

In addition, Pitchford commented that Valve and Gearbox had agreed not to «severely modify» the game engine used by Half-Life and Opposing Force as it «risks breaking all of the wonderful work» that the game's custom content community was creating. Opposing Force is set in the same location and timeframe as that of Half-Life, taking place at a remote New Mexico laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility.

#Half life opposing force story software
In a later interview, Pitchford stated that he believed that Valve Software offered Gearbox the chance to make a Half-Life expansion was from a wish «to focus on their future titles». The name Opposing Force has a double meaning, referring both to the fact that the player is now one of the enemies in the original game, as well as to Newton's third law of motion. In their press release, founder Randy Pitchford stated that «our number one goal is to preserve the integrity of Half-Life and provide new experiences that expand upon the sensation of the original», and also announced that the expansion pack would allow the player to play as one of the soldiers featured in the original game. Development Half-Life: Opposing Force was first announced by developer Gearbox Software on April 15, 1999. The game closes with the G-Man detaining Shephard someplace where he can tell no one of what he has seen and cannot be harmed, pending further evaluation. Shephard makes it to the Lambda Complex alive, and briefly sees Gordon Freeman as the latter teleports to Xen in the final stages of Half-Life.Īs the G-Man congratulates Shephard on his accomplishments, the nuclear device detonates in the background, destroying Black Mesa.

Other Marines who have also been left behind team up with Shephard and attempt to reach another extraction point near Black Mesa's Lambda Complex, but en route they come under attack from black operations units seeking to thoroughly contain the situation and eliminate all survivors. However, Shephard is prevented from reaching the extraction point by the enigmatic G-Man, forcing the evacuation craft to leave without him. Consequently, Shephard departs to reach an extraction point and escape the facility. Shephard regains consciousness in a Black Mesa medical bay, tended to by the science team, learning that the Marines are being steadily beaten by the alien forces from Xen and orders have come through to pull out. However, as they are nearing their Landing Zone at Black Mesa, airborne alien creatures attack the Osprey formation, causing Shephard's Osprey to crash land.
