It is just another try to escape from the Black Mesa. Would the nameless scientist save himself with your help?
I like that puzzles were mostly coming off naturally and level design pointed me in the right direction and I mosty knew where to go. The idea behind the keycode puzzle was pretty outlandish and I didn't really attempt to try solving it on my own, but that's the only gripe I have with the mod in this regard.
I also enjoyed how the level design rarely felt like a mixed bag and didn't break the experience for me. Like how areas felt connected and at only one point was I slightly confused with how offices and test labs have some small biolabs right next door, but it wasn't done in a very jarring way.
Use of Opposing Force enemies is always nice.
I liked how the mod attempted to play around with protagonist, how you have to scavenge vests off dead guards, how one dying guard blames you and your fellow scientists for the disaster, etc. And I liked that ending, even if it's anticlimactic and out of nowhere, it really lives up to the name of this mod, and plays into the theme of being one another NPC in Gordon's story, rather than a real protagonist.
Also, damn, that's a cool sounding Glock.
A very awesome mod! Mapping is classic ans very detailled, difficulty is challenging, I liked the little exporation style, find a special item to continu... classic but effective.
The mod use the Blue Shift "engine" and not a lot of mod use it.
Awesome work!
Excellent mod. It is short, but this works in its' favour as it results in a thrilling, tightly paced adventure. Although it throws you into the action straight away, it really helps hammer home the theme. Would love to see more!
Very good mod.
Really great atmosphere. The pumping alarm, head-bobbing, and sound design really hammered home the, well, hopelessness of the situation.
Yo, mod is hard. So many ambushes and dirty spawns.
Fetch quests were kinda lame. Made even more confusing by level design no-no's such as inserting map transitions in the middle of these fetch quests. Always felt like I was going back a little too far and voila, that actually was the correct path. You'll spend a lot of time backtracking.
This wasn't bad, although it was tedious at times. Combat was high stakes and difficult, but fun. Enjoyable enough to try out the second installment...
A well made mod. Despite being a familiar Black Mesa disaster scenario, it doesn't feel like "just another day in the office", it has a unique tone like no other. You really do feel like a scientist who's got stuck in a mess that he's unequipped for.
The level design is pretty good. It's nicely detailed old-school mapping that mostly takes place in BM labs. Some small horror and puzzle elements are present. You roam around the environment, looking for ways to progress. Mostly, you'll be searching an item to open a door. It can be a simple keycard or a bottle of oil to loosen a valve. One unique puzzle requires you to find out a keypad code by listening morse code from a nearby radio, it's good stuff. By the way, stand as close as you can to that keypad to punch in the code more easily.
For a short mod, there are some surprising but welcome minor changes done to the code. Flashlight is a seperate pickup, bullsquid spit does continuous toxin damage, there is a camera shake effect while moving and getting hurt etc. There is new music too. Another change is enemy health and damage, they hit harder than usual and some take more bullets to kill. Also, the player is easier to kill. I'm sure this is done to show we're not wearing an HEV suit, but it can get frustrating, especially at the start.
Overall, this is a pretty well made, simple puzzle heavy adventure that's a bit on the shorter side. It deserves a playthrough.
And to the creator: Greetings from another Penumbra fan!
Morse code puzzles, the scream in the end, I noticed the inspiration even before reading the readme :)
Good mod
i played hard difficulty, enemies are buffed Zombie Hecu's takes 7 shotgun shots in the head to die (very close range).
Hecu's deal a lot of damage.
Bullsquids have increased durability and buffed attack that deal passive toxic damage,
Gonome's take 6 shotgun shots in the head to die.
Your are also a little low on ammo so use wisely.
Still a good overall mod.
Well I gave this mod as shot and found it excessively hard and not fun. Having Spawning enemies popping out of nowhere behind you and having no ammo to fight Grunts with Guns is not fun. There was potential with this mod, but they blew it, The ending of falling down a broken corridor was a weak ending.
As one person said the game is brutal and not for the casual player. I downloaded both versions and after playing the first one I Decided NOT to play the second and deleted it. Your choice and game but I would have to say PASS on this mod.
Not bad, i'm enjoying this so far, got stuck at the last puzzle, but im so happy that i can solve it without looking any walkthrough.
Good short mod
9/10
I am not sure if Hopelessness is supposed to be intentionally hard or not, but according to the description, it might be the latter.
From the start, the mod throws a Headcrab at you, then makes you fight three zombies, then it demands you to get the pistol just in time to fight the Vortigaunts. I call that terrible level design, and this takes place in the first two rooms of the mod. Then, a similar situation appears again where you are surrounded by Vortigaunts on the high ground just after killing a horde of Houndeyes and there’s an Alien Grunt in the middle. It throws too much at the player and, quite honestly, does not feel fair.
I also would really love it if there were more supplies. Armor is rare in this mod, as you have to find body armors that give you 100 armor. But I think there could have been helmets as “mini-armors”.
The puzzle is, most of the time, fetch quests. But one puzzle that grinds my gears is the Morse code puzzle. I am unfamiliar with this concept and I was stumped. Then, the keypad has a terrible response to the buttons you actually want to press.
Oh, and the ending is very anticlimactic. But the mod is still quite enjoyable and short, which saves it from being scored lower for me.