Black Mesa

Gonarch's Lair

Level Design & Environment Art

Gonarch's Lair is the sixteenth chapter in Black Mesa and the second part in the Xen portion of the game. It follows on from the Xen chapter as the player has been transported deeper into xen with a shift in hue and with the mysterious spire looming ever closer.

The chapter sees the player unknowingly entering into the lair of the creature Gonarch, what starts as an innocent exploration into this new area soon descends into the player having to evade the creatures attacks, while traversing the narrow tunnels and caverns filled with strange crystals and basalt columns

I was tasked with arting several large sections of the second and final map of Gonarch's Lair coupled with numerious smaller tunnels and caverns in both. The Headcrab Canyon was one of these large areas which was created to resemble the Antelope Canyon in Arizona with its unusual rock formations & claustrophobic space.

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