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News video games 22 February 2021, 18:14

author: Jacob Blazewicz

Half-Life 2 Lambda Wars Released. Here's How You Battle the Combine in RTS

Half-Life 3 remains a myth, but we still have an excuse to return to the series. What excude, you ask? Well, version 1.0 of the free mod Lambda Wars was release on Steam.

Half-Life fans are used to long waiting. Jokes about Half-Life 3 being "confirmed" have already made their way into online mythology, and fans have had to wait nearly 13 years for a new game in the series. The same amount of time passed before the full version of Lambda Wars, a standalone Alien Swarm mod set in the Half-Life universe, saw the light of day. The game is now available for free on Steam in version 1.0.

Lambda Wars is a real-time strategy in which we side with the Resistance or the Combine (there's also a third playable faction, but only in sandbox mode) across multiple online modes or single-player skirmishes and missions. As the mod has received Valve's blessing, it features faithfully reproduced units, buildings and other elements known from the Half-Life universe.

The mod originally hit Steam in 2014 as part of the now-defunct Steam Greenlight program, nearly 7 years after work on the title began. However, Lambda Wars officially remained in beta until last Saturday, which was partly due to the fact that the developers treated it as a "passion project" (read: they weren't raising funds for the game's development). Not that it spoiled the fun for players, at least judging by the positive reviews on Steam. Version 1.0 introduces a lot of fixes, but also modifies models for some units and buildings. There are also new structures and troops, including heavy infantry for both sides.

Jacob Blazewicz

Jacob Blazewicz

Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with GRYOnline.pl in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).

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