An unofficial project to fully remake the Half-Life Blue Shift DLC is currently in development by a team of fans, and the next chapter is due to release this month. Considered by many to be one of the most important FPS games of all time, Valve's original 1998 release helped shape the genre in its early days, building off the blueprints of Doom and Quake and making an overnight success of the young studio. Not long after Half-Life, a number of expansions were also released, Blue Shift being one of them.
Although the classic sci-fi shooter has aged over the years, it has remained as influential now as it was nearly two and a half decades ago. In fact, a fan remake of Half-Life called Black Mesa was launched, initially as a free mod, in 2012 before Valve gave permission for it to be a commercial release, with the full product coming out in March 2020. Developed by Crowbar Collective, the project was a complete do-over of the original title, bringing the retro FPS into the modern era with more advanced visuals, new voice acting, and some changes to the format that kept those familiar with Half-Life on their toes.
Now a team known as HECU Collective is getting ready to launch the next chapter in its unofficial remake of Blue Shift, one of the expansions released for Half-Life. Much like the original DLC, this remake will tell the story of Barney Calhoun, the plucky security guard who follows Gordon Freeman during his exploits throughout the Black Mesa research facility in the first game and City 17 in the sequel. Chapter four of HECU's version will be releasing on December 10 and will also come with bug fixes and "additional features for previous chapters."
The Half-Life Blue Shift remake has already had its first three chapters released, and the entire project is free to download. It utilizes assets from the Black Mesa remake, with the team saying it will attempt to stay faithful to the original expansion, which came out in 2001 and was developed by Gearbox Software, the studio that would eventually go on to bring the world Duke Nukem and Aliens: Colonial Marines.
For many, the fan remake of Blue Shift will be exciting, but whenever Half-Life is brought up in conversation, there's always that one topic that will never go away. As one of the most anticipated threequels in gaming history, Half-Life 3 is still nowhere to be seen. Of course, unofficial projects are always welcomed by the community, but a third installment in Valve's iconic series is ultimately what many are still hoping for.
Half-Life is available on PC and PS2.