I agree with you. I’m a huge fan of the series, and I love them all, but I also think my favourite will always be the first one. I honestly think there are many parts of its design that are just impressive, but also subtle enough that they are rarely recognised.

It does of course also have its weak points, that can be critiqued, but I would be boring you with a nitpicky critique, in a long form format, outside the scope of what anyone would want from a Lemmy comment, if I started on that, I think.

I do think Half-Life qualifies as a masterpiece, though. That’s why I am always sad to see when it is recommended to newcomers to the series as the way to experience original, you know? Hell no. It’s an inferior game in many ways.

Black Mesa was a really fun fan homage to Half-Life. I played it several times, and I’m glad that it exists. I think it’s great that it sometimes put its own spin on things, instead of trying to be a 1:1 recreation (because, then, what would be the point, when Half-Life already exists?), but there were some of its design choices that seemed kinda not thought through, and randomly contrarian to its source (pun not intended, hah) material. Its soundtrack was also stupefying… Not only was it bad, in terms of quality, but it seemed like an antithesis to Half-Life’s soundtrack, which was very head-scratching, considering that the game seemed to try to aim at capturing the spirit and essence of Half-Life.

…and then you smell the ashes.