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It's just the original game touched up to work on modern systems. It's still the original experience.

Black Mesa is a full reimplementation (and partly reimagination) by a fan team, with large changes, while keeping the feel mostly intact.

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Unless you are looking for the full-on nostalgia trip, I think Black Mesa is how people should play the game today. Many quality of life improvements and stream-lining decisions. Except for Xen. Worst part of the game, and they made it longer.

I don't agree at all, Xen was my favorite part of Black Mesa and my least favorite part of the original Half-Life. I was blown away by how good they managed to make it look (with a 2004-era engine, albeit with updates), it's absolutely gorgeous. The gameplay and puzzles were far more fun for me too, and I greatly appreciate that they made this part of the game longer.

But to each his own.

I fully agree with you. Xen was quite crap in the original, but in Black Mesa it is fantastic, and feels really alien and weird.

And Xen was my least favourite part of Black Mesa by far. To each their own.

Hard disagree. Black Mesa is not Half-Life. It takes way to many liberties to be even considered as a replacement.

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