Estranged, the story of a lone fisherman, stranded on a mysterious island during a violent storm.
Explore rich environments and meet the curious inhabitants of the island as you find a way back to the mainland.
Basic Details
- Title: Estranged: Act 1
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-estranged-act1.7z
- Size : 450MB
- Author: Alan Edwardes and Christiaan Bakker
- Date Released: 15 February 2014
MapTap Users
Please download this file to your computer before using with MapTap – thank you.
Download Options
Download to your HDD [450MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
Manual Installation Instructions
- Copy the estrangedact1 folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\sourcemods\ folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Estranged: Act 1 should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
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Screenshots
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Reader Recommendations
Total Downloads
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 15 comment(s) with meta review data.
Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 13 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 31 Mins
Shortest: 1 Hours by Hec
Longest: 2 Hours, 15 Mins by rikersbeard
Total Time Played: 22 Hours, 38 Mins
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 13 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 31 Mins
Shortest: 1 Hours by Hec
Longest: 2 Hours, 15 Mins by rikersbeard
Total Time Played: 22 Hours, 38 Mins
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I’m still playing this and will post a review once I finish it.
this mod can be downloaded from steam directly
It’s a decent mod with horror elements but isn’t really scary. No combine or headcrabs or any aliens at all. I would recommend it, but don’t count your chickens for act 2 anytime soon
This is another mod in the category of those in “Continuing Development”, because here in this release we have the first official delivery called Estranged, Act 1. Now, if that is a good thing well I really don’t know. I mean, as a pure mod gamer, I prefer a mod to be delivered as a whole instead of parts, although I know there are some very, very ambitious projects, as Underhell mod, which their only way is to release in parts rather than a whole. With the case of this mod, I guess the job into it is great and huge as in most of those Total conversion mods, but I would have better preferred to wait to see this mod launched as a whole, why? Well because here in this Act 1 I found things I liked but others I frankly didn’t like at all.
First, the pros are the quite immersive story around this mysterious island and the whole secrets, the gameplay and story tell is quite linear, a thing that I prefer rather than those cut scenes-cinematic mods like Underhell, also the dynamic “search things such as keycards or so” and “go there and press the button” are not overused, like in Underhell, again that’s another nice touch.
Now the cons, or things I didn’t like at all, but nevertheless can be improved are, the hectic combat and absolutely stupid weapon system used in the gameplay, I just did not like the formula, many zombies in one part, too few in others, plus be able to carry just 1 weapon which is melee in almost a big amount of time during the maps, I just allow the player to use more than 3 weapons and, please correct that terrible enemy imbalance in the whole mod. Also the zooming use is pretty weird, very annoying in some times I’d rather prefer to use the old reliable “Z” key to do that instead of the scroll-wheel in the mouse, also there is an imbalance regarding to lighting in the maps, as dark areas are way too dark and lightened areas are way too enlightened.
Overall, this is a nice mod to play is fun, and some bad points can be corrected in the future.
Play it Now as it’s an interesting scary exploring mod, with a possible sequel we may see in the future.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
Did I enjoy this mod? Not that much. DO I recommend you play it? Yes, I do. I feel that this is visually very interesting and has its own style, but the actual gameplay was very limited. There were never enough enemies for my liking and I was very rarely rewarded when I explored.
The general level design was “unconnected”; I felt I could have taken almost any area and cut and pasted it into a different area. I got no feeling of progression and reason.
The voice acting was generally very good, although a little more emotion would have been nice considering the situation.
I was very surprised by the number of testers involved but as I learn with the Beta Testers Collective, too many modders involve testers late and they don’t always listen to their feedback.
if as much effort had been put into making it fun and emotional to play as it was to look at, then this might have been a great mod, as it is, I’m not excited about Act 2.
Play it because it looks great in palces but you probably won’t be excited when you do.
I call mods like these BBB: Beautiful But Boring.
Using Gauge
Medium
1 Hour, 33 Minutes
I played this one a long time ago.
Estranged Act 1 is in the same class as mods like Joutomaa. They establish an interesting setting and have a few good ideas, but ultimately don’t capitalize on them and wind up feeling sprawling and disjointed. To put it another way, it’s not clear what this mod set out to accomplish.
It’s most certainly not a horror mod. If it was trying to be, it failed at it. There’s absolutely nothing tense or scary about it. The zombies, or whatever they are, look hilarious and have these over-the-top snarls that prevent them from being taken seriously. The whole thing is atmospherically similar to something like Alan Wake: very quirky with unexpected bits of humor. There are some interesting bits, like the part on the train where you’re progressing from one stop to the next while avoiding the undead. That has a nice feeling to it. I also liked the mysterious Arque Corporation. Their computerized voice reminds me a lot of the Red Queen in the Resident Evil movie. But I felt re-using Dr. Kleiner’s model as the scientist was lazy. Same with the rebels. Why have special zombie models if you’re not going to go the whole way with it?
