Black Mesa, the authorised fan-reimagining of the classic first Half-Life, will finally exit Early Access at the beginning of March.

It will be available as version 1.0 from 5 March on Steam.

The project to update the original Half-Life to modern standards started 14 years ago, with dedicated fans eventually forming indie development studio Crowbar Collective in order to realise their ambitious undertaking.

Not only will the final version have stunning new graphics, the musical score has been recomposed and voice acting has been brought up to date throughout.

Half-life Black Mesa 10 Gets A Full Steam Release Date Fan Reimagining Coming Very Soon image 2
Crowbar Collective

If you've played the original Half-Life recently, you'll note that the in-game voices in particular were recorded in very low bitrates and sound crude to today's standards. Black Mesa, however, should offer the same thrilling game experience, but at greatly enhanced levels.

The game is already available on Steam in its Early Access build, which includes both the single-player campaign and multiplayer. A 1.0 public beta was released earlier in February, but the last leg of the long journey is now in sight.

"Through luck, hard work, and maybe a bit of ignorance we didn’t shy away from our goal of bringing this game to completion. We are proud of what we built. We think this upcoming 1.0 release is the best, most polished, and most fun version of the game yet. The anticipation and excitement around our project is beyond flattering," said Black Mesa's project lead, Adam Engels.

Crowbar Collective will continue to support Black Mesa after its full release, with patches and bug fixes.

It costs £14.99 on Steam.