The Violent Ones mod for Half-Life 2

I am today happy to unveil a new experimental single-player mod for Half-Life 2: The Violent Ones.

The Violent Ones is a very short interactive experience. I'm tentative about calling it "a game," as I don't want to mislead people. There are certainly game-like elements, including a couple of rather traditional sections, but meeting challenge criteria or even "having fun" aren't particular goals.

Inspired by the recent trend of experimental games by a number of independent developers, The Violent Ones allows players to explore an ambiguous narrative during its short length. I don't expect it to take much more than five or ten minutes to see through from start to finish. This small scale allows for a tight, focused development, and an experience in which it is absolutely crucial to explore the whole piece in a single sitting.

Accompanying the fiction is a striking art style, where all items and characters are rendered in pure, block colour. For the majority of the piece, only black and white are used. This serves a particular expressional purpose in itself - but that's something for players to engage with when the time comes.

It's obviously not for everyone. But hopefully it's for someone. I don't expect The Violent Ones to take too long to finish - a matter of weeks if everything goes to plan - and I'll keep you updated on progress. In the meantime, here are three in-game screenshots.