The ending shootout in the warehouse is tough and I felt I won by gaming the AI more than through skill. Soon after, the mod ends really abruptly, leaving nothing answered.
I think it’s worth playing, but the whole thing really comes across like a missed opportunity. I’m not sure what more could have been done to improve it, as it stands, but it could have certainly benefit from more upfront planning.
It does also get some credit for being one of the few recent HL2 mods to get Greenlit and included on Steam itself. It was sort of inspiring from that standpoint, as I didn’t even think that was possible anymore.
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
This mod definitely has its good points and less good points.
In its favor the maps are really nice, very well done and look like a realistic location.
Downside of that is that it’s altogether too dark, most of the time. I don’t care much for ‘forced flashlight conservation’ though I did wind up with plentiful battery life by the end – it didn’t matter.
It didn’t seem to know what it wanted to do. Be a mod about exploring a spooky location? A search and rescue mod? A horror mod? Zombie shooting? All of those existed in it, but none of them were explored enough to know what to expect or even want to expect out of a new installment. It WAS spooky enough and the zombies, while as said above were a little dumb over the top, if that had continued to be the theme I wouldn’t have wondered and would enjoy continuing that vein.
It DID have good interactions, the researcher’s discussion and guidance were well done, but … then much too short. I do agree that the re-use of existing models for rebels and Kleiner was sadly inappropriate considering the detail they’d put into everything else.
I found no options to turn off screen instructions, so early on carrying bricks around was annoying more because of the UI telling me that I could throw it. I know I can throw it. Don’t need to keep that message up more than the first time you pick a thing up.
And the downside of THAT, is that while there were numerous locations you could use smashing or throwing, and the ‘a or d to tip over’ mechanic, there was no ‘lean’ mechanic to use in combat, and there was no other time that mechanic was of any use. One shots like that seem oddly out of place, and again like it didn’t know what kind of mod to become in using those things at all. Inconsistently able to open or have to shoot/bash the vent covers as well, unless perhaps I missed how close you had to be to the vent in order to handle it rather than shoot it.
Someone said above there’s a zoom? There… is a zoom? Didn’t know that, never occurred to me because no suit and no built in other features to me means there’s no point in even trying. Picking up a weapon with a sight should have told me that, but apparently whoever left the ‘left click to throw’ message up early on stopped working on the mod before that feature was put in or used…
I hate having so many complaints about a mod that I genuinely enjoyed playing, though. The environments were very nicely made and fun to explore, loved the “be adequate” poster… But I just didn’t get a sense of direction or flow, I felt more like I was just wandering through and drifting, rather than exploring to a purpose.
Perhaps aside from yeah why only one weapon? No compelling reason not to have multiple ones, the character’s a fisherman – he’s used to holding items and carrying large tools, I can only think that the creators don’t realize that.
All in all though, it’s still well worth playing. Very pretty, good sound, good voice acting, reasonably good dialog, and perhaps a direction if they eventually decide what kind of overall story there will be. If there’s a second installment I’ll definitely play it.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 20 Minutes
First off; I have played all of the pre-developed versions of this mod and loved them. Seeing it slowly develope was fun, but long! So now the final version.
Estranged Act 1 is among the best Half Life mods around which does not feel like a HL mod! It felt similar to Underhell, being so different and story driven, but without the military aspect.
Atmosphere and sound are used to great effect, where some areas become scarier than they are because the music ramps up the tension along with the fear. However this is a very creepy game from the onset.
Puzzles are clever and not instantly obvious and require the protagonist to look around to solve any issue, except for a terminal on the 2nd floor – Marketing and Sales, where I got stuck in a terminal and had to re load a save to get past it!
Weapons and stores are handled nicely and are easy to find, but health in the cargo container warehouse is mean by comparison. Combat here is very clever and thinking is rewarded with life!
The crane had a glitch where the magnet dropped and would not come back up, but a full 360 of the crane somehow solved this and it worked normally.
A most impressive experience and I can’t wait to continue this fascinating story.
The zombies had the result of making me chuckle as I took them on. The assailant wearing mustard with black trousers reminded me of Kirk from Star Trek, the original series. (Showing one’s age)! So Kirk killing became a thing. May have got a Spock too, but a replay will tell.
Best mod ever? Maybe not, but looking forward to Act 2…
Manually
Easy
2 Hours, 15 Minutes
I think young people know who Captain Kirk is, but they know the caricature more than actual character. A caricature that’s really undeserved if you ask me, because Kirk is a badass. 😉
Now “Riker’s Beard,” on the other hand, would probably go right over their heads. 😀
I too got stuck in the terminal(s) and had to reload to get out but eventually found that hitting Esc twice in succession solved the problem. Likewise the crane issue solved itself after completing a revolution.
