NOVEMBER 28, 2025
It has been over 3 years since our last update and a lot has happened since then. Today we invite you to join us for our biggest studio update so far! Where to begin...
Those who have been following us for a while know that we are no strangers to ups and downs, and like a phoenix we had a habit of burning down only to rise up from the ashes. This time, however is a little different. What comes from that pile of dust is not another phoenix, but an opportunity for something brand new...
Welcome to Dark Vector!
As years went on, we became aware that Black Phoenix was not the only studio bearing that name... in fact, over the past decade it turned out that a number of game developers popped up under a similar name. While we may have been the first, and Black Phoenix will always be a huge part of our legacy, we've made a decision to rebrand in order to avoid confusion and stand unique amongst our peers.
It also felt like a good opportunity to do a soft reset and revitalize our group. As Dark Vector, we strive to make games, to tell stories and commit to the craft of game development powered by human creativity and ambition - turning against the tide of AI generated content.
However, we didn't come here today just to talk about logos or policies. We want to entertain you, and seek your feedback on things that were in our oven for the past 3 years... and we do have quite a fair bit to show you today so how about we get straight into it, shall we?
Half-Life Arena is back! The small HLDM mod originally made and published back in 2021 as a nod to the original Head-to-Head multiplayer mode from the Playstation 2 version of Half-Life returns with a batch of new content.
Battle across four new maps: Library, Outpost, Pipeline and Radio. It also comes with minor tweaks and bugfixes... aswell as a full Steam release! Yes, Arena will now be more accessible than ever as it comes to Steam on December 12th!
Have you ever wondered... what if Half-Life was developed in 1996 by idSoftware? We asked ourselves that question 2 years ago, and ever since then we have been working on bringing that alternate reality to our own: we are excited to announce our latest project - Half-Life: Element 64!
This full-fleged mod will transform the regular Half-Life into a boomer shooter inspired by oldschool classics such as Doom and Quake. Complete with its own original campaign split into four episodes, Element 64 is going to take you on a journey across alien infested labs, dark subterreanen networks, military occupied bases and more!
Fight through hordes of enemies, find your way through the levels, uncover secrets and strive to obtain the best score as you work your way to clear Black Mesa Research Facility from the incursion.
Half-Life: Element 64 will be complete with its own soundtrack aswell as humorous touch... and the best part? You can play the first episode RIGHT NOW! Yes, the demo for Element 64 is now available, go try it out and let us know what you think! Just don't slip on the wet floor
...remember Resurgence? That little Half-Life 2 mod we've been working on since 2013? Yes, that one...
Well, we have some good, bad, and unexpected news. As the years went on, so did our ambitions regarding the project that aimed to look at the universe of Half-Life through a very different, unique lens. Our growing ambition got thwarted not only by the overestimating our manpower, but also the pandemic which forced us to take a sabbatical from the development. As we entertained resurrecting this mod over the past few years, it became clear it would be near impossible to achieve what we wanted it to be with the limited resources at our disposal.
With that, we have to accept the reality that regretfully, Resurgence will remain a dream and as such, the development of the game as it were can be considered discontinued. However! Because it has over 10 years of history, as our team at Black Phoenix went through many bumps and setbacks, many milestones and achievements, the development of this project really became a rich history in itself.
We'd hate for all that progress and effort to go to complete waste, and for a time we entertained the idea of simply publishing what we had, so those who are interested could at least get a glimpse into what the game was supposed to be... but that would be too simple for us. So, instead we decided to take this a step further and turn Resurgence into an interactive documentary: we'll take you on a journey across time and space, let you play through select levels which passed the playable state and explore those that didn't... including bits of the game that were lost to time, parts of the story that were rewritten and more, all accompanied by a guided narration from the developers.
This... is The Making of Resurgence
As our plans evolve, we may have more to share with you on the existing projects aswell as some other things that may be on the table in coming months.
Thank you for joining us on this much belated update, we hope you'll have fun battling it out on the various landscapes of Arena, exploring the intricacies of game development in The Making of Resurgence, or preventing an alien invasion in Element 64.
We are looking forward to what 2026 has in store for us, and what we have in store for you!