A classic “escape from Black Mesa” mod.
Taking you through a variety of different areas, you encounter stiff opposition to your progress.
Freedom awaits for those smart and brave enough to continue forward.
Good Luck – You’ll need it.
- Title: Hopelessness
- File Name: hl1-sp-hopelessness.7z
- Size : 10.40MB
- Author: Dreamer_E AKA Dark_Fire
- Date Released: 18 September 2013
Download directly into MapTap [10.40MB]
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Download to your HDD [10.40MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Copy the hoplessness folder into your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Half-Life: Hopelessness should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The fie above comes with a grid view icon. To use it, select “Grid View” in Steam (top right corner). Make sure you have saved the image to a location on your computer – you can’t use it from the compressed archive directly. Right click on “Half-Life: Hopelessness” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to where you saved the image and choose it. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it.
Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.
Click on the tabs below to select the size of screenshot you would like.
All sizes are the same screenshots, just in different resolutions.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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4,063Overall
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208365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 11 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 44 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 25 Mins by Hec
Longest: 1 Hours by herzog
Total Time Played: 8 Hours, 50 Mins
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At first I found this pretty difficult, but things got easier, so if the same happens to you, I recommend you persevere.
There’s nothing spectacular about this mod but most things are done quite well. I enjoyed the use of the oil can and battery – those were nice touches.
All in all this was a competent release and I’m pretty sure most HL1 lovers will enjoy playing this.
Using Gauge
Easy
50 Minutes
That was indeed a fantastic mod and one mod that’s actually rather new with a release last year.
I agree with Phillip that it was a little tougher than your usual Hl1 mod although it wasn’t unfair and never was so I still managed to play this through without incident.
Mapping wise is it very well made and truly reminds us back on the good old days. And I also couldn’t see any flaws in that regard. It’s safe to say that this mod will yet become another nice classic mod when it comes down to Hl1 mods.
Game play wise it also knew to convince the monster placement was clever and also offered a good mixture of everything including few Opposing Force monsters (spirit half-life).
Even few animation and voice scenes were included as well as fitting music throughout the mod.
My conclusion go and play it now. It offers some nice fights a nice atmosphere as well as few scare some animation sequences etc. A very well made mod only the end was a disappointment but you can’t get everything you hope for.
Good work to the author of this piece, thanks.
Manually
Hard
30 Minutes
Well, this was a middle mod. And the Overall felling is like there was a bundle of maps with some good-ok puzzles but the whole thing just felt too much narrowed, you know there were no big spaces at all.
Also we have a mediocre and totally disappointing end, I guess that’s why is called “hopelessness”, but all in all, the concept feels poor in here.
You know there were some pretty annoying things in this mod. Like the very poor ammo you find and then you can really get some low, low health points just because the weapons are very few, and you can even turn on the impulse 101 cheat….
I guess this mod overall deserved a better ending though is nice to have some HL1 maps to play in this days where mod production is decreasing badly.
Manually
Medium
25 Minutes
This is a nice mod consisting of a few maps and new skins, sounds and animations.
It’s basically another Black Mesa mod – the setting is given away by the materials and objects used.
You get thrown into action without any preparation. The sense of progression as far as gameplay mechanics go is not quite as apparent as it should be: you aren’t taught how to go through certain puzzles or get to a weapon. Weapon placement is also bad, as you’re forced to hit or miss and die too early on.
As a half-life veteran, I have no problem with that, I actually enjoyed it. However, since the mod tries to emulate HL1’s singleplayer feel, it should also copy the same style of level advancement (smaller steps).
The levels themselves aren’t that memorable since they are mostly confined areas with no landmarks (vistas). A very fun and clever addition was the morse code puzzle, I really liked that. If it weren’t for that I’d probably given it 4 stars :). It’s also the reason it took me 30 mins to finish the game (I don’t know morse code).
I really liked it overall, but it needs more polish (a touch more lighting, it’s a bit too dark in some areas even by HL standards).
Give this a go if you want a challenge. Keep up the good work, mapmaker!
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
the code was written on a piece of paper on the floor near this dead soldier
Very nice old school map. It’s a little bit harder than usual ones but only at the beginning. This map is very similar to a chapter “Unforeseen consequances”. That’s good. The morse code puzzle was pretty good too. But the ending disappointed me. It’s so pity that a potential of this map wasn’t fulfiled. But all in all my nostalgia for good HL maps was temporarily satisfied.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
I wrote a bit about this for LambdaGeneration a while back, here’s what I said at the time:
” (…) Hopelessness by Dreamer_E. He says that we shouldn’t expect something big, this being his first mod, but in fact what we get is an inventive and polished return to good ole’ Black Mesa.
Arriving some time after the Resonance Cascade, as “just another scientist” you will travel through research labs and industrial areas trying to make your escape. Setting Hopelessness apart from similar mods is that the environments have been designed in such a way that they feel less linear and more interwoven and realistic. 1998′s original assets used to their fullest to detail the environments, and a few scripted sequences create original combat scenarios with the well-worn Half-Life monsters. One small issue is that a couple of the puzzles are poorly executed; one number keypad is so hard to use that you would think the player is trying to type wearing boxing gloves. This mapper would also appear to have an unhealthy interest in teleporting Alien Grunts into tight spaces, which is perhaps not a recipe for fun.
