Initially developed and released by Gearbox Software in 2001, second Half-Life add-on, Half-Life: Blue Shift is a return to the Black Mesa Research Facility and another look at the Incident's consequences from the eyes of Gordon Freeman's best friend - Barney Calhoun.

In 2012, Crowbar Collective has delighted Half-Life fans with release of the magnificent Half-Life remake, but there are still no released remakes for add-ons. This is when we are coming in - HECU Collective are developing the Black Mesa: Blue Shift - a free remake with use of Black Mesa resources and style. We will try to stay as close to the original Blue Shift and Black Mesa as possible. Our mod will be releasing partially, chapter by chapter, so those who are not patient for the full release will finally have something to play!


Check out the new Focal Point Trailer!




Downloads


You can download all 5 chapters of the remake here:


Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | ModDBBlack Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | Steam WorkshopBlack Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | Google Drive



Check out our custom stuff for the mod:


Alternative Crowbars | ModDB Download Page



Our social links


HECU Collective Discord ServerHECU Collective Youtube ChannelDaver's Youtube Channel



Donate Us


HECU Collective Patreon


Your support really matters to us.



Mod's Awards


Mod of the Year 2021 | Players Choice - 2nd Place



Our projects


Black Mesa: Black Ops


Azure Sheep Remake



#StandWithUkraine


HECU Collective


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RSS Articles

Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release



Dear players, after nearly two years of anticipation and challenging development, we're thrilled to finally present to you the fruits of our labor!

Captive Freight, previously known as the largest chapter in our mod, has been dethroned by Focal Point! This reimagined chapter draws inspiration from the modern aesthetics and artistic style of Black Mesa's Xen, infused with our own creative vision. We worked hard to bring this chapter to life, and we’re excited to share it with you!

Our team can't wait to watch your playthroughs, read your reviews, and hear your constructive feedback. Additionally, we refined and significantly improved all four previous chapters, so they’re worth revisiting before you step through Rosenberg's portal.

Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release



The otherworldly collaboration



This chapter really is something special. You will get to hear the new music from Daver, and we have also invited Paweł Perepelica to work on the soundtrack! You can listen to his part of the Focal Point soundtrack on Spotify, Youtube and Soundcloud. Also you can get his soundtrack selection album and support Paweł on Bandcamp:


Listed to the Focal Point Soundtrack on SpotifyGet the Focal Point Soundtrack on BandcampListen on YoutubeListen on Soundcloud



Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release



Download


The updated Black Mesa: Blue Shift build is now available for download on Steam Workshop, ModDB and Google Drive!


Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | ModDBBlack Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | Steam WorkshopBlack Mesa: Blue Shift | Chapters 1-5 | Google Drive



Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release



What's changed?


The changelog got so big that we decided to not include the full list in this article, but you still can read it in Steam Workshop when we update it.

Here's the short list of fixes and added features:

  • New and improved scenes for Living Quarters Outbound and Insecurity chapters;
  • Improved skybox textures, lighting and Post Processing in all earthbound surface maps;
  • Added responsive surface sounds to some environments that will be played with nearby explosions;
  • Improved all explosions SFX and added distance attenuation to them;
  • Added completely new surface properties for certain props with unique physics sounds. (E.g. barrels, tarps, monitors, crates);
  • Updated many BM and BM:BS textures/materials;
  • Updated previously supported localizations;
  • Added UI and captions support for Italian, Mexican Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal) and Romanian;*
  • Added UI support for Indonesian*;
  • Various other visual improvements.

*Localizations for Chapter 5 for languages other than English, Ukrainian and Russian will be added in the post-release patch.


Known Issues:

  • Game may hang when starting
    Fix: Please wait a few minutes, some machines may take a while to boot the game
  • The new UI might crash the game
    WORKAROUND: Use -oldgameui as launch parameter or the corresponding .bat file
  • DXVK still might cause some visual issues in a few areas on certain systems
  • Second corpse in the canal disposal scene sometimes decides to float in the air instead of falling into the canal
  • Potential frame drops in some larger Xen areas with water on certain systems (Turn down either Reflections or Sun Shadow video settings)
  • Forcefields in Xen sometimes perform a weird disco-flickering (Can be caused by changing video settings in this map)
    FIX: Load a savegame
  • Potential frame drops in some Xen areas caused by sound data (The game will look like it "freezes" but this is a temporary state).
    FIX: Type "stopsound" or "snd_restart" into the console OR wait a few seconds until memory gets flushed

Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release



We hope you'll enjoy the mod!
Be sure to follow the future news via the links below!


You can join and chat with us on Discord, VK and support us on Paypal or Patreon, where we post some exclusive content!


HECU Collective Discord ServerHECU Collective VK PageHECU Collective Patreon


Thank you for your unwavering support.



#StandWithUkraine


HECU Collective


Chapter 5: Focal Point - LambdaGeneration Interview

Chapter 5: Focal Point - LambdaGeneration Interview

News 19 comments

We're still alive and talking about our Black Mesa: Blue Shift in the new LambdaGeneration interview!

