Summary
- Half-Life fans are developing an entirely new expansion that follows the Black Ops assassins from the first game.
- The project began development in 2022, but due to the author’s health problems and busy student life, was shelved until late 2023. It has now restarted, with a rebuilt code base to boot.
- Dark Matter will be released in three parts, and the team plans to launch it on Steam.
Back in the ’90s, Gearbox developed three expansions for the original Half-Life, letting us see Black Mesa from a different perspective.
Opposing Force put us into the boots of a fresh-faced HECU grunt called Shephard, Blue Shift introduced series icon Barney Calhoun, and PS2 exclusive Decay followed Gordon Freeman’s two colleagues, Colette Green and Gina Cross. But we never got a game about the Black Ops assassins.
After nearly 30 years, fans are finally changing that.
Dark Matter is a mod for the original game that follows Korvac, an assassin who has been tortured by HECU soldiers following the events of Firendly Fire. Left for dead, we awaken in a sewage system with only a sliver health and a bog-standard flashlight.
If you haven’t played the original Half-Life games, here’s a quick rundown of the special unit that Korvac belongs to.
In the ninth chapter, Apprehension, we run into an ominously silent government hit squad adorned in jet black combat gear, wielding cloaking technology. They’re here to wipe out everyone, military included, and nuke the facility in a last-ditch effort to stop the portal storm and conceal Black Mesa’s research from the public eye.
Half-Life: Dark Matter Started Development In 2022
Pipeline Software first announced Dark Matter in 2022, but project author D3ads made little progress while studying full-time during the pandemic. Things only got worse when they were admitted to hospital following a heart valve failure. Understandably, they took a break as they waited for their operation in 2023, pausing all work on the project.
At the end of last year, having recovered, they restarted development and rebuilt the entire code base to introduce a few new features.
The first is a spin on Opposing Force’s nightvision: a thermal vision mode that highlights enemies in bright red, inspired by Metal Gear Solid. The other noteworthy addition is the ‘intelligence’ feature, which allows you to collect documents and manifests for an unnamed agency.
It’s worth noting that the Black Ops squad was originally intended to be made up of CIA operatives.
Dark Matter is also introducing a new fire axe weapon, assassin zombies (finally!), and revamped visuals for the Black Ops squad themselves, as well as the HECU grunts. It’s an ambitious mod, to say the least, even rivalling Gearbox’s standalone expansions. But we might not have to wait long to play it.
“The biggest question on every mod fan’s mind is always the inevitable, ‘When do I get to play this?’ The answer is; probably a lot sooner than you realise,” the description explains. “The release date is still not set in stone, but rather than delivering the game in one chunk, the release is going to be split into three segments: Phase One, Two, and Three.”
The first phase will consist of five chapters, including the Drop Zone prologue. And the team plans to launch the game on Steam, making it easier to slot into your library alongside the official expansions.
If you want to keep tabs on Dark Matter, you can follow their Bluesky and Twitter accounts linked here.
