100 Half-Life 1 Mods: page 3
Mod installation instructions
After downloading any file it is recommended to verify if the download was successful:
- install the free HashCheck Shell Extension
- right click the file and select the Checksums tab
- compare the MD5 value from the program with the value posted on this site
You can install the mods by either extracting the archive (use free 7-Zip) in the Half-Life folder or run the installer. Default WON folder is located at C:\Sierra\Half-Life\, and the Steam version is located at C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life\. After installation you should make sure to restart Steam, and the mod will appear in the Uncategorized section.
Half-Life 1 Mod list
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They Hunger Triology takes place in a town called Rockwell, which has witnessed strange events in recent times. Our hero's car gets struck by lightning while driving on a country road, and consequently he gets thrown in the nearby lake. When you finally reach the surface through the catacombs, you enter a church which is falling apart. There seems to be no living soul in it, so you decide to leave. At that moment your path is blocked by the bloodthirsty undead. During your escape, you try to find the cause for the resulting chaos, an by doing that, you discover the darkest secrets of the town. The story is quite interesting and enriched by video sequences, sound clips and radio transmissions.
The level design is excellent and keeps alternating between the exterior and interior maps, which often contain non-obvious paths and some pretty good riddles, which could take several minutes to solve. The levels allow you to go back through another path, which gives the impression of non-linearity. The enemies are very well placed, which provides very intense fights and the just right amount of shock moments. In addition to zombies you will encounter Frankenstein monsters, wolves, skeletons, live palms, etc. The enemies don't just beat you up, but some of them can also shoot or electroshock you from range. There are also some boss's battles. The arsenal is varied, most of the weapons are reskined versions from the original, but biological weapons and missiles are absent. There are no healing stations and no armour, but the amount of healing packages is high enough to make it to the end.
Since this mod is a complete conversion of the Half-Life game, you will rarely see models from the original, but it doesn't matter, because the new skins are extremely well made. There are also new sounds, which, combined with visual signals, will make your skin crawl. Desperate cries of horror and suffering ... zombies crawling out of the earth with the desire to eat your brains ... howling of wolves mixed with the crow caws ... horrible moments in the asylum ... rustling of trees, which is interrupted by the sniffing of skeletons, which desire meat ... The atmosphere is really exceptional.
The game length is around 5 hours and half for experienced players (or at least 10 for newbies) and offers an excellent experience, I recommend playing at medium.
Chemical Existence is a modification originally created for Quake 2, but during development the authors shifted to a more modern and powerful GoldSrc engine used in Half-Life. You play Reece Max, who decides to visit his sister living in Motashe city. On arrival, he notices that the city is unusually empty, the only people on the streets are junkies. During the ride, he is ambushed and manages to escape, but the danger is not over yet. The story sounds interesting, but it was really confusing to me.
Modification is certainly a significant shock to someone who is used to the classic Half-Life map packs. The design of the levels is architecturally quite simple, occasionally dark, at times resembling Unreal and Unreal Tournament. Paths forward can be well hidden, so you will have to look through every inch of the darker levels. This can be problematic, since you have no flashlight at the beginning - it's attached to the machine gun (right click), which you get later in the game. There are a lot of scripted events, maybe even too many, because sometimes it seems they were added, just because they could do it, and not because it would contribute to the story. There are also some jumping challenges in which you must pay attention to the stamina bar located at the bottom of the screen.
During gameplay, you will encounter different factions (monsters, soldiers and punks) that are hostile to each other, therefore you will sometimes be able to use their fights to avoid confrontation. AI has serious problems with proper activation, so NPCs will often be inactive and just wait for their heads to be shot off. Active AI is, on the other hand, a very dangerous opponent, especially due to the almost supernatural accuracy and lethality of the weapons used. The arsenal is extremely varied, but because the ammunition is so plentiful and the headshots are so devastating, I mostly used only the machine gun and grenades. Healing is done through chemical cocktails, which can also be collected in the form of injections and stored for later use.
The visuals deserves praise for all the adjustments, but the stages didn't impress me. Excellent custom speech is also present, and sometimes background music plays. Some people will love the complete package, but I simply could not get used to the confusing story and changed mechanics. To complete the game, I spent 2 hours and a half on the Medium difficulty.