Chapter 5: Focal Point - December 2023 Article

Chapter 5: Focal Point - December 2023 Article

News 62 comments

We are back with some impressive progress and news about Focal Point!

Chapter 5: Focal Point - June 2023 Article

Chapter 5: Focal Point - June 2023 Article

News 53 comments

Xen there! Check out our progress on the borderworld for the 5th chapter of our mod!

Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release

Chapter 4: Captive Freight - Release

News 19 comments

The time has come for the Chapter 4 to release! Hop on the train and save the Black Mesa personnel!

RSS Files
Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapters 1-5

Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapters 1-5

Full Version 45 comments

Chapter 5 of the remake, Focal Point, is now released!

Alternative Crowbars

Alternative Crowbars

Weapon Skin

Some scrapped and requested variants of the crowbar.

Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapters 1-4 [OLD]

Black Mesa: Blue Shift - Chapters 1-4 [OLD]

Full Version 62 comments

Chapter 4 of the remake, Captive Freight, is now released!

Dualshock 4 In-Game Icons [OUTDATED]

Dualshock 4 In-Game Icons [OUTDATED]

HUD 1 comment

Due to some limitations, we had to release those icons for in-game hints as a separate mod.

Original Logo [OUTDATED]

Original Logo [OUTDATED]

GUI

Old logo of the mod from before Chapter 4 update.

Vanilla Logo  [OUTDATED]

Vanilla Logo [OUTDATED]

GUI 3 comments

Vanilla-style logo. OPEN FULL DESCRIPTION FOR THE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS!

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 353)
GoidaFremaZZZ
GoidaFremaZZZ - - 1 comments

Ребята, это прекрасно, прям идеал! 5 глава сильно расширилась и увеличилась в масштабах, но каким бы это не было плюсом(ОГРОМНЕЙШИМ), это также и минус в плане масштаба и лора оригинала, пускай это и ремейк. В оригинальной игре зен занимал минут 15-25, когда в ремейке добрые 2, а может 3 часа(пипец вы разошлись), и при этом нововведении страдает лор игры - во втором и третьем дополнении G-Man не обращал на нас внимание из-за маленькой масштабности проделанного нами, когда в ремейке Калхун и в первых четырех главах убивал больше вояк и зеновцев, а тут еще и зен, где он крамсал их огромными пачками. Плюсом всякие базы исследования пограничного мира - ПРОСТО ОГРОМНЫЕ, это при том, что все это было построено до "Лямбды", то есть ученые при помощи первой версии телепорта, с первой версией костюма ХЕВ сделали все это? как они ПО ОДНОМУ ЗА ЗАХОД ТЕЛЕПОРТУ нателепортировали в зен кучу строй материала, машин для постройки, и это ВСЕ ДО ЛЯМБДЫ, они на их фоне игрались так с телепортиками и базами. Эта глава сильно влияет на лор, что плохо, ибо как я и написал сделать такое с первой версией оборудования и костюма практически невозможно. В этом то и был смысл главы в оригинале, где мы приходили на маленькую базу(потому что в начале исследований Блэк месы только такую и могли сделать), а затем врубали всю махину. Про Г-Мэна спорней, но все же. Что могу сказать - Мод, его задумка и в целом пятая глава офигенны по геймплею, графике, фишкам, но лор немного ох*ива*т. Спасибо за отличный ремейк, жду оставшиеся 3 главы, удачи, с наступившим разрабов и всех, кто читал мою километровую писанину).

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Betito1616
Betito1616 - - 15 comments

I'm checking the gameplays of Power Strugle (original Blue Shift) and considering that the chapter is in an underground area, quite delimited and narratively cannot be extensive (it is an area of ​​energy generators, unlike Duty Calls and Captive Freigh), I think that Power Strugle is not going to be very long, perhaps around 30 - 40 min, similar to Insecurity. If the chapter is short in time spend perhaps you could compensate made it more ''interesting'' makin that some NPC come with barney, perhaps the technician (the guy wearing an orange uniform) to repair the generators and Otis to help you to protect him.

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Ahmedzaref11
Ahmedzaref11 - - 22 comments

Is Chapter 5 the last one? Excited to try it out either way

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Guest
Guest - - 719,557 comments

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BadXFox
BadXFox - - 197 comments

Is Chapter 5 the last one? Excited to try it out either way

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Brazuka
Brazuka - - 6 comments

It's a 8/10 mod, it has its problems and its positive points, much more positive than negative, with only one big problem.