Of course there have been hundreds of mods set in this environment, so don’t expect amazing originality. Hopelessness doesn’t quite achieve the level of quality of some recent examples, but if you’re looking for another trip back to where it all began you can’t go far wrong spending an hour with this mod. “
I was pleasantly surprised by Hopelessness. I didn’t have high expectations despite the above positive reviews, probably because I am a damn grumpy bastard. But it turns out to be a good mix of tough combat and puzzles that stands out as a solid Black Mesa pack.
This pack is pretty tough. Not impossible, but there are some tricky battles and ammo is fairly scarce. The first battle with the grunts is one of them, where you have barely any ammo but you do have the crowbar. It took me a couple tries to get the approach right and get through them alive. An ambush here and there later on are also tough spots.
The mapping is pretty solid. The maps definitely give off a solid Black Mesa feel, although it’s all inside and you never get a sense of the grandeur of BMRF. The areas are nicely laid out and while your progression is generally linear, there are some side paths and backtracking, so exploration is recommended.
The main problem I have with this pack is with the morse code puzzle. It wasn’t in finding out what the code was (which was a nifty little challenge itself), the problem was in hitting the buttons that I wanted to on the numeric keypad! Once again the buttons are too close to each other so you can’t tell which one you’re about to press. Even aiming the crosshair directly at the “5” for example, rarely ended up with me pressing the “5”. This became so frustrating I almost quit the mod. Nice design, but really poor implementation. This would have been caught with testing, no question.
Beyond that frustrating issue, the other puzzles were pretty well done. I especially liked how clear the indicators were when a door was locked (red light) or unlocked (green light). The only other disappointment here was the ending.
Perhaps the author was trying to say something bigger with the ending. Perhaps not.
Manually
Medium
40 Minutes
I too tried to crowbar the soldiers but couldn’t handle all 3 so I went another route and packed myself with goodies first 😀
This mod puts us right in the middle of the action.
Nice animation of the soldier being dragged away.
Imo ammo is really scarce and I’m left with a crowbar against 3 soldiers… sure death. Til I find a stash that also fills my suit. I still think it’s a really hard mod that just throws enemies at you while you’re often with 5 weapons in the inventory, out of which 4 are out of ammo and barely any hpacks around.
Interesting choice of music though.
After traveling the vents I was lost for a bit, certainly non-linear.
I believe I found a bug but couldn’t reproduce, as I walked into the room with the power button to fry the caged headcrabs, the door was invisible/see through.
The code is impossible to input! got it after 20 tries and aiming way off the keys.
Is it only me to get stuck between door panels that open against a v close wall nearby? 😀
I don’t like the end tho, too dry for my taste.
Overall I enjoyed it but feels really hardcore to use crowbar not only on ur regular crabs and zombies, but on vorts, soldiers, bullsquids! and I think I was this close to crowbaring an alien grunt. So if you like key quests and hard battles, with cool atmospheric music, then this is for you.
Playtime: 45m
Manually
Medium
45 Minutes
I really enjoyed this, with the exception of the morse code puzzle which became a bit frustrating for me! There were enough different twists that made this better than many of them. I didn’t mind the ending either.
HL1 makes an enduring platform for mods and I don’t think it will ever get old! Graphics aside.
Manually
Medium
45 Minutes
I haven’t played such a great HL1 mod in a while.
The combat was very well implented and the enemies were very well placed. There are even a few enemies that are enpowered, like the Armor Zombie and the Bullsquids.
The atmosphere… well WOW. It is AMAZING. Sure, there are a few minor texture details, but overall, it did feel like I’m in Black Mesa.
The puzzles were really great too. Especially the morse code one, there NEEDS to be more of that.
Overall, this mod is one of the best HL1 mods I’ve ever played in my life, so go now and play it!
good
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
I am not sure if Hopelessness is supposed to be intentionally hard or not, but according to the description, it might be the latter.
From the start, the mod throws a Headcrab at you, then makes you fight three zombies, then it demands you to get the pistol just in time to fight the Vortigaunts. I call that terrible level design, and this takes place in the first two rooms of the mod. Then, a similar situation appears again where you are surrounded by Vortigaunts on the high ground just after killing a horde of Houndeyes and there’s an Alien Grunt in the middle. It throws too much at the player and, quite honestly, does not feel fair.
I also would really love it if there were more supplies. Armor is rare in this mod, as you have to find body armors that give you 100 armor. But I think there could have been helmets as “mini-armors”.
The puzzle is, most of the time, fetch quests. But one puzzle that grinds my gears is the Morse code puzzle. I am unfamiliar with this concept and I was stumped. Then, the keypad has a terrible response to the buttons you actually want to press.
Oh, and the ending is very anticlimactic. But the mod is still quite enjoyable and short, which saves it from being scored lower for me.
Manually
Medium
50 Minutes
Nice map! The combats are a little bit tough but fun and not too hard! And I like the small puzzles in the map (key, battery, morse code, etc.). I personally don’t like the ending, but except that I like this mod!
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
Combat is tough but not impossible to beat yet it can be frustrating at certain times especially when alien grunts show up so that’s a little deduction. Map layout is fine and the puzzles are quite good. I like the morse code puzzle though, at least it gives me hints rather than pushing buttons randomly. I don’t recommend this mod for newbies because this is a really tough one.
Solid mod but a little difficult.
Manually
Hard
35 Minutes