DISREPAIR is an atmospheric horror mod that focuses around a lone combine hazmat worker. They have been dispatched to the radioactive ruins of Black Mesa to photograph visual evidence of the anomalies located in the faclity's office complex. Can they make it out unharmed?
A good little atmospheric experience, but some improvement could be made here and there. The environments felt a bit inconsistent- the office walls and props we see for the majority of the mod were very flat (and using dev textures!), as opposed to the nice crunchy and detailed Xen textures. Some of the direction was a little unclear, like needing to put a second crystal in the same slot from earlier. But overall, a well-made mod that's worth the time to play it.
This mod has unique artstlye it's like I'm playing typical indie horror made in unity. Very short, only one map with a few puzzles. Atmoshpere and sounds are top notch. The story is confusing and in my opinion doesn't belong to Half-Life universe. Like what are those anomalies? Why Combine search for anomalies but not Black Mesa's portal technologies. In Half-Life canon there's nothing left from Black Mesa as it was nuked by Black Ops. This could be a story about some secret faculty, like in SCP universe and it would be more sense than using Black Mesa. Also the mod doesn't explain on what are these anomalies. There's an another Black Mesa after 7 hour war mod called Provenance that has more sense storywise than this mod.
Slow-paced and eerie, though not sure if spooky.
Flashlight was lame. Way too dark and monotonous. Had to mat_fullbright a couple times and almost bailed because I don't have time to be backtracking through mazed-in pitch black darkness.
Ah, so the flashlight charging mechanic is BS, huh? I thought it kept going out with perfect scripting. Had me believing it for a while there until I mashed the charge button a whole bunch and then immediately lost my juice at a particularly atmospheric moment.
Bland, yet intriguing art style. Simple, non-interactable textures and a Portal-esque exploration vibe.
Weird mix of high and low-res textures, especially for something like blood splatters on a wall. The giant pixelated squares really break immersion. It's like the guy ripped HL1 textures 1:1.
Story I could've done without. This didn't even have to be a HL2 story, it could've been anything and still worked. Feels like it would've worked better as a mysterious, slow-burn exposition. The plot points equipped the player with everything they needed to know, but they didn't need to know those things to progress. Seemed kinda pointless. Taking pictures could be substituted with any number of collection/activation type activities and culminated in a final reveal of some sort. Instead, it just fell flat. Got your 7th pic, now some trippy footage and you're done. Weak.
For all the bad there is quite a bit of good. Atmosphere out the wazoo. Calming, yet frightening.
Once you get over that frustrating flashlight aesthetic is when it actually becomes more tolerable to play. Don't try to force it, just let the light guide you.
I was a play tester on this mod. Great opportunity to be apart of it. Really strong atmosphere, albeit very short and not super challenging or interactive.
Full review on my personal blog: Telvyphil.net
Despite the mod being short, it is an interesting experience going through Black Mesa with a faulty flashlight and some dev textures just for a simple task.
this mod is really well made
You should definitely play this short atmospheric mod with unique graphics style!
DISREPAIR is a short, neatly condensed experience framed as a mission inside the ruins of BMRF.
I liked its graphical design, the minimalistic, but "cute" detail (to borrow from Decino, "doomcute". But Half-Life. Halfcute?), the effects that didn't outstay their welcome. It's built with a very, very tightly chosen selection of assets, and carries itself well.
Most of the work with the atmosphere is done by the sound design, which is excellent, while the visual design keeps the scope and tone in check. The asset work looks nice and clean.
I liked the atmosphere that realied on just few effective tools rather than gimmicks, liked the mini-game, and the unusual pairing of difficulty with level illumination. Don't see this often.
You may think it's a bit heavy on the filesize for its length and style, but quite a bit is taken by Mapbase. There's a few junk files and some of them could be optimised to trim down a couple dozen megabytes. On the other hand, there's cat.jpg.
It took me half an hour, and I was pleasantly surprised, as I had little preconceived notion about DISREPAIR.
As pisspants, i was scared.
I'm gonna say this..
The mod is really unique, i'm not horror enjoyer, but THIS MOD, this mod was something else, it is very unique, and if you aren't into horror games/mods, then atleast you need to try this mod. Thumbs up for the developers for this mod, this mod really takes the cake!