Nuclear Winter takes place 7 years after world wide conflict in which the united communist and Muslim forces conquered all of Asia and Europe. In 2017 this alliance successfully executed a nuclear attack on North America by using advanced cloaking technology, which was later followed by an invasion with land forces. Although North America was severely devastated in the attack, they managed to organize an armed resistance and hold off the advancing enemy. In the modification, you play a corporal named Adrian Shepherd who takes part in the resistance. The story is full of clichés, but I kind of liked it. You discover it through video sequences, conversations with NPCs, and through the activation of radio stations. Given the seriousness of the situation, the custom speech should have been less humorous, but the voice from radio stations was executed perfectly!
The levels are fairly diverse and consist of external (canyons, dam, city streets, railway, etc.) and internal areas (hydroelectric power station, military base, tower, zoo, etc.). The maps are architecturally good, with some having very nice lighting and color schemes, but in general they could contain more details and more alternate routes to break up the linearity. Unfortunately, some sections are almost completely dark, which will cause you several problems during your advancement, because the built-in night vision is useless for longer distances, and you do not have the flashlight. Links between thematic parts are otherwise quite good and give the player the feeling of a homogeneous experience. To advance, you will often have to solve creative puzzles, break parts of a map, dive, drive trains, climb ropes, and so on. Some challenges also have to be performed under time pressure, which will surely be a frustrating experience for a lot of players.
As already hinted in the story, most of your opponents will be of human origin. Most of them are special forces armed with machine guns, and a few are snipers and female assassins. Their ranks will be strengthened by heavy machinery, among which you can find machineguns, tanks and helicopters. The selection of opponents does not end here, as the author successfully integrated victims of nuclear radiation. Unlucky humans have thus become zombies, and animals from the zoo have been mutated into all kinds of monsters from Xen (LOL :). Enemy positioning is great, and they are also pretty numerous, including the start. Although the difficulty is mostly high, the game has some tremendous difficulty spikes that are annoying.
The weapon set is very diverse and includes weaponry from the Opposing Force expansion, but unfortunately, the ammunition is pretty strangely distributed. Shotgun shells are practically non-existent, while the sniper rifle, crossbow and M249 have tons of ammunition. With the exception of the aforementioned jumps in difficulty, you should not have much problems finishing the game on Medium difficulty, because the supply of medkits and batteries is pretty well calibrated. Occasionally you will also be assisted by a team of fellow fighters, with the medic being a priceless addition. I reached the end of the mod in about 2 hours of play time.
In Force of Evil you play an agent, who works for the secret section of the Ministry of Home Affairs. You start the game by escaping from a prison, led by a military organization which is hostile towards your employers. Your current task is to visit the laboratories where they are researching teleportation, and finally return home via a teleporter. Here, a new mission awaits you. You will have to prevent a nuclear disaster in the nuclear power plant Temelin, which got occupied by activists. The story sounds interesting, but since the speech and the subtitles are in Czech, you will probably have problems with following the flow of the game, and also with understanding the tips and tasks the game gives you. The gameplay is enriched with video sequences, and in some cases, custom background music.
I kind of liked the level design, because the maps have good geometry, lighting, and interesting details. Most of them are internal maps that are very different from the ones found in the original, and the rest is urban environment. In the latter, I really didn't like the numerous invisible walls. The Hazard Course with a medieval theme is also worth mentioning, as it will keep you busy for a pretty long time. Levels are filled with many side paths and secrets, which might contain interesting treats or just Easter eggs. Certain paths forward are well hidden, and there is also some vent crawling. The puzzles consist mainly of pressing buttons that can often be quite well hidden, and will cause you quite some problems. Here and there you will also have to find an access card.
Conflicts are rare, but mostly very tough, sometimes you will also have to react quickly. The biggest problem with the fights is, that the gaps between encounters are pretty large, and thus the mod feels empty. You will be attacked by female assassins, which will be later joined by soldiers, activists, guards and machineguns. Often, you will have to fight your way through the levels with a minimum set of weapons, as you start each new mission as a civilian. This means that you do not have the H.E.V. suit, and all previously picked up weapons are removed. Thus, even the activists armed with sticks suddenly become a dangerous opponent. There are no surprises regarding the weapon selection: the set is very limited, and only the crowbar is visually changed. Amounts of ammunition and healing packages are sufficient to play the game on Medium difficulty, but be ready for frequent reloading. I finished the game in about 1 hour and a half, including the Hazard Course, which contributed about 15 minutes to this total.
