I find it sort of hard to believe that the multiplayer maps we see now are all we will ever get, simply because the number of them seems unbalanced compared to the game itself. However, I would like to see more Earth maps in addition to a few Xen ones.
There are still several multiplayer maps from HL that are not added to BM, they may come with the Xen update or later.
A later time. Since the team went full beast mode for Xen, I doubt we’ll see anything else beside the chapters and a bunch of fixes.
Yeah I highly doubt we will get any new MP maps with xen. but looking at the info we have I am really wondering what we are actually getting with xen.
From the info we have there actually is a “human” presence on xen unlike what was in the original half life where there where just dead bodies. it looks like we are getting actual structures and research buildings. Makes you wonder how much xen has changed for black mesas retail release (not complaining xen was weak in half life)
As we can guess from the hammer map there will be a pretty large structure where we start. and from the image we have well construction scaffolding and steal I beams are not something you generally see in a temporary research set up.
I seem to remember a pretty heavy human presence in Xen in Blue Shift, lots of machines. If BS is considered canon, then maybe the humanless Xen has been retconned.
HEY GUYS I’M BACK DID YOU MISS ME???
ANY NEWS ON THE XEN UPDATE???
THANKS
P.S. : DON’T FORGET TO THUMBS DOWN!!! LOTSA LUV!!!
No, we don’t have any recent news. If we learn anything new, I’ll update the OP.
Now that you mention the issue of canonicity, I’ve recently found this statement by Laidlaw on Combine Overwiki on the matter:
Well you can always say that the part of Xen Gordon was sent to didn’t yet have established research stations and leave it at that.
Years ago people thought Xen would be out in a couple of months, and now it’s reality.
youtube.com/watch?v=0l6_VeIA8N4
Community Project - Xen Fan-made remake
Xen is 2 mainstream
Talking about the length of Xen, I think the game will be around 18-20h long (from the very beginning to the end) when it will be complete. The game is around 10h long right now (8 before STU).
It just came to my mind (and I felt the need to write a comment) that a couple of years ago some devs (don’t ask who, that… I don’t remember. I don’t even remember where exactly I’ve read this) said something like Xen is going to be vastly expanded and “will be almost like a game on its own” .
I want to see how the devs tackle the Nihilanth boss battle, if they do tackle it in a different way.
It’ll be fun trying to figure out how not to die again 
Man, I’m also excited to hear the Nihilanth’s voice. The original was already eerie and unsettling, but imagine how that’ll sound with modern recording equipment and editing!
Truthfully I am mainly wanting to see how they handle the following things. cause these to me where the highlights of xen.
-
the gonarch
thoughts: in the original the first time I saw this beast of a ball sack on legs I freaked out. it is a huge freaking tank on legs which could take more rockets then even the gargs could and damn after wasting all my ammo on it. I eventually learned it wasn’t health based but trigger based.
hopes: I hope they make the fight more organic and flowing. give the gonarch actual health cause god damn it was tanky for an NPC that only had like 100 HP. -
the none hostile vortigaunt groups.
thoughts: I noticed these a few times through xen. cause in most situations I sniped the a-grunt with the tau or crossbow and almost always walked strait up to the vorts with out worrying about attack. I think there is only one or two situations where ambushing the A-grunts doesn’t result in a free ride past the area… unless controllers spawn.
hopes: that they have this a bit more explained, and show the player that hey you can avoid getting zapped if you just shoot the A-grunts. that said I would not be surprised if they removed it completely or changed it to one or two scripted events. -
the gargs
thoughts: half life had several gargs in xen, the cave one being the most annoying do to its location and the lack of ammo around it. (seriously screw that thing). but in black mesa gargs are giant 1 HP monsters that can only be killed by scripted events. Gordon just doesn’t have the artillery in black mesa to take them out. which means the dev team has to come up with an explanation or item that can.
hopes: I really hope they find a good way to keep the gargs and allow combat. a sneak and run part this late into the game just wouldn’t feel right. I know they are massive flame tanks on legs but we have blown up tanks. -
the impalement plants
thoughts: always hated the muscle reaction plants that just impaled things, never made sense to me I just hope they make the things just make more sense, in half life they where just alien things to be alien a hazard that wasn’t really a hazard. that and you could always long jump past one that was guarding gear… seriously how does a scientist die by these things.
Maybe it’s for self defense when someone gets close. It made sense for Valve to show that someone died when in contact with the “plant”/creature though I guess it would be more believable if a wild animal corpse was placed instead of a scientist.
Just because it wasn’t explained in game how they got food doesn’t mean it’s improbable. When you try to make sense of alien life by making it act like life on earth it becomes less alien. Maybe the creatures fed from something in the air or were good at attracting small creatures for food.
For me that was the worst part of the entire Xen. I find it one of the most frustrating and poorly executed boss battles I’ve ever seen.
Jump all the time, desperately crawl wherever possible to avoid instant death, shoot the crystals and Nihilanth with your most powerful guns, get teleported into other areas every now and then, and repeat. No thank you. I’m most certainly looking forward to see how much it has changed in BM, expecting high quality and far less rage inducing stuff.
Good point. However I never found anything wrong with human corpses around them. And animals, as in Xen creatures, not sure they would make sense. From what I remember they don’t attack Xen creatures.
Also these plants are lightning fast so it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to die unexpectedly when getting too close to them.
I wonder if there would be any active HEV team doing their work on research outposts. Also I would love to see any early Xen team equipment like HEV suit predecessors (Mark I, II, III)
I’m excited to hear the new additions to the soundtrack
Oh yeah, absolutely! Joel Nielsen’s soundtrack is excellent. Can’t wait to hear the ambient Xen noises. Such a strange place…