Been over a decade since the Half-Life 2 leak happened, many things were discovered or made from it including the many mods that attempt to restore the original version of the game with its late 90s/early 2000s dark sci-fi cyberpunk themes. yet all of them always seem to either get abandoned long before they are considered finished, or never even make it past conceptual phase. closest game that gives off similar vibes to it is 2007's TimeShift (rain-soaked war torn american city, slightly futuristic with some industrial elements, suit-wearing protagonist helping resistance, antagonist propaganda all around...etc) although it is still missing things like the Air Exchange and Wastelands of Dried up Oceans. So what's the current state of this whole "Half Life 2 Beta" thing? are you a fan of this version of the game? do you think it'll ever see a proper finished version someday? or is this concept just not working?
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Well there is Dark Interval moddb.com/mods/dark-interval and Raising the Bar Redux moddb.com/mods/half-life-2-raisi… , who seem to have endured and to be on track to actually achieve their goals, with several episodic releases, despite any skepticism one might have of a HL2 Beta reimagining ending up being a full game. I think the original concept of HL2 is a an artistic marvel, I'm often in awe at the style it has in concept art, it has a certain visual distinctiveness to it. It reminds me of other dark, abstractly artistic games of the time like Quake itself and Soul Reaver, games that had these dream-like qualities to them.
I really really like the tone and environment. I think some elements could be incorporated into regular HL2, and some elements you could definitely argue are in the official HL2 universe (cremator, Wastelands as seen in the failed teleport, houndeye, bullsquid) but some just dont fit right with the story.
The main problem is that the HL2 beta is both way too large in scope and has many alternate events in regard to the story and universe. The biggest examples are: #1: How does Gordon get to City 17? Train or Borealis? #2: Gasmask or no gasmask? #3: When does a character die, if at all? #4: Is City 17 located in America or Europe? #5: Physgun or Gravity Gun? I'm honestly a fan, but it's disappointing that there is no completed, fully-realized version, and it's impossible to create a full HL2 Beta narrative that doesn't cut at least some parts of it. I just hope RTB:R, Dark Interval, and every other mod with the goal of doing so are successful in creating a full game.