Rebellion is a continuation of the mod Vengeance, where you visited the Mipping Tax Research Center as Gordon Freeman in order to rescue it from invading renegade marines. Toward the end, it turned out that it was a carefully planned trap set up by G-Man and you fell for it. Anyway, after the fight with Gargantua at the end of Vengeance, you fell through a crack in the ground and fainted. The voice from your communication module woke you up, and said that a new task is waiting for you. You have 60 minutes to reply, otherwise you will be marked as dead and the Mipping Tax complex will be leveled with the ground. The story is quite interesting, maybe even at a B-movie level. The game uncovers it through video sequences and conversations that are in French, but there are also English subtitles available.
The game is divided into two thematic sections: the first takes place in the Mipping Tax complex and its surroundings, and the other in Fortworth City. In comparison to the predecessor, the maps are much more complex and architecturally nicer, they are very well connected to each other, and in some places so strongly non-linear that the authors had to integrate maps. The visual impression is mostly quite good, but it could definitely be improved in some places. The most outstanding feature of the mapping is certainly the enormous size of some areas. This, on the one hand, creates a rather astonishing impression, but on the other hand it has its drawbacks due to the feeling of emptiness and, above all, the long walking between points. The sequel has gotten more puzzles, as you don't only need to push buttons, but also have to look for well-hidden ways forward, escort NPCs, overcome some jumping challenges and also back track. Tip: If Barney gets stuck, move to another map and then back to reload and reactivate the AI. Activation of a particular action occasionally triggers a video sequence, which unfortunately can last a very long time!
Unlike in the predecessor, the fights in Rebellion will be fought almost exclusively against soldiers, which have the support of machineguns, helicopters and tanks, and in some places, female assassins. Because of their abundance and attacks from multiple sides, the battles can be demanding, and the difficulty further increases, because enemies can respawn at certain points. The difficulty curve is mostly constant, but I really didn't like the giant peaks in difficulty, which have arisen mostly due to the participation of mechanical opponents. Your arsenal is very varied, as it contains a lot of reskinned (and new) weapons, but I was disappointed by the absence of a very important weapon for me: the grenades. The bullets are plentiful, but healing packages and batteries are fairly rare. Tip: To make your life easier, you can also restore your health by sleeping in any bed. To complete the mod, I spent around 3 hours and a half playing it on the Medium difficulty.
If I try to guess the story of the Half-Life Prison (the speech is in Russian), I would say that it starts in a highly guarded Siberian prison, where our hero Gordon Freeman is imprisoned. One day the prison gets flooded by aliens and Gordon is able to escape from captivity, but the story is not over yet ...
I had mixed feelings about the mod level design. On the one hand, the maps are extremely original, full of skill tests and puzzles, and on the other hand, they could get annoying with unfair situations and traps that you can not foresee, if you are playing for the first time. Quick saving and loading is a must, it's a pity that the autosaves are not more frequent. Paths to advance are often not obvious at first glance; often, some machine or mechanism needs to be activated, there are also some timed events. There are quite a few hidden secrets in the levels, which will increase the amount of ammunition, batteries, or health, but on the lowest difficulty you will be able to get through to the end even if you find none of them.
Some enemies were taken from the original and some more resistant were added in the mod. The latter will certainly put your shooting skills to the test. There are also a lot of dangerous giant monsters (Gonarch, Gargantua), who often appear in groups. Fortunately, ammunition is plentiful, and your arsenal is good enough. A selection of weapons from the original is present, and the shotgun has undergone a visual transformation. Difficulty curve is quite good with rare exceptions, and you will also have to fight bosses.
The appearance of the game is exotic because of the unconventional design of the levels, and the same is true for the sounds. Some of the latter could be omitted without any big loss :). The mod contains quite some scripted events and video sequences which enrich it. I recommend playing the mod on Easy, and on this difficulty you'll need about 4 hours and a half to complete it.
In Operation Black Thunder, you play a commando named Roger McAllen, who works for NASF. Your task is to restore control of the rocket launching ramp seized by the terrorist organization WOLF. Before infiltration, you will have to fight yourself to the vincinity of the launch site and destroy tactical targets, but the task will not be easy, as the opponent is well organized and armed. Your objectives are given gradually, and appear in a small window. In the latter you will sometimes also see tips, which, however, I found unnecessary. The game has a very unusual keyboard layout, which can only be overwritten at the filesystem level (download the patch).
