Journal #8059

I just played an EP2 mod called Black Snow, because it was one of the moddb nominees. Before playing, I did NOT look at any of the media and therefore have no idea what type of mod this is. I was wondering whether Combine soldiers will show up while staring at the loading screen for this mod.

There are spoilers up ahead. But I kept most of it vague. It should be alright.

Anyway you play a Japanese dude, I think. He was part of a small assessment team sent to a research facility in the frozen snow when they failed to report for a week. Reminds me of that one mission from Condition Zero Deleted Scenes, where the Spetznaz was sent in to a Siberian nuclear silo when the scientists failed to report in. So basically, I thought there would be like Combine terrorists that attacked the facility and I would have to take them down with stock HL2 weapons. No big deal.

Well a few minutes into the mod and I was the last guy alive. The gameplay turned out to be mainly puzzles and there was this axe that couldn't be taken because it electrocutes me. It was strange that the assessment team wasn't even equipped with weapons but that's too bad. It took me about 10 minutes to get out of the first building.

It was a dark and snowy night. Forlorn and abandoned, the setting instantly reminded me of a movie called The Thing. Going in a snowstorm from building to building to find your way out. In fact, the entire storyline of the game (revealed thru logs and emails) seems to be very similar to The Thing (remake). The puzzles get really hard, but only because I got so thoroughly scared that I was too afraid to go into some of the rooms.

Is this mod scary? I got pretty scared with this, even though mods like Grey didn't scare me much at all. Well, for one, scripted jump scares are not around much. The only jumping you'll be doing is when the Things attack you, because you'll never see them coming. What kind of Things are these? Well if the title of the mod means anything, then you can surely imagine.

As good this this mod may sound right now, I am obliged to give you both sides of the picture. Even as a moddb nominee, there are loads of problems with this mod that I suspect will prevent it from getting the honors, some of which are listed below: (spoilers, kept vague just for you)

• Number one problem: way too short and has an unfinished feel (think Residual Life, but worse)
• A very difficult section involving a 'moving' light that apparently is not essential for progressing thru the mod
• Being able to get trapped by Things in a storage room or something similar (no auto-heal, you can only heal at heaters, some of which are inconveniently broken)
• An unreliable inventory screen that does not display all the items you have
• Some doors inexplicably open when you get something completely unrelated to it, while other inexplicably close and trapping you in with the Things (scary, isn't it?)
• Having to depend on an extremely limited number of flares (Like in EP1, except you have NO defensive weapons or protective girlfriend whatsoever)

In fact, you never get a weapon ever. I suppose this is what Dimbark wanted to get at when he tried making a horror mod. But we all know what tends to happen with Dimbark's projects

Anyway about this mod. It is pretty scarey for me. You do not have a flashlight or NVG or anything like that, so when staring at a darkened room you should expect the worst. Those Things are pretty nasty: think of them as invisible silent scouts with Force-a-Natures----the knockback is atrocious.

I got REALLY paranoid while playing this. I think you should try it out just because it is kinda different from your average HL2 horror mod. No weapons, no flashlight. Kinda like Amnesia? I dunno. I never played that. The only thing I know about Amnesia is that you have to hide in the closet or something.