Is there any other game series where fan-made content feels as legitimate a part of the fiction as Half-Life? Perhaps the runaway success of Black Mesa has skewed my thoughts on this, but I've found myself paying a lot more attention to how the community is playing with the Half-Life story of late. On that note, I'm particularly intrigued by Through The City, which pitches itself as a direct sequel to Half-Life: Opposing Force, set during the events of Half-Life 2.
A six-chapter campaign spearheaded by modder Kajlo, Through the City sees Opposing Force's errant Marine Adrian Shepard retrieved from sci-fi limbo by the G-Man, and dispatched to City 17 on a mission to support the uprising triggered by Gordon Freeman. The mod will allow you to explore new areas of City 17 and beyond, and will see some returning weapons and enemies from Opposing Force. For example, Shephard will be reunited with his trusty Wrench, which replaced Freeman's crowbar in OpFor. Meanwhile, Through the City will also feature some form of appearance by Race X, one of the alien species exclusive to Gearbox's expansion.
Perhaps most interestingly, Through the City's modding team has also managed to recruit genuine Half-Life acting talent. Two voice actors will be making a return to the Half-Life universe for the mod. Lani Minella, who voiced Colette Green in Half-Life: Decay, will be reprising her role for the mod, and Harry S. Robins, who has voiced Isaac Kleiner in every canonical Half-Life game to date, will also be making an appearance.
It all seems like a highly professional effort, and it's certainly as close as we're going to get to an Opposing Force sequel. Well, except for the other Opposing Force sequel already in existence, that is. Avid Half-Life fans may remember Prospekt, a Half-life 2 spinoff available on Steam wherein Shephard is dispatched to Nova Prospekt to help Gordon escape the Combine's maximum security prison. Like Black Mesa, Prospekt was given official Valve approval to use the Half-Life 2 license, and launch as a paid game, making it as official as an Opposing Force sequel can get without Gearbox making it themselves.
As far as I'm concerned though, there's room for more than one Opposing Force sequel. We all know that time is merely a plaything to the G-Man anyway. You can download the first chapter of Through the City as a demo on ModDB. The full version of the mod is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2023.