As far as the mapping is concerned, the authors deserve all praise. The architecture is very good, full of details, side paths and hidden ways forward. During gameplay, certain parts of the levels get transformed, and you will often need to go back through the newly unlocked door or the newly created gateway. You will be wandering around in military complexes as well as in rocky canyons. In both cases, the authors have taken care of a lot of interesting puzzles and jumping challenges.
With rare exceptions, opponents are very well placed and comprise of a whole spectrum of soldiers. There are also many mechanical hazards which come mostly from the very destructive machinegun nests, but there are also plenty of tanks, snipers and rocket launchers. Often you will have to think about the situation before charging the enemies or you will face quick death. The vertical multi-layered level design makes the game pretty hard, but hiding spots are also well taken care of.
The arsenal is extremely varied and has some novel weapons. Among these you can find several types of machine guns and also knives that you can throw, too bad that the weapon slots are not standard. During the game there are quite a few moments in which you lose your weapons, but fear not, you will regain them all. Ammunition is too abundant, but the exact opposite goes for healing packages and shields. Since opponents are extremely effective, your health and shield will be always very low even on the Easy difficulty.
Because it is a total conversion of Half-Life, the game contains new models (which are really well animated), new sounds and also background music. The visual wow comes not only from the good layout of the elements, but also due to the very good lightning scheme and scripted events that contribute significantly to a good atmosphere. To complete this mod, I needed about 3 hours and a half.
Focalpoint takes place several hours after Adrian Shephard and his squad crashed in an unknown location. The army headquarters quickly assembled a rescue team to search for survivors, and at the same time find out why the Osprey crashed. Unfortunately, the plan fails when alien vessels emerge from nowhere, destroy your plane and kill your squad. The story was very interesting to me, and it is told through scripted events and conversations with NPCs.
The map design is great and really deserves praise. Not only because of the excellent and varied architecture, which is full of details and cleverly placed elements, but also because of the connections between the maps. During the game you will encounter many divergences that either represent alternative paths to the goal, or are parts of the paths that will be unlocked later. Backtracking is not problematic by itself, but it is ruined in this mod by the excessive use of lifts. The latter are extremely buggy in the original and nothing improved in this mod. I got crushed and glued to the ground several times during the play-through, and had severe problems with doors not opening. I was thus stuck multiple times and couldn't proceed without using the noclip
cheat. The puzzles are very interesting and include searching for objects, cards and keys, as well as jumping challenges, searching for hidden paths forward and pressing buttons. The distance between them can be massive, so prepare for long walks.
The choice of enemies in Focalpoint, reflects the fact that you are a soldier. You will be attacked by a limited set of creatures from Xen, and here and there you will have to fight against aliens from the Race X and security guards. The fights are (somewhat surprisingly) a big weak point of this modification. The enemies are set too far apart, which in some cases is clumsily replaced by their abundance. The main problem is also an extremely limited arsenal, which, in addition to the knife, contains only a gun, a revolver, a machine gun and a shotgun, and the amounts of bullets for them are barely enough on Medium difficulty. Since the same holds for medkits and batteries, I spent most of my playthrough without the shield and with a life below 50.
The game inherits the looks from the Half-Life expansion called Opposing Force, which is different enough from the original to offer a fresh experience. The maps are very aesthetic and contain a number of advanced effects, which is unfortunately bad news for the owners of slower computers, as the game can stutter. A great feature of the modification are the extraordinary scripted events which greatly add to the overall atmosphere. You will need about 3 hours to complete the mod, and you will need Opposing Force installed to run it.
In Point of View you are playing a Alien Slave extraterrestrial called Xonxt. The story begins at Xen with the invasion of humans, which steal a special high-tech biological weapon called Xen Techno Biologic Sphere or XTBS. It's a floating ball that has a built-in electric attack, and it's obviously quite important to Nihilanth, as Xonxt is trying to get it back no matter what. The story is quite interesting and is narrated through thought bubbles (look at the controls), which are revealed gradually when traveling through Xen and Black Mesa. It was very commendable to me that the authors tried to explain many of the aspects of the original Half-Life in the texts, and in my opinion, they did it well.
