synths and soldiers, but a recent trailer shows that they will also have a companion in the guise of one of Portal's corrupt turrets.
In general, it looks like it's going to be an interesting mod, bringing the two worlds of City 17 and Aperture Science together in some form. There are so many exciting mods out there for Half-Life 2, many of which have been making themselves known very recently. For example, there's one which will explore the abandoned mining town of Ravenholm in more detail. Another simply reverses the day/night skies of the vanilla game to give a creepy, almost Silent Hill-esque vibe to some of the levels. Given that Half-Life 3 is unlikely to happen, it seems the modding community is on the case to at least keep the franchise alive.
Valve's third installment in its series of sci-fi shooters is easily one of the most long awaited threequels in gaming history. Of course, there was 2020's Alyx, which has gone down well with fans, but many would like to see the return of Gordon Freeman. Given that Half-Life 2: Episode 2 came out in 2007, it's been fifteen years since that fateful cliffhanger.
As one of the best FPS games in history according to Metacritic, Half-Life 2 is not only a successful follow-up to its 1998 predecessor, but some would say it surpassed it. It's not surprising that many want to see a full third entry in the series, but at the same time, it's also not surprising that so many mods are still being made for the game.
Half-Life 2 was released in 2004 and is available on Mobile, PC, PS3, Xbox, and Xbox 360.