Half-Life 2 continues with Project Borealis – first demo now available
Project Borealis is a fan project backed by an international development team called Icebreaker, which has been working on the game since 2017. The developers want to give fans an impression of what a sequel to Half-Life 2: Episode 2 could have looked like. The story is said to be based on a supposed summary by Marc Laidlaw, a former Valve author - so it could well contain elements that were originally intended for the sequel to Half-Life 2.
The short demo is primarily a technical demonstration and is intended to show how the classic Half-Life gameplay can be translated into the modern Unreal Engine 5. The following video shows the entire walkthrough in 8 minutes (spoiler alert):
Good reviews on Steam, but lots of criticism on Reddit
Just one day after its release, the demo version has 2,000 reviews on Steam - mostly positive. On Reddit, however, opinions are critical. Alongside performance issues, which are said to affect even modern systems, the game's mechanics have also faced criticism. Some players feel that the movements and gunplay aren't typical for a Half-Life game. The term "prologue" was also criticized, as some players found it misleading given the limited scope of the demo.
Release date still pending
It is not yet known what will happen with Project Borealis Prologue. It remains to be seen whether Half Life fans will be able to jump into the sequel next year. Until then, fans will have to make do with Half-Life: Alyx, the latest installment in the Half-Life universe, released in 2020.
Source(s)