Everyhting has been sais I think…I think this was an enjoyable experience…especially visual
The gameplay was to obvious in my opinion puzzle were to easy….I first died when I climb on the crane and simple felt down from above
Fights were not enough placed and the way you could only carried a weapon was sad (at least 2 would be normal)
The miss to reward when you explore a little was also sad also the yellow light from object to pick up make them most of the time to easy to find
but for the rest I really enjoy everything I also like the interaction with computers where you can read email and konw about people
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 40 Minutes
I downloaded this mod through steam, as RTSL download time was being painfully slow for me again. I dont know about anyone who downloaded the mod here, but I know the Steam version comes with achievements.
This is an incredible mod. The atmosphere is tense, the maps and textures are beautiful, and the voice acting is great. I would have liked to see custom models for the characters, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t detract from the submersion that much. A lot of care went into this mod, and it shows, I had no problems with glitches, frame drops or getting lost.
This is not a fast paced action-packed mod, but it does have its moments where things get dialed up a bit. My only problem is that the dial never goes to eleven; there were no really memorable events in the mod. Rather, it is segments of ‘walk around, explore, let the tone sink in, then have a short combat sequence to break it up.` However, the environments themselves are superbly crafted, flow well, and are memorable in their own right. Nothing broke immersion for me (even the Dr. Kleiner model for one of the main characters), the voice acting was spot on, and I’ve already been over the environments ad nauseum.
My favorite aspect of the mod was the lighting. I loved the stark shadows dancing across the floor and walls from swinging lamps or flashing siren lights; similar to the lighting in Fear. (In fact, there was one segment that reminded me quite a bit of Fear…) I refrain from giving this a personal favorite because it was a bit slow for my taste, and I’d like to withhold the honor in case the sequel tops this first part.
Definitely give this mod a spin, and join the masses eagerly awaiting the sequel(s).
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 20 Minutes
Not much else to say, except that it is an excellent mod with a few minor irritants. The zoom feature on right mouse click kept tripping me up because it triggered every time I dropped an object. There were a few invisible walls in places near the end, and the single weapon system made things difficult. There is definitely a technique to killing zombies with the hammer! I liked the voice acting and the style of the mod. But the short battery life on the flashlight meant that I sped through some things and didn’t look around as much. Well worth playing – I just wish it was a completed mod as I wanted to finish the story.
Manually
Easy
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Having this mod played a few times, I can say it is well worth the time.
I have enjoyed the maps design, its modified lighting, music and the story.
What was more disturbing is the fact that you can only hold 1 weapon at a time, which can be a real disadvantage and there is not much to do while solving puzzles.
Still looking forward to Act 2.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
I liked the visual design, except for the wrong light and dark levels in spots. I didn’t like the weapon system or the gameplay. It was a toss up for me if it was a Play It Later or Play It Now. The differences because of the total conversion make it something you have to play, I believe.
Using Gauge
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Wow! Just wow! This is one of the best HL2:Ep2 mods I’ve ever played!
I loved everything! I love the atmosphere, the environment, the island, the voice acting, EVERYTHING! The combat was pretty well made too, but becomes quite challenging very suddenly. I also liked the scripted events. I have to admit though, the flashlight mechanic was quite unecessary, but other than that, I’ve never had so much fun in a mod since Research And Development.
Overall, yes, yes, YES! I say PLAY IT NOW! Oh, and dear devs, please, don’t quit the project!
I’m with Phillip on this one. Beautifully realised landscapes and interior scenes in general but with excruciatingly poor gameplay. What a shame as this could have been so much better. The repetitiveness of the zombie style attackers is just plain mind numbing and the only other combat is from a few pistol and machine-gun wielding ‘super-marksmen’ near the end. Running through endless areas with virtually no interaction soon becomes very tedious. Yes there were a few puzzles but in the main they were so simple that they were hardly worth the bother.
Being forced to drop one weapon to pick up a different one is also a pain and there is no automatic pick up of either weapons or ammo, requiring almost precision cursor placement for some items especially batteries. Talking of batteries this is another irritating area of the game with the flashlight running down extremely fast and the batteries (when there are any) rolling under desks and chairs making them awkward to pick up.
In the warehouse full of boxes there was every chance of not getting through alive as I did not come across a single health pack. Maybe I missed them but didn’t find any, not even on the crane once outside again.
There were other mild annoyances, too many invisible walls, computer screens to read that had no bearing on the plot (apart from one) and very limited weaponry but hey that’s just nit-picking.
