Have you Heard of a mod Called Hypertension?

I have, but not a lot, I'll admit. I've often heard of ZBlood or Transfusion, projects which have tried to port Blood into the Doom and Quake engine, respectively. This one is also being created in a Doom based engine, but a highly tweaked form, called Hyper3dge, a variant of the EDGE engine derived from the Doom source code.

Well, I came across a news update on Planet Doom recently which talked about the Hypertension mod, and about an interview that took place on Diehard Gamefan with the team working on the project. It's been revealed that this mod will be available for PC, Mac, Linux, GP2X Whiz, and oddly enough, the Sega Dreamcast (which is why Diehard Gamefan became interested in the first place, being fans of the console, as are certain members of the team).

Since I am playing the original Blood right as we speak, I was naturally interested and decided to check it out.

It's a lot of reading to wade through, but there are some good bits, and I can't help but have the feeling that this isn't just your average mod. There will be stuff brought back from Blood, as well as the somewhat disappointing sequel, Blood II: The Chosen, as well as all new stuff too. So instead of just a straight port, there will be a fresh experience, created by having two playable characters (one of them being Caleb, our favourite sadistic maniac from the original), as well as a new story, bridging the original Blood games in an all-new take, including some new gameplay such as RPG elements. There's also some effort going into acting, cinematics, and the soundtrack too. The team seems to like blowing their own horn(s) when it comes to what they've been able to achieve with the mod, saying that even John Carmack would be impressed.

From looking at their blog, the mod seems to have been in development since last year, and all of a sudden there's this renewed interest in it, after a few trailers were released last month and this month. Supposedly the mod has been delayed.

Blood is an oft debated title, especially in modding circles, seeing as the source code for the game hasn't been released, even all these years later, while Shadow Warrior and especially Duke Nukem 3D have all gotten a lot of attention over the years with multiple source ports because the source codes for the game were released several years back. When you look at what has been accomplished with Duke 3D, with the HRP, Polymer, and Duke Plus, you just can't believe it's the same game. It's astounding.

Besides, I still haven't heard any mention of a third Blood game coming any time soon, so for the moment, Hypertension looks bloody good.

Have you Heard of a mod Called Hypertension?