DECEMBER 12, 2025
First of all, we want to thank everyone who has supported us over the years and to those who expressed interest in our projects over the past 2 weeks. The Grand Update was a bigger success than we had anticipated, and while there is still a lot of work ahead of us, we are humbled by response Half-Life: Element 64, Arena and The Making of Resurgence have received.
Most importantly - as of right now, Half-Life Arena is officially out! You can now jump in and start your own bite-sized mayhem with bots (or humans, if you please) on one of 16 maps available at launch. To reiterate and clarify - Half-Life Arena is a mod that distills the dynamic combat of original deathmatch into a tight package - made specifically for offline play with bots, or LAN parties with friends. While it is possible to host your own public server, Arena caters mainly to niche mentioned before, and is now more accessible than ever as it launches on Steam. Aside from four new maps: Library, Outpost, Pipeline and Radio - it also comes with balance tweaks, existing map improvements and oh... it now runs on the latest verion of GoldSource engine with all the benefits of 25th Anniversary upgrades. Jump in and see for yourself!
We have also been monitoring feedback you have shared with us in regards to demo of Half-Life: Element 64 and rest assured, it will be taken into consideration as we move forward with the development of the mod. In fact, it feels like a good opportunity for us to compile a little FAQ and make it clear what you can expect to change in the full release:
Q) The crosshairs are too big and chunky! Can you fix them?
A) Yes, in fact we are looking into giving players an option to choose their own preferred type of crosshair from a range we aim to provide (pun intended)
Q) Auto-aim seems to be enabled by default, is that intentional?
A) No, it's likely a relic of Half-Life 1 itself. We are going to look into completely removing auto-aim from full release, or at least making sure it's disabled by default
Q) Weapon balance feels off, is it going to be addressed?
A) It will, we have heard your thoughts but it will probably take a while before we refine it enough to share the results, but we will inform you of confirmed changes before the full release!
Q) Can you share your philosophy behind the balance changes?
A) We want both the weapons and the monsters to offer a variety of experiences. While the current weapon roster is limited to 8 weapons in Element 64, we want each of them to provide its own unique flavor. Our ultimate goal is for the Pistol to be mighty but imperfect, shotgun to blast enemies up close, SMG to excel at mid-range, and Spore Launcher to be good for dealing a lot of concentrated damage, or hurting enemies around the corner. The rest... well, you'll see!
Q) Is Element 64 going to have achievements at release?
A) While we can't confirm that yet, it is certainly on our to do list and we are looking into it!
Q) What about Xen?
A) While each of four chapters are going to have their own unique themes, none of them are planned to be Xen-themed... but there a few things we want you to uncover yourself ;)
Q) Release date?
A) We haven't announced a release date yet, and we are not going to until it will be absolutely set in stone. All we can say for now is that it's unlikely to launch sooner than Q4 2026 as there is still a lot of work ahead!
Finally, to celebrate Steam launch of Half-Life Arena, why not share some music? Here you can listen to title themes of all three projects we have announced in The Grand Update:
Once again thank you for your support - now enter the Arena, have some fun and enjoy the upcoming holidays. We are looking forward to sharing more updates with you in 2026!