Don't worry, there aren't any spoilers in here.
At some point during the Steam Summer sale I bought the Valve complete pack out of instinct. I did not actually plan to buy the pack, I only thought that it would be a good idea to buy it right ahead while it was 75% off its original price. It was one of the best fifty dollars I've ever spent, however, my desktop messed itself up during that time period, but that's a different story.
I've been playing most of the Source games included in the pack, most notably Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and the Half-Life series. However, I've been lurking Reddit for a while and heard about this awesome Half-Life 2 single player modification called Nightmare House 2. It is a survival-horror game that strangely enough, starts off in a creepy old farmhouse. I went to the mod creator's workshop and was glad that it was completely free, and only required the Half-Life 2 Episode Two game content files, which I have thanks to the Valve Complete Pack. I wget'ed it from my laptop (seriously it's sooooo fast from there) then transferred and installed it to my desktop.
The Good stuff
First, there's the game's really excellent level design. The actual first chapter, called the "Prologue", was actually the first Nightmare House game, just included in the second installment as a supplement. Most of the game occurs inside the creepy old farmhouse, however, they made excellent use of the entire house, everything was nicely and creepily decorated, and there were absolutely no loading screens during the chapter. Seriously, one thing I hate about Half-Life 2 are the annoying loading screens because apparently because of the limits of the Source engine. Nightmare House managed to go around that.
As some people put it, "Nightmare House 2 is a combination of Half-Life 2 and F.E.A.R.". This is correct. Most of the enemies you are going to be facing in the game are zombies, the dark, and the instinct to involuntarily crap your pants. Also, the final boss showdown in this game is really, really similar to GLaDoS in Portal. You don't actually "fight" the boss directly in Nightmare House 2.
The Bad stuff
One thing I didn't like about Nightmare House 2 is that the farther you get through the game the more weapons you will get that will help you survive. A survival-horror game is defined as a game where you have a limited amount of things that will help you survive and the simple fact that you have only 5 bullets in your gun is the creepy part. In the Resident Evil games I'd really happy if I manage to find a box of shotgun shells, while in Nightmare House 2 finding a box of shotgun shells is as easy as just looking around. Or maybe because I played it in easy difficulty, I got a crapload of weapons and ammunition.
Overall, I think Nightmare House 2 is a great mod to play if you have bought Half-Life 2 Episode 2. It's just that if you're expecting the game to be very much like Silent Hill, Resident Evil or Amnesia, don't bother, because in this game you can kick anything's ass with the vast array of weaponry you will be receiving.
