Half-Life 2 Mod The Temple Takes Horror to Sea, Sky, and Space

The Temple, a Half-Life 2 total conversion, expands a 20-minute MapLabs mod into a 2+ hour sci-fi horror adventure with submarine, airship, and space shuttle exploration.

Ever played a horror game that made you terrified of the ocean? Iron Lung did that for many. But what if you could take that same dread and blast it into space? That's exactly what The Temple, an upcoming Half-Life 2 total conversion, is aiming for.

The Temple drops you on an aquatic planet filled with bizarre concrete megastructures. Your job? Explore it using three distinct vehicles: a submarine for the ocean depths, an airship for the skies and abandoned towers, and a space shuttle for traveling to asteroidal moons. It's like someone looked at Iron Lung and said, "Hold my beer, we're going to space."

Originally, The Temple was just a pair of maps for MapLabs, a mod that collects maps from Source engine modding competitions. That initial version was short—around 20 minutes. But now, creator Klems is revamping and expanding those maps, plus adding a third, for over two hours of exploration-based sci-fi horror. There's even a trailer showing all three vehicles in action.

For a Half-Life 2 mod, it looks surprisingly polished, with a real eye for colossal structures. And the scares don't stop at the vehicles. You'll encounter Amnesia: The Dark Descent-style invisible water monsters, and a talking crow (or at least a crow whose language you can understand) that helps guide you. That alone is enough to get me on board.

While there's no specific release date yet, Klems says it will launch "very soon, possibly next month." So keep your eyes peeled. If you're a fan of vehicular horror or just want more Half-Life 2 mods to sink your teeth into, The Temple should be on your radar.

What do you think? Will you be diving into The Temple when it drops?