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Oct 21, 2023

Half

The original Half-Life has been remade as top-down, twin-stick shooter

The original Half-Life has been remade as top-down, twin-stick shooter roguelike, which has been approved for Steam by Valve and has its first version out now.

Ed Smith

Published: Jun 6, 2023

Half-Life is starting to feel like its own, dedicated art scene. From the original Valve FPS game, to the expansion packs Blue Shift and Opposing Force, and beyond, we’ve seen YouTube machinima series, datamined re-releases of beta versions, and a mod that makes Gordon Freeman carry a cardboard box throughout the whole of Black Mesa (we’ll come back to that later). But this is something new. Half-Life Loop remakes the sci-fi shooter as a top-down, twin-stick-style shooter with roguelike elements. It's been approved for Steam by Valve itself, and you can play it right now. If Gordon Freeman ever said a word, he’d be looking at this and screaming ‘heck yeah.’

Developed by modder ‘PinkyDev,’ Half-Life Loop (renamed to ‘Codename Loop’ for its release on Steam, to avoid clashing) is an isometric twin-stick shooter set within an alternative Black Mesa. G-Man has locked Gordon Freeman in an infinite loop (get it?) of recurring combat challenges. PinkyDev says that their focus currently is on completing the linear campaign for Loop while integrating some roguelike elements – a full, dedicated roguelike experience will arrive later.

"A few months ago I asked Valve for permission to publish my Half-Life fan game on Steam," PinkyDev says, "and guess what? Codename: Loop is coming to Steam." Loop now has a full demo, based on the Half-Life level Questionable Ethics. Imagine Enter the Gungeon, Geometry Wars, or Beat Hazard, except you’re Gordon Freeman and it's Black Mesa. Yeah. It's good.

You can also create your own maps, based on the classics from Half-Life, and import all the iconic guns and enemies that you want. You can get Half-Life Loop right here. Oh, there's also that mod we mentioned earlier, that forces Gordon Freeman to carry a cardboard box from the beginning of Half-Life right to the end, so check that out, too.

It makes you wonder – whatever happened to Half-Life 3? It also gets the nostalgia flowing, so if you’re a big boomer shooter fan, check out some of the other best old games on PC.