PCGame

Black Mesa

Sci-fi first-person shooter reimagining Half-Life with expanded alien-world levels

Crowbar Collective · Released Mar 6, 2020

ActionAdventureIndie

Reviews
Very Positive
94% of 145K
Recent reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
95% of 476 in 30 days
Players
385
daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
Steam Deck
Playable
Last update on Steam
4 months ago
Jun 25, 2026
Minimum PC
2 GB Dedicated
6 GB RAM · 20 GB disk
Full requirements

Metacritic: 84/100 (critic reviews)

What is Black Mesa?

Black Mesa is a fan-made first-person shooter that reimagines Half-Life across a 19-chapter campaign. As physicist Gordon Freeman, you travel through laboratories, deserts, railways, and alien dimensions, fighting invading creatures and a military cleanup force after an experiment goes wrong. It also includes multiplayer PvP across 10 maps.

For you if...

  • +you want a story-driven sci-fi shooter with a linear campaign
  • +you enjoy exploring labs, deserts, railways, and alien dimensions
  • +you value atmosphere and environmental level design in shooters

Not for you if...

  • −you expect a faithful remaster instead of a reimagining
  • −you dislike long, repetitive puzzle sections late in campaigns

What players say

94% of 145,188 reviews are positive · 95% of 476 in the last 30 days

Players praise how the remake preserves Half-Life’s atmosphere while updating its visuals, combat, and level design. The most common complaint is that the expanded Xen chapters, especially Interloper, run too long and become repetitive; some players also criticize weapon balance and unclear navigation.

Players over time

▼ -30% vs a month ago

Players online on Steam, one sample a day.

Highest since Sep 2026: 685 players on Sep 21, 2026.

Show the data
DayPlayers
Nov 7, 2026385
Nov 6, 2026256
Nov 5, 2026266
Nov 4, 2026266
Nov 3, 2026286
Nov 2, 2026318
Nov 1, 2026371
Oct 31, 2026325
Oct 30, 2026244
Oct 29, 2026260
Oct 28, 2026316
Oct 27, 2026403
Oct 26, 2026399
Oct 25, 2026477
Oct 24, 2026436
Oct 23, 2026373
Oct 22, 2026341
Oct 21, 2026362
Oct 20, 2026392
Oct 18, 2026450
Oct 17, 2026405
Oct 16, 2026377
Oct 15, 20260
Oct 14, 2026409
Oct 13, 2026394
Oct 11, 2026505
Oct 10, 2026427
Oct 9, 2026402
Oct 8, 2026409
Oct 7, 2026397
Oct 6, 2026488
Oct 4, 2026507
Oct 3, 2026428
Oct 2, 2026427
Oct 1, 2026429
Sep 30, 2026402
Sep 29, 2026464
Sep 27, 2026530
Sep 26, 2026517
Sep 25, 2026428
Sep 24, 2026397
Sep 23, 2026335
Sep 23, 2026385
Sep 22, 2026467
Sep 21, 2026685

How many players finish Black Mesa?

25% of Steam players have unlocked «Limitless Potential», the achievement for finishing the main story.

Share of everyone who owns the game on Steam, including those who barely played it. Updated weekly.

Screenshots and trailer

Black Mesa screenshot 1

Black Mesa system requirements

Minimum: 2 GB Dedicated, 6 GB RAM, 20 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run Black Mesa?

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Minimum

OS
Windows® 10 or Newer
Processor
2.6 Dual Core Processor or Greater
Graphics
2 GB Dedicated Video Card or Greater
Memory
6 GB RAM
Storage
20 GB available space
DirectX
Version 9.0c

Recommended

OS
Windows® 10 or Newer
Processor
3.2 Quad Core Processor or Greater
Graphics
4 GB Dedicated Video Card or Greater
Memory
8 GB RAM
Storage
20 GB available space
DirectX
Version 9.0c

Does Black Mesa have co-op or multiplayer?

Yes: PvP online. It also has a single-player mode. Crossplay with other platforms is declared.

Does Black Mesa run on Steam Deck?

Playable Playable: it runs on Steam Deck with some adjustments.

  • Sometimes shows mouse, keyboard or non-Deck controller icons
  • Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
  • All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
  • In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
  • Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM
None declared on Steam
Controller
Keyboard and mouse
Platforms
Windows, Linux
Achievements
50
Steam features
Workshop, Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
Languages
Full audio: English. Text only: German, Spanish - Spain, Finnish, Norwegian, French, Portuguese - Portugal, Russian, Italian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Greek, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Latin America, Vietnamese, Croatian, Georgian, Indonesian, Lithuanian.

Does Black Mesa use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Nov 6, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam

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