Levels are well-made and intertwined with the original game, its expansions and Azure Sheep. It is very interesting that there are various items in the maps which Xonxt cannot pick up, but it gives the illusion that they are being used by NPCs. Xonxt is not just another dumb monster on a human killing spree, because it is able to flip switches, solve puzzles, climb ladders and crawl through ventilation shafts. The enemies are diverse and include both biological and mechanical opponents. In addition to soldiers who are armed with various firearms - including deadly miniguns, your will be challenged by machine guns, tanks and helicopters. It's a shame that the difficulty fluctuates too much, I would prefer for it to gradually increase.
Your primary weapon are the claws, which of course are only useful from close range, and an electric shock that you can charge and trigger by holding right mouse button. The trigger must be performed in a timely manner, otherwise the charge is canceled. The electroshock doesn't only damage enemies (aim in the head for greater effect), but it also heals you. During play, you will be able to collect other biological weapons from the original Half-Life and Azure Sheep, which in some cases are life savers, because the electroshock is not omnipotent.
As far as the visuals is concerned, the the biggest change is the HUD without the crosshair so some training will be needed. The game also includes custom models and sounds that we already know from Azure Sheep. Occasionally music plays in the background. To finish the story, I used around 3 hours on the Medium difficulty.
Hazardous Course 2 is some kind of an extreme version of the Hazard Course or Training room from the original Half-Life, which takes place in the Black Mesa Training Facility. In the latter, new players get acquainted with the H.E.V. suit, jumping and ducking, interaction with objects and NPCs, diving, environmental hazards, and a smaller section is also dedicated to weaponry. Hazardous Course 2 takes all these mechanics and extends them to an unprecedented scale, with the result being exponential increase in difficulty. This modification is therefore suitable only for the most patient and skillful players who know the basic physics mechanics of the GoldSrc engine, have a perfectly developed timing, and are not afraid of a challenge (or humiliation :).
You start the game in a central hub that is full of traps and fun scripted events in which you or NPCs can get slaughtered. This section is followed by the Basic Training, in which each of the jumping challenges from the original Half-Life is extended with additional dangerous elements such as for example fire, circular saws, crushing blocks and radioactive waste. Navigating in the dark will be performed in a maze full of zombies and Headcrabs, and you will also have to keep balance on a narrow bridge full of pendulums and electric traps, with your source of light being only your flashlight. The difficulty is taken to the extreme after you get the long jump module, as you will need to overcome almost impossible distances (look straight or slightly upwards during a jump!) and balance on slippery surfaces. The diving section is also made harder with the inclusion of a crazy complex maze of underwater shafts. This first part is followed by highly original sections in which you will have to lead Barney through a factory full of hazards, drive the train through an extremely complex labyrinth of tracks, and then climb up the insanely high tower with the help of the ladder system, moving platforms and jumping surfaces (almost Prince of Persia like).
By fulfilling the above mentioned challenges, the player will only scratch the surface of the game, because the mod contains more than twenty secret areas which are hard to spot and even harder to access. In some cases, you will need keys and in other cases, access codes that you can read in different places or hear via speakers, so keep a notebook ready. Paths forward are often located at extremely difficult to reach places, so you will need to have a huge amount of skills and foresight in addition to keen eyes, but all the effort will definitely be worth it. In the hidden areas, you will be able to see the backstage of the test program, find tips for the coming up sections, or even reduce the difficulty by turning off certain hazards. The secrets you find, will also allow you to access the giant bonus sections, and help with finishing the mod.
The map design starts with a fairly average linking hub and the first section, and eventually transforms into an extremely complex visual treat. The architecture is excellent and contains massive amounts of details, and the effort that went into all the scripted elements is admirable. In spite of all this praise, however, there are some very annoying problems in the mod, caused by the bugs in the GoldSrc engine. The NPCs often have a will of their own and it is very difficult to escort them across areas full of dangers, which do not forgive mistakes; vertically moving platforms suffer from the same problems as the lifts, so you will sometimes get crushed when they ascend; the train will sometimes not cross forks in the road (save and reload); manually operated platforms get stuck and fall down (use noclip). What a waste of potential! For these reasons, I was forced to lower the final score of the mod.
I finished my playthrough in about 6 hours of playtime on Medium difficulty, but it should be noted that I did not manage to find all the secrets. The total playing time for a new player which will go for all secrets is thus probably around 10 hours.