A Half-Life fan has added Gordon Freeman's entire arsenal to Quake.

Half-Life 3 has never felt closer, but as the agonizing wait continues until 2026, we once again look to the community to fill the void in our lives created by Gordon Freeman.

As always — well, except for Hunt Down the Freeman — they did not disappoint. Rounding out the year is the incredibly impressive Quake-Life. It's a complete overhaul, with an MIT graduate in a bright orange HEV suit slipping through a slipgate and fighting off a legion of Shub-Niggurath.

I like to imagine what Quake-Life would be like if Gordon rejected the G-Man's offer.

He maintains his entire arsenal, from the iconic red crowbar to the Tau cannon and even the satchel charge and snark, disassembled to near 1:1 accuracy from the original Quake engine. Considering that Half-Life was developed on a modified version of the same engine called GoldSrc, it's quite interesting to see the gameplay take a step back in time.

How to Install Quake-Life

You can install mods for the original Quake or for the updated Bethesda version, and the process is very simple.

Download the 1.0 release here.
Extract the files to the Quake folder (or the rerelease subfolder for Bethesda versions).
Create a shortcut to the Quake application.
In the 'Shortcut' tab of Properties, in the Description box, type “+exec halflife.cfg -game HalfLife” (without the quotes).

Then boot the game via the shortcut and you'll be playing Quake-Life. The menus are slightly different, including Half-Life sound effects and new backgrounds, and as soon as you start a new game you'll immediately notice that you have Gordon Freeman's weapons and not the Ranger's.

The mod also overhauls the UI to make it more Half-Life-like, and there are crates you can smash using a crowbar, a HEV charging station, and some dematch levels, allowing you to experience what Valve's defining classic would have actually looked like if it had been created in the original Quake engine.

But if Half-Life isn't enough to keep you hooked until 2026, check out the latest Raising the Bar: Redux update. This update features a surprising vortigaunt redesign that better matches the original game, as well as beta-style antlion thumpers scattered throughout the wasteland.