Black Mesa
Shares rank 27 of 78 video games by recommenders
Free fan-made remake of Half-Life 1 on the Half-Life 2 engine, made with Valve's blessing. Caveat: some find the Xen levels sprawling and confusing.
Free fan-made remake of Half-Life 1 on the Half-Life 2 engine, made with Valve's blessing. Caveat: some find the Xen levels sprawling and confusing.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Widely praised as a masterpiece
“Black Mesa is a marvelous piece of work.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “I love software rendering” “it's mind blowing in a good way”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Half-Life 2 in a Browser” “Black Mesa is a masterpiece.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Clean-room implementation of Half-Life 2 on the Quake 1 engine” Half-Life 1 remade on HL2 engine
“the Black Mesa remake of HL1 with the HL2 engine that gave it new life”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Clean-room implementation of Half-Life 2 on the Quake 1 engine” “an absolutely fantastic fan-made remake with Valve's blessing”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Clean-room implementation of Half-Life 2 on the Quake 1 engine” Xen levels overhauled and improved
“The last part of the game (Xen) was pretty much completely overhauled, and in my opinion, improved.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Half-Life 2 in a Browser” “I found the new Xen levels very well made and fleshed out”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Clean-room implementation of Half-Life 2 on the Quake 1 engine”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Xen levels sprawling and confusing
“They become massive and sprawling, boring and confusing.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Clean-room implementation of Half-Life 2 on the Quake 1 engine”
Other video games people recommend
The four most recommended other video games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | 50 | 34 | 60% | 10 | 1.9 yrs3 owners | — |
| GPU building game | 49 | 16 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Triple-A Minesweeper | 40 | 25 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| Quake II | 33 | 8 | 80% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Black MesaThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Black Mesa is a marvelous piece of work.”
“The last part of the game (Xen) was pretty much completely overhauled, and in my opinion, improved.”
“it's mind blowing in a good way”
“which made the community love the company even more”
“Black Mesa randomly crashes on my Deck for some reason despite being listed as playable.”
“Black Mesa is a masterpiece.”
“I found the new Xen levels very well made and fleshed out”
“They become massive and sprawling, boring and confusing.”
“an absolutely fantastic fan-made remake with Valve's blessing”
“the Black Mesa remake of HL1 with the HL2 engine that gave it new life”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.