Underhell: Chapter 1 1.2

There's a ton of mods out there that promise great stories and gameplay and then either get cancelled, or falls completely flat. At best, they show signs of greatness for a brief moment before ending all too soon. However, the rare mods that do live up to expectations tend to be some of the best mods in the industry. One of them is Underhell: Chapter 1.

To install Underhell: Chapter 1, makes sure you have Source SDK 2007 installed, then unzip it into steam/steamapps/sourcemods. 

One of the best parts about this mod is the gameplay and the cinematic quality. Its use of music and development of the plot makes it feel amazing when you're actively participating in the story. It matches the plot beats of a classic film fantastically and the ending is very satisfying. As a story-driven mod, this does not disappoint...most of the time.

Unfortunately, that brings us to a downside - the writing, pacing, and voice acting. This game forces you far too often to sit in one spot and listen to poorly voice-acted NPCs give exposition about things that should take a fraction of the time to explain. It's as these points where the game is at its weakest - where you can't move and have to just listen.

The gameplay is standard Source engine fare, with a couple of extra bits attached. A rudimentary stealth system has been added, giving you an extra option in combat, but otherwise it plays very similarly to Half Life 2. If you want to experience a very solid, story-driven mod, then you should definitely give Underhell: Chapter 1 a download.