Going from sneaking, running and crawling your way through the facility with little to arm yourself with, to scaling up to huge-scale battles, pushing one’s limits on what they can do. The story is vague, and not really important until the end, but the experience in-between is fantastic. However, looking at the screenshots, I saw a mod with a lot of potential, and playing through it in one long session, I can say very much that that potential is fulfilled. I only knew a bit about Echoes before going in, and me even knowing about the mod’s existence came about 2 weeks ago. Usual disclaimer: I tested and provided comments to MrGnang both on the early truncated alpha version and on the final release candidate. Its sharp sequences, grand level design, and how it weaves into the HL lore make it an absolute standout. Overall, Echoes is a finely polished experience that should absolutely not be missed. Echoes falls just short of the annoyance limit in its cutscenes, and soon you’re right into the action thankfully. As a HL mapper myself I’m averse to cutscenes – although done right they are acceptable in mods. Thankfully they’re not used too much and thus don’t overstay their welcome. If I had to nitpick, I would say some of the early cutscenes run a little too long for my taste. Playing through again today to grab screenshots still had me smiling in a couple spots, the sequences are just that damn entertaining. There are some great returns to previously-visited areas and some fantastic tension set up with a couple of enemies throughout the game. The mod is chock full of awesome sequences and setpieces, and all the locations in between don’t just feel like filler material. There are some truly breathtaking areas in Echoes, and they’re not just for show – you spend a good amount of time in these areas and you’re usually doing something (fighting, running for your life, solving puzzles, etc.).Įchoes stands out for me because of the ‘feel’. Echoes really captures what makes Black Mesa a memorable location for me – the grandness and the scale. The representation of the Black Mesa Research Facility is superb, it’s right up there with Focalpoint for my favorite version of BMRF. At long last the full Echoes has been released, and it’s even better than the quick teaser I got in 2014. I was impressed by the scale and polish of the maps, and all it did was leave me with the taste for a full-blown mod. More than 4 years ago MrGnang shared the opening 1/3 or so of Echoes with me to test. Well, Echoes has been long anticipated – at least by me. Lastly, due to the detail in some areas, I would recommend running this on a more modern computer than what Half-Life was designed for originally. Music is integral to this mod, and the soundtrack may not work if this is played any other way. This mod has been created and tested for the Windows version of Half-Life on Steam, and it is not compatible with Half-Life Source or the old WON version of Half-Life. I never expected it to be as large an undertaking as it turned out to be, and I also could have never anticipated that I would get married and become a father in the time I worked on this project! It has been a long journey, but very much worth it. I initially had just hoped to make a short and simple campaign that I myself would enjoy, working on it sporadically over the years in my spare time. This is my first real modding effort, which I began around 5 years ago. This Half-Life mod will let you experience the Black Mesa incident from a different perspective, with some insights into mysterious events which Gordon Freeman was not present for.
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