The gameplay was superb, but I felt completely let down by the ending. Why go through that just to see

? And then what – Union Part 2 would be marvellous!

Play it now, for sure.

An amazing job, surely too short, but every fan has to play it, to see that there is not only Alyx Vance in the world of cool sidekicks in HL

Too short! I’d love to have MORE of this. Excellent work, well thought out battle action areas. I had no trouble with the sniper, just a matter of figuring out where to go.

I would say that this would easily have fit in HL2, in Nova Prospekt or perhaps a return run through there. Good use of music, and I shall miss the Vort.

I was put off this map pack by the first video of the antlion section which looked tedious.
It was only by coming across such positive comments that I realised I might be missing out and I was.
My thanks to the commenters.

My especial thanks to Matt Glanville for a superb mod.
I was tempted to PF but it’s just not long enough. PF’s need high replay value for me.
I played at all 3 skills so I know this mod very well indeed but it’s short enough to remember it all and ther’s nothing more to explore – no need to replay.

A little gem nonetheless.

I don’t know how many other SP maps and mods you have played, but I suspect your will be highly disappointed with 99.99% of them, if you didn’t enjoy this one.

The changes to this early corridor imply that Nova Prospekt is larger than the accessible areas, and that it is falling into significant disrepair. These little touches will combine to create a richer experience for the player and reveal more backstory.

If you were curious about the background of Union’s protagonist, or where he might be headed after it ends, be sure to check out ReUnion when it’s finished. There’s no set release date yet, but watch this space for any updates.

In short: Fighting against antlions was too repetitive and hard. The second map was a bit short, but sweeter nonetheless. Mapping was flawless in design and implementation. I give it three stars.

SPOILERS
Awash in a sea of countless Nova Prospekt maps, Union stands out with its character interaction, great lighting and architecture, and its nifty gimmick. Most of the puzzles are based on the idea that you need to clear the way for the Vortigaunt to use a machine to open a door. Just as Valve does, the mechanic is introduced early on in a simple context and layer upon layer of complexity is added thereafter. It’s a simple but effective mechanic. I have to admit, the battle with the Antlions in the “washing machine room” went on a bit long. But I liked the mix of Antlions and their acid-spitting cousins. You really got to appreciate the difference in strategy between the two enemies.

As I said, there is a genuine scare in the map and it comes from the Hunters. They way they are presented is superb. Fighting them in the confines of the prison really made me realize how tall and formidable they were as well.

You eventually get outside and encounter a sniper as rain pours down from above. Very dramatic. However, I also think this part was a bit too challenging. One, the road ahead just isn’t lit convincingly enough. There are times when I’d speed out and get shot, just to see if I was actually on the right track. Two, that part where you have to actually take cover behind the garbage bin props didn’t seem adequate.

That said, exacting revenge on the sniper was awesome and a nice twist on the typical grenade mechanic (I did chuck some grenades up there initially… metal bars or not, since that’s how the player is “trained” to kill the sniper). The author even installed a thoughtful little shortcut for getting back down.

We end on a somber note, with you escaping at the Vortigaunt’s expense. The ending was a bit abrupt. The melodramatic setup for this mod really doesn’t manifest itself anywhere – honestly not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing since I thought it was a bit too melodramatic for my tastes.

Still, out of all the mods I’ve played, I had few bad things to note about this one. It really is an excellent mod. Don’t let the two-map length deceive you, there’s a lot going on here. You need to play this.

(As a side note, I had some goofy cubemap issue that I’ll just assume was something weird on my end… no idea)

also ahd that strange bug that crashed my system and if i went around it then the antlions didn´t come. skip this with noclip. great maps, but that left a bitter taste.

Not sure if you saw the solution, but it is quite simple. You need to press a button right near the Vortigaunt (other side of the gate). It is explained in the readme file. Glad you liked it all the same though.

And for everyone with that crash:
In the middle of the screen is some kind of “invisible error message” behind the “gamelayer”, try clicking around until you find the “ok”. or what i did first: go in “standby”-mode. If i push the power button my pc goes to standby, after waking it up again the “gamelayer” is gone and you can see the error message.