DarkShift

ESHQ is a GoldSrc/HL1 mod made by Russian dev team RD_AAOW, using HL1 assets and Xash3D, it also uses its own software, so don’t download it on Steam (you will erase the original « hl.exe » from valve) but in your common Program Files folder.

Not set in Hl1 universe, you’re a government spy sent on a mission at Evil Scientists HeadQuarters (ESHQ) set in fictional town « Bernier City », to steal some secret files… and a 20 hour long journey into the unknown, begins.

I also collected 420 out of 472/480 documents (they serve as « clues » to hidden containers, supposed to unlock abilities, however it wasn't available in the end).

1.Welcome to ESHQ

We collect some files and weapons in the building, and encounter « Sampi » (Gman's model), a mysterious guy who knows some dark secrets about our mission.

2. Run, spy, run!

We leave ESHQ to an hotel, a metro station, kills some HECU to protect the « evil » scientists, and on Sampi’s advice, broadcasts all secret files to the public/media through ES comm center.

3.End of ESHQ

Comm center collapses under air strikes sent to stop the leaks, we flee to ES sea labs

4.'We got him!'

The player is caught by militaries, stripped of weapons, beaten, but escapes after more air strikes destroy the sea labs, then reach and disable a ship, which drifts and collides with underwater part of the Bernier city zoo; large volume of mutagenic liquid reaches city's canalizations, turning every citizen into monsters.

5.Radiocity

Zombies and alien fauna spread around the city, we reach the biological research center where we finally find some friendly Barneys and scientists.

6.Two-front war

We move through deenergized metro tunnels and fights crowds of zombies, militaries, and contacts Sampi with a transmitter, after that we go to city's hospital and car service, and finally a railway depot that has been used for evacuation.

7.Unsuccessful set of circumstances

We reach « Base 5 », weapon-focused center, but it is largely affected by earthquakes, making us travel through volcanic places… We escape through a large ship where we encounter the evil leader, an unnamed scientist (Gordon Freeman's model), who flees when the ship breaks down, as well as « base 5 ».

8.The way back

The ship falls down to an old mining complex, we finally reachs an old train which crashes near « base 4 », advanced virtual reality-focused center.

9.The ordeal

Bad Gordon sends us through VR test chambers, levels based on Mario Bros !! until the engines break down. After that, we reach a giant rocket silo which we launch on Bernier City, which goes completly obliterated, after that we flee to underground caves.

10.Ghost town

We wander through the destroyed city and fights with burned but still walking mutants, then we encounter in an hidden lab, « GHOST », a supercomputer gone rogue who killed everyone in the lab. We destroy it before finding a friendly ship in the stadium, meeting Sampi again who sets up the next mission : going to Bernier Mountain to kill Bad Gordon, after taking some rest, ammo and HP.

11.Dead peak

We go through the moutain inside and outside before reaching « Base 3 », a weather control-focused center. We meet again Bad Gordon this time with his chief (a white-suit Gman), an experiment takes place but goes wrong and blows everyone to bits – minus the hero.

12.Is anybody live here?

We go downside the moutain and find the old Bernier village, a hidden path with a labyrinth leads to « Base 2 «, abandoned alien fauna-focused center filled with headcrabs and even a Gonarch, it leads to « base 1 », aquabiology-focused center.

13.Unreliability

We flood « base 1 » to reach the surface and meets again Sampi who congratulates us before trying to kill us for « knowing too much », but the pink nebula from « base 3 » failed experiment strikes again and forces Sampi to flee. We go back to « base 3 » through some villages, empty asylums and city transport paths, before finding an advanced teleport system.

Second and last part of this walkthrough, our initial hidden target then turned friend and/or employer Sampi ϡ lied to us, betrayed us, probably f*cked up our face, and now has our permission to die.

14.The border

A Xen-like alien world, already taken over by Sampi, who tries to kill us again in his HQ, badly wounded we find the self destruction system of the center but Sampi escapes through his how teleporter.

15.Another way

We teleport back to Bernier City and wander through damaged and broken buildings, streets, factories.

16.The collapse

After various battles, we reach city’s edge but suddenly the entire centy vanish, and we awake later in an empty refugees camp attacked by zombies. After some wandering we find a way to Sampi Earth’s HQ.

17.SAMPI ϡ

After some fights, we encounter Sampi for the final time who activates another « GHOST » supercomputer which once again goes rogue and blow Sampi to smithereens, the whole base then starts to break down. We flee, and reachs some deep railway station.

18.The core

We reach Sampi’s space station, filled with enemies, and manage to trigger another devastating reaction.

19.No more Sampi

The space station falls apart and while fleeing, we accidentaly go at Deepcave station, and after some turmoil, Onground station.

20.The escape

We flee the whole complex before its total, nuclear destruction, then reach some friendly guards who take us to Oakwood research center, scientists have found Bernier city teleported in the Border world, our final mission is to find some dangerous weapons and artifacts before what’s left of the enemies, find them instead.

21.Bernier's border

We go back to Bernier city in Border world, with some help from friendly guards, and find the first item : a Gluon Gun ! After that, we can go back to the center and get ENDING 1.Or we can continue to find a teleport system.

22.The Knoigdarf

We are at the ancient city of Knoigdarf, fighting through militaries, zombies, aliens, in bizarre places such as Pharaon-like tombs, then we find an upside down Teleportation building, turn down the Teleportation core (second item!), travel through the white world of « non existence » glimpsed earlier, and back to the military camp.

23. Return to ruins

We can once again go back to the Oakwood center and get ENDING 2. Ooooor… going through the military camp and tombs, until we reach the destroyed Sampi’s Border HQ (see chap 14).

24.Your target places deeper

We travel through some abandoned labs until we reach and steal the third artifact, the Gravicore, once again a path leads to Oakwood and ENDING 3. Buuuuuut… we can also find a hidden path getting us to the Eigekkt underground city.

25.The Eigekkt

Eigekkt city is an alien advanced city where we find the last remnants of Sampi’s forces now blocked far from Earth, facing various aliens. We travel through the whole city before reaching some abandoned underground places, filled with strange glowing white liquid, the Ether.

26.The Kkor

We get to the ancient city of Kkor, again with some human and alien resistance, where the last artifact awaits, a Time control cube. The artifact sends us one last time to « non existence » plane where we finds Sampi’s last message to the player, giving us more explanations about who he was and what he did. Then it’s ENDING 4, one last time to Oakwood center and the « true » ending for getting all artifacts (Gluon Gun, Teleport system, Gravity core, Time control cube), where we get our long awaited copter's flight.