Half-Life: Cross Product Multiplayer gets a Steam release

Half-Life: Cross Product Multiplayer is a free mod for Half-Life that's basically a big overhaul of HLDM (Half-Life Deathmatch) and now it's now on Steam. They regularly upgrade it with new maps, game modes and more. It even has Native Linux support too.

The Steam release arrived with an updated "Season 9" which brings a lot of upgrades, including controller support with Steam Input and also Steam Workshop support now too. They're planning a "Season 10" update for later this year with "new maps, new modes, and new surprises". They're also working on their own single-player campaign to eventually release.

As for why you may want to play it? They explained in the release announcement:

If you've ever wished HLDM had more variety and Quality-of-Life, or you enjoyed arena games and mods of the era like Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, and Adrenaline Gamer, this is for you. Some highlights include but not limited to:

• Adaptive gamemode system with CTF support across almost every map.

  • Social & competitive gamemodes such as Snipers, Arcade, SWAT, GOAT, CTF, Domination, One In the Chamber, and more to come in Season 10.

• Gameplay enhancements - shield regeneration, soundtrack, and modern viewbobbing - some major, some subtle things, all from the internal developments made to the campaign.

• Refined classic maps such as Crossfire & Datacore - with in-universe lore adaptations, quality enhancements, details, smoother lighting, and more.

• Steam Workshop support for maps & other addons like sounds, music, and playermodels.

• Aura SDK Toolkit (Harbinger, Spectra, Tessera, Helix, Sapien) for creators.

• Open-source community-driven codebase (Aura)

• Seasonal updates - we're currently in Season 9, and Season 10 is in the works.

• Native Linux support