Half-Life Turns 25, Relive the Legend with 25th Anniversary Update, Now on Steam

[btarunr]

Half-Life launched 25 years ago this Sunday (November 19, 1998 to be exact) and we felt like a celebration and some attention to the game itself was long overdue. We're marking the occasion by making Half-Life free-to-keep for anyone adding it to their library this weekend, and putting the rest of the games in the franchise on discount during that time.

Plus, we've worked on sprucing up the overall player experience and added or restored content for the game. You can read about the updates in detail on our new webpage created just for this occasion. We also got folks from the original dev team together to talk about their experience making it, and luckily time has not been cruel to their memories.



Check out the cool new webpage we created for the occasion to watch the video and read more about the updates.

Happy Anniversary, Half-Life (now officially verified on Steam Deck too)!

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Space Lynx]

Just downloaded it on my Steam Deck, should be interesting, thanks! Never actually played it, as I was waiting for Black Mesa remake to be on sale someday. I think I will just play it this way now.

 

[RayneYoruka]

About time to give it a run again

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Nice, i have everything half-life in my library.

Just downloaded it on my Steam Deck, should be interesting, thanks! Never actually played it, as I was waiting for Black Mesa remake to be on sale someday. I think I will just play it this way now.

That black mesa remake is very very good imo

 

[Space Lynx]

Nice, i have everything half-life in my library.



That black mesa remake is very very good imo

View attachment 322353

you are still missing Alyx, VR is too expensive for me though too so I understand.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

you are still missing Alyx, VR is too expensive for me though too so I understand.

I know, i don't count that, not interested in VR, life is my VR

Episode 1 and 2 are very good too if you have never played them.

 

[Chomiq]

WTF?! They released this for free 25 years after I paid my $60 for it. I want my money back Valve!

 

[csendesmark]

I love that they still care
Would also mention Half-Life: MMod which is a free mod changing a lot to the better in the original HL, like converting all hit-scan weapon to projectile style.
Would also recommend Field Intensity, which is an Opposing Force mod!
I totally agree with @FoulOnWhite Black Mesa is a great remake, especially for those zoomers whom can't appreciate the Original game's 90's look, but want to experience Half Life!
And of course there is a bunch of mod for Black Mesa too with looong hours of gameplay like: Azure Sheep and Black Mesa Blue Shift remake (which is on the making).
Hope that my comment of these mods are new for you!
Enjoy

WTF?! They released this for free 25 years after I paid my $60 for it. I want my money back Valve!

It was only $50 back then

 

[The Quim Reaper]

Well. No one can ever say they haven't had their moneys worth out of Half Life over the years...

 

[TheDeeGee]

Had hoped they polished it up like the new multiplayer levels.

Just detail it up a bit more with props and lighting.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I just downloaded a 4K texture pack and use the HL:2 Update version that has community's fixes and commentaries. Pretty fun way to enjoy again.

 

[Chomiq]

It was only $50 back then

That's like $2 million adjusted for inflation.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

I love that they still care
Would also mention Half-Life: MMod which is a free mod changing a lot to the better in the original HL, like converting all hit-scan weapon to projectile style.
Would also recommend Field Intensity, which is an Opposing Force mod!
I totally agree with @FoulOnWhite Black Mesa is a great remake, especially for those zoomers whom can't appreciate the Original game's 90's look, but want to experience Half Life!
And of course there is a bunch of mod for Black Mesa too with looong hours of gameplay like: Azure Sheep and Black Mesa Blue Shift remake (which is on the making).
Hope that my comment of these mods are new for you!
Enjoy


It was only $50 back then

I really enjoyed the Black Mesa remake.

Just going to have a look at Azure Sheep

 

[MarsM4N]

I love that they still care
Would also mention Half-Life: MMod which is a free mod changing a lot to the better in the original HL, like converting all hit-scan weapon to projectile style.
Would also recommend Field Intensity, which is an Opposing Force mod!

Exactly. There are tons of mods out there for the Half Life (Source) games. All made by the Steam community, for FREE.
Community Mods: Half-Life
Community Mods: Half-Life 2

And there are even more mods you can find on Steam that are not listed on the games sites. The most famous would be "Black Mesa" (not free). Or "No More Room in Hell". And like you mentioned even more mods from ModDB. My all time favourite mod was "INSURGENCY: Modern Infantry Combat". It's sadly dead now (folks moved on to their newer Insurgency games), but back then it was the perfect alternative for folks who thought Counter Strike is like cold coffee. Fragged the s**t out of it.

(Bonus: epic Insurgency Soundtrack)

 

[neatfeatguy]

Just downloaded it on my Steam Deck, should be interesting, thanks! Never actually played it, as I was waiting for Black Mesa remake to be on sale someday. I think I will just play it this way now.

While Half-Life is entertaining the first time through, I actually enjoyed Blue Shift and Opposing Force more, those two are certainly worth playing if you find the original Half-Life any good.

 

[Chrispy_]

Just downloaded it on my Steam Deck, should be interesting, thanks! Never actually played it, as I was waiting for Black Mesa remake to be on sale someday. I think I will just play it this way now.

It's still, even to this day, a really good game that has decent gunplay and an excellent range of environments and scenery to enjoy the plot in. Some of the platforming aspects are a bit dated now but that's not a big part of the game so it's not a big deal.

Personally, I'd recommend playing Black Mesa because the final chapter of the original HL1 is a bit underwhelming and the Black Mesa team really put in the extra work to bring it up to the same excellent standard as the rest of the game.

Anyway, I bought HL1, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift on CD, so I've never actually owned it on Steam - something I'm going to finally correct in the next 9 seconds....

 

[xorbe]

you are still missing Alyx, VR

This might sound weird, but as a firearms owner, in the VR game when I first had to aim at a zombie head and pull the trigger, I physically sweated and it made me super uneasy. I actually uninstalled the game over this