One of the most interesting things about the "Half-Life" series is that its hero, Gordon Freeman, has gradually been overshadowed by supporting roles. Bernie Calhoun in Blueshift; Adrian Shepherd in Opposing Force; and in 2020, Alix Vance even launched her own game, further pushing Freeman out of the spotlight.

In 2022, a mod for Half-Life 2 brought another supporting character into the light of day: the Entropy: (open in new tab)Zero 2 does not feature any Half-Life heroes, but focuses on the adventures of one of the bad guys, an elite soldier from the combine. The game will be released in late December. And in late December, players voted Zero 2 Mod of the Year (opens in new tab) on Moddb.

This award is well deserved. I played Entropy: a long campaign, exciting sequences where you can fight rebels alongside combine hardware like choppers and hunters, inventive levels and puzzle solving, and a deep dive into the lost final chapter of Half-Life 2. Valve did not offer Episode 3, but this mod will fill the gap nicely.

This mod by developer Breadman is a sequel to 2017's Entropy Zero (opens in new tab), which plays as the Combine Metro Cop before Freeman arrives in City 17. This time, in the post-Freeman timeline, there are new weapons and vehicles, plus an interesting storyline in which you try to track down another Combine elite who seems to have important information about your history. It's good from start to finish and one of the best Half-Life 2 mods I've played so far.

Also in the Players' Choice Top 10 Mods of 2022 are Coterminus (opens in new tab) (also for Half-Life 2) and Voxel Doom (opens in new tab) (makes Doom properly 3D). moddb ( opens in a new tab) to check out the full list of winners.