Project Borealis is back in the public eye with a new developer update video showcasing many of the features coming to this fan-made rendition of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. (If you’ve missed what Project Borealis is all about, you can follow that link for our interview with the developers and some background.) It also marks the start of more regular updates on the project’s progress.
A five-minute video shows uninterrupted gameplay from a work-in-progress version of a level where Gordon has to infiltrate a Combine facility. Plenty of elements there are still placeholder – which should be obvious by the giant, primary-colour boxes that serve as buildings – but elements like enemy AI and destructible environments already look pretty impressive.
The real cool stuff is in the test footage from the full update video, though. The developers are working to expand the physics system and the features of the Gravity Gun. Object around your target will now be affected when you fire off a gravity shot, and there’s even a vortex alt-fire mode in the works that will let you send a swirling tornado of objects screaming around the environment.
The team also wants to expand the physics with a detailed weather system – you’re in an arctic environment after all, so you’re going to see wind and air drag modeled in-game.
You can see far more in the full video above.
Read more: Let’s run down the whole Half-Life 3 saga
Valve’s still reticent to count to three, but its support of projects like Black Mesa hopefully means that Project Borealis won’t suffer the same fate as so many fan games that have come before.