Half-Life: Enriched - Interloper news

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The version increment might not suggest it, but this has been quite the update to Half-Life: Enriched! Remaking all the terrain on the first two maps has been quite a long job but I think it paid off. Xen has never been this organic!

Interloper is an interesting deviation of the default Half-Life design. Nearly all maps are linear with one clear path to take but the first map of Interloper has different solutions to reaching to end portal. Believe it or not, I've played Half-Life countless times since it came out in 1998, but it wasn't until 2019 that I discovered for the very first time that there is an entire tunnel system below this island! I would always just jump into the sphincter hole and blast myself onto the Manta, floating towards the teleporter. I might not be the only one who never saw the underground area, so I've changed the design quite a bit to ensure people have to take the long route and experience the full glory of this map.

The second map had a full make-over as well. It largely plays the same, except for some minor changes to the AI behaviour. Both maps will also feature an updated version of the Xen Plant Light. I've updated the skins to reflect the different colours better.

The most recognisable part of Interloper is the Xen Factory. Observant players will recognise that the Alien Slaves who work there do not attack Freeman on sight. If you are clever, you can bypass quite a few enemies, making this area a lot easier. In Half-Life, all Slaves became hostile after the first area but in Enriched, all Slaves are potentionally passive. They will only fight you if you attack any of their allies or Controller masters.

Another gameplay element I enjoy are the breakable Pods. If you're not careful, a stray bullet might crack one open, revealing another Alien Grunt to deal with. It's easy to get yourself into quite the predicament rather fast!

Just as in the first map, there is a direct route to the exit teleporter (as shown in the screenshot below). However, there is an entirely different area next to this one that really serves no purpose other than showing the scale of the facility. I've repurposed this area to make it part of the puzzle to get to the final teleporter. Just as with the first map, it's likely that some players have never even seen this area in their original playthrough.

This build also comes with an updated version of the Crossbow and RPG, as shown in my previous update. A new thing you'll encounter is the updated Map Selection Menu! I've switched the carousel design for something that resembles the main menu more. You can cycle through the chapters much faster now!

There were a lot of issues and obstacles I had to overcome to get this update out and I'm very glad this part of the journey is over now. The last chapter awaits: Nihilanth!