Minerva: Metastasis is the best Half-Life game Valve never made

Half-life 2 celebrated its 20th anniversary last week, with Valve releasing a major update to the original game, alongside a two-hour documentary featuring interviews and a look at never-before-seen footage and concept art from the game’s development.

As a long-time fan of the series thinking about it Half-life 2 The anniversary is one of my most formative gaming experiences, but the anniversary makes me feel somehow: a bittersweet nostalgia for a bygone era of PC gaming and its community of aspiring artists, designers, and modders that arose around it. Half-life 2 was the first game I played that inspired me to learn not only about the people who made it, but also about how games are made in the first place. That said, I have to admit that my love for the game has waned somewhat in the decades since its release.

As much as I initially fell in love with the game for its sense of mystery and intrigue, there’s just no mystery in it for me anymore. I’ve turned every stone, scoured every surface, and hungrily completed every possible feat Half-life 2 and the episodic sequels – some even before Steam achievements existed! That’s why the user-made mod series Minerva: Metastasis remains not only my favorite take on the Half-Life universe, but also one of my favorite games. More than 17 years since I first played it, I’m still utterly captivated by its sense of eerie mystery and alien menace. And with the recent anniversary update of Half-life 2which includes both Half-Life 2: Episode One And Twonow is a perfect time to play it.

Released between 2005 and 2007 as an episodic series of mods for Half-life 2 And Half-Life 2: Episode One, Minerva: Metastasis was developed by Adam Foster, a web developer and hobbyist designer who rose to fame among the Half-life modding scene for “Somewhere else”, a short single-player campaign released in 2002 and set entirely in Xen – the hostile alien dimension that serves as the setting for Half-life‘s final.

After collaborating on several other modding projects that fell apart due to an overabundance of ambition, Foster decided on a different approach for his next project, one that made the most of pre-existing assets to create an original single-player story create that was released in episodic episodes. “The goal is not to replace as much gaming content as possible,” Foster said an interview with CVG in 2006. “Instead, I tell my own apocryphal story set in the Half-life 2 universe, and to actually release something for the public to play.

Minerva begins with your character, a nameless protagonist dressed in an HEV suit, unceremoniously dropped on the shore of a mysterious island bunker in the Baltic Sea, reinforced by the Combine, the multi-dimensional antagonists of Half-life 2. The game wastes no time explaining what’s happening; you’ll be pelted by Combine gunfire from the moment you set foot on the beach. Before you can even get your bearings, you hear the beeping of a dial-up modem as a time-stamped message scrolls across the top left corner of your screen, ordering you to run to the side of the beach and take cover.

As you circle around the other end of the beach, you receive another message from your mysterious, potential benefactor. “I am your Athena, you are my bastard Perseus, and our Medusa for the day is this island.” In case you didn’t know, the sender of the message, also known as ‘Minerva’, is a megalomaniac with a foul mouth and a penchant for mythological metaphors. Not much else is known about them at first, aside from the obvious fact that they are the closest thing to a friend on an island overrun with post-human stormtroopers who are ready, willing and eager to kill you on the spot. ventilate. With no other choice, you charge forward at the behest of this strange ally with obscure intentions to unravel the secrets of this compound, why the Combine are here, and how the answer to both questions might tie into the broader Half-Life universe. universe.

Minerva: Metastasis isn’t like many other mods of its era, in that it actually prioritizes writing them. Inspired by Bungie’s sci-fi shooter Marathonas well as the “Cortana lettersARG was created to promote Halo: Combat Evolvedmost of it Minerva‘s story is conveyed entirely through text messages sent by the player’s invisible companion. The tone and style of Minerva‘s writing is heavily indebted to the work of the late Scottish science fiction author Iain M. Banks, who Foster has praised for a writing style that hides enormous amounts of information in somewhat ambiguous sentences that require sharp readings to fully parse the true weight of their meaning.

The character of Minerva, whose nature and motivations are gradually revealed over the course of the game, is where Foster’s strengths as a storyteller really shine. Initially an aloof, taciturn taskmaster who delights in constantly putting you in mortal danger as easily as she reprimands you for not following her precise instructions, Minerva gradually drops her guard as the plot unfolds, revealing that she is just as much a victim of circumstances that are beyond her. control as the main character himself. Before you ask, no: she is not an artificial intelligence, nor is she quite what you would conventionally describe as “human.” She’s…well, something else. A “secret third thing,” if you will. Minerva is a good example of Foster’s layered approach to writing, seeking answers without stating them outright. For me, an essential quality of any enduring creative work is a degree of interpretive ambiguity, and its narrative Minerva: Metastasis is more than satisfactory in that respect.

MinervaThe level design of the level is another reason why it stands head and shoulders above other mods of its time – and even arguably Half-life 2 yourself. Where Half-life 2Foster’s levels are designed to be gameplay-friendly environments first and architecturally plausible locations second, if at all, Foster’s approach to design MinervaThe game’s levels were almost the exact opposite: first creating believable environments with properly proportioned structures and areas before implementing gameplay later.

Rather than relying on horizontally expansive, immense maps that maximize the Source engine’s area capabilities, MinervaThe player’s environments are small but incredibly compact, leading the player through multiple paths that encourage him to return and explore previously undiscovered routes, making maximum use of each level’s potential before descending further into the labyrinthine depths of the interior of the island. Combined with carefully choreographed enemy placements and intuitive environmental puzzles, Minerva delivers a moment-to-moment experience that is both challenging and narratively compelling.

As if that wasn’t enough, Foster went so far as to create numerous out-of-game ephemera that provide more depth to his “apocryphal” take on the game. Half-life. The mod’s website contains additional messages written by Minerva herself, as well as other documents and emails, which not only provide more details about the character, but weave her meaning more deeply into the events leading up to Half-life And Half-life 2.

While it’s not necessary to understand the game’s plot, I still highly recommend reading through the site if, like me, you value deftly written world-building through epistolary fiction. “Technology and violence are a girl’s best friends; power is eternal pleasure” is a sentence that has lived free in the back of my mind for almost twenty years.

Foster had initially planned two other chapters of the story, with the second part, Minerva: Out of Time, is set in a snow-covered coastal town with a semi-open world design inspired by the 2007s STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. However, those plans promptly went out the window when Foster announced he would hired by Valve shortly afterwards Minerva: Metastasis‘ release, initially to work on the company’s development at the time Half-Life 2: Episode Three before continuing work Left 4 dead And Portal 2 after the indefinite postponement of that match.

There’s still a part of me to this day that would love to get a new Valve-approved one Minerva or Minvera-inspired game over Half-life 3 at this point. Given the frankly infinitesimal likelihood of either scenario happening, I’m just happy to be able to replay the game after all these years and imagine what other strange and dangerous adventures Perseus and Minerva go on after the credits roll . When there are no answers, you must learn to be content enough to love the questions themselves.

MINERVA: Metastasis is available to play for free on Steam.