Chapter 1 - just environment and interaction and everything is PERFECT

Chapter 2 - just environment and interaction and everything is PERFECT

Chapter 3 - Here the problems begin and there is a gigantic problem. At the beginning it's perfect, the atmosphere inside the corridors of Black Mesa in the dark and with zombies everywhere with a junk flashlight is incredible, Murdoch is a cool character in the beginning and important later on, when we leave there and go to a part where we have to climb a container to cross to a place I saw a difference between the Original and this one, in the Original things are linear even though you have to explore the places, but everything is intuitive, here it's not... in all the chapters you NEED to explore the place because in many moments I got stuck and had to explore to find out what to do, in this part of the container, you put your eye on the reader and it breaks, you look up and see that there is a passage above and I only discovered the right tunnel because I had to go back and look at the police car and get the barrels (the tunnel is near the car with the dead policeman on the ground) and this kind of situation happens throughout the game. The real problem with this chapter and the only major problem with the entire game is that it is possible to break the game by accident. In the crusher part, we are guided by a worker to the crusher's control room and the first problem starts when we find him and there is a door next to him (which we have to go back to after going to the control room). The problem is that it was locked and I thought I should access it from the other side (as happens in all HLs). So instead of going back to it, I left the control room and went up the elevator, seeing that there was nowhere to go up there until I saw a fallen fence and red pipes and I thought I should go in there (as happens in all HLs) jumping over the fence that is on the left side when you go up the elevator. When I did that, I freed the red ladder and the game broke here because I shouldn't have jumped over the fence i was supposed to access this part from inside the crane control room (which you get there through the door next to the worker and which was locked, but it is unlocked when we return and a zombie comes out of it) and when I did the two tasks to go down the elevator with the last explosive box it only went down halfway because I did it in the wrong order and that was it, I had to restart the entire chapter and do it in the correct order (this error can be fixed by simply removing the fallen fence by placing a normal fence and changing the color of the pipe or just removing the fallen fence and placing a normal fence, besides that it would be correct to also leave the door on the worker's side unlocked from the beginning, because the player will understand that he has to go back there after going to the crusher room with the worker).

Chapter 4 - The best chapter, the interaction between Ronny, Murdoch, Otis and the other characters is what makes this chapter simply perfect, interaction with the other characters has always been the best part of HL and here everything is perfect, the action, the interaction, the places also perfectly redesigned.

Chapter 5 - It has only two problems, the first is that Barney goes to Xen without a HEV Suit, I'm autistic... and this bothered me a little hahaha because there was a HEV Suit in the teleportation room and I really thought Barney would put it on before going there, the second problem is that in most of it we are not doing the task that is being asked of us, so it is long enough to have this problem, but everything that was added here and that is not in HL Black Mesa is wonderful, especially the plants, passive and aquatic animals, an aquatic enemy that I liked is the one that releases shocks, it reminds me of an enemy from HL1 that was canceled in the game's Beta, Archer, and I thought it was cool to put more than one enemy in the water even though there are few of them, the variation of the other enemies like the bullsquids and all the others I also thought was cool and it differentiates them from the ones we already know. So almost everything in this chapter is perfect except that it's so long that you're not doing the task (and the HEV Suit problem for me), but everything in Xen is always amazing to visit, both in this game and in HL Black Mesa.

Edit: Before you don't understand why Xen being so big is a problem, it's because unlike HL Black Mesa where we have to enter Xen until we find Nihilant, here we only enter to turn on the generators so the teleportation can work. So it really doesn't make sense for it to be such a long experience, but at least it's not bad, I liked Xen. Only the middle to the end of Chapter 3 that I didn't like very much.

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oden33390
oden33390 - - 37 comments

You cant save the vorts : (. I loved the mod though. I kept dying while taking down the jammer because i didn't realize there was health.

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Mr.Louis
Mr.Louis - - 1 comments

cool

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Psyoliz
Psyoliz - - 1 comments

Хочу сказать большое спасибо разработчикам, за проделанную работу над этим модом. Из всех игр по HF, включая оригинальные игры ваш Blue shift произвел наибольшее впечатление. Восхищает особое внимание к деталям, проработке окружения. Проходить уровни было интересно, каждое помещение продумано и грамотно наполнено. Геймплей разнообразный, не дал заскучать. Мир Xen получился максимально живым с его многообразием растительности и животных. С удовольствием рассматривала все эти кустики, листочки, рыбок в пруду и так увлеклась, что бродя по пещерам и ущельям успела позабыть, зачем вообще я здесь. Задача стояла в активации передатчика для телепортации из черной мезы, но по большей части герой с отвагой и энтузиазмом занимался уничтожением внеземных технологий. Приключения Фримена кажутся менее значимыми. Сложно представить, как простой охранник без защитного костюма смог противостоять инопланетянам и без каких либо указателей и ориентиров добраться до нужной локации. Его путешествие напоминает путь в один конец, без надежды на возвращение. Про сложность битвы с контролерами уже многие писали, не буду повторяться, но в целом не считаю это большим минусом. Поставила бы моду 10/10. Главная интрига для меня это судьба игрушки Чамтода, носить ее с собой было местами сложно и растягивало игру. Я надеюсь что ее вернули игроку в логове чамтодов неспроста, и она получит шанс стать живой.

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-Alfeos-
-Alfeos- - - 107 comments

Пройдя эту великолепную главу могу сказать, что приключения Гордона теперь меркнут перед тем, что натворил Барни. Обидно за лягушку, она так и не ожила и непонятно зачем вообще её было таскать. Чисто ради бонусных припасов. Надеюсь её история еще продолжится))

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