In Steam, the latest message from the developers mentions that they are going to bring out a Part 2 and that it will be a ‘paid-for’ sequel. All I can say is that if they are expecting people to part with their hard-earned cash for a sequel it will need to be at least ten times better than this, beautiful to look at though it may be. Phillip’s BBB rating sums it up perfectly.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Help…Need Textures for mod. Getting the purple and black squares. Is there a patch? Have SDK 2007 and 2013 installed. Tried correcting textures with GCFScape, didn’t work.
Do you have the actual GAMES installed? HL2 episode 2 is *required*, not just the SDK.
.
I have Half-Life 2 Orange box version with SDK 2007 and 2013.
Still can’t play this mod. I’m having major texture problems and getting an error stating that mod is running in “Unsupported Mode”. If anyone has encountered this please help. Would really like to play mod.
‘Unsupported mode’ is usually something you’d get when your video card isn’t working correctly with the resolution of your monitor. Have you made sure to update your video drivers or roll them back if they’re newer?
Are you running it in Gauge or manually? Try both, but uninstall between and see if that changes it. Also verify and update your Source games and tools, then restart Steam and try?
How would I know if I was running it in Gauge or manually? Never heard of these terms before. I have updated Source SDK Base 2013 and have 2007 installed as well. I have always had texture problems with mods and have used GCFScape to try to correct those issues. I checked the advanced Video settings and I’m using all of the defaults.
“Gauge” is Phillip’s new version of “maptap”.
Scroll up to where you can see the site banner with the image of a mod, directly under that is a bar of links (gauge, hall of fame, etc). Read up on the page there, it’s easy to download and install.
It will allow you to install and run mods and maps much more easily than manually installing them from a zip file and moving the contents into the folders in your drive. It does all that for you.
It also helps correct for some errors, like missing load screen maps that a lot of older mods have problems loading. If you’re not using gauge / maptap (its old name) you should try it. It might just fix the problems you’re having. If it doesn’t, you’ll probably want to list your system specs and such so we can help troubleshoot.
Also, you say you have the sdk installed, but the GAME needs to be installed. That seems to work better than relying on just the dev kit. Make sure that your games hl2, the episodes, are all installed and updated correctly.
Zekiran,
Thank you so much for your help. I’ll give that a try. I do have the full Half-life 2 suite installed on my computer. I have the Orange Box version. I’ve had that since it came out. As far as I know everything is up to date. I have auto updates all the time. Do you have any insights on how to correct texture issues? I’m also getting the purple and black boxes all the time. Sometimes there are objects on the screen that I can’t see.
Zekiran,
I was able to download the “Gauge” version of Maptap and installed the mod and tried to run it. Still got “Unsupported Mode” message. The mod seems to be running ok but the texture issues persist. I just get the purple and black boxes on the screen. What can I do about this?
One of the best mods I’ve ever played. More for the adventurer rather than somebody looking for battle thrills but this is a brilliant mod. I tried it ages ago and was pretty meh about it, perhaps I was just insane that particular day? Anyhow, today I’ve enjoyed a couple of hours and it was superb. The atmosphere and scenario are great as is the attention to details to the environment.
Must admit I wasn’t keen on the idea of the torch, those batteries sure don’t last long. But, in the end, I had lots left over and being over cautious in those earlier stages paid off!
It starts off slow and cheesy, after meeting that guy in the cabin, but it soon picks up after this stage. This was the games only weakness, for me… But there are so many different areas to explore and each time it was a pleasure. It’s hard to pick a favourite but the later ones are probably mine. I wanted this adventure to continue on!
And what’s with the Startrek dudes? 😀
I think the ones looking for extreme battles and lots of gun action will be disappointed. Adventurers and explorers will love it. And I welcome this. Awesome mod. 10/10
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
It could have been so much more. It’s big, I’ll give them that, looks good too but the game play is sooo frustrating. For one, I use left and right arrow keys to move, well, left and right (not strafe)…it’s not an option, in fact all the keys seem screwed up to me and I can’t change the ones I want to. That torch/battery thing, that’s just annoying. Don’t do that. At least let me start with a crowbar or a big stick, nope…so anyway, I just abandoned it and as for the glowy things…really ? Please, do give it a go, some will like all that stuff, but for me…no ta.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
Good effort. More role playing type game. New health and flashlight mechanic. Just not enjoyable.
It has cool ideas and some maps look pretty good. But I think it fails at being scary, which is its primary purpose. This is mainly because the zombies are a joke, their AI isn’t just up to the task and it’s frankly a bit laughable at times. The combat is also weirdly balanced, you get a handgun at the start but around the 1/3 point you lose it and have to go with a hammer for a long stretch of time. There’s a bit of combat with human characters but it’s also nothing special.
The mod has a few things going for it, but the overall “meh” execution (at least in the gameplay department) makes it a very boring experience.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Very Good
Manually
Medium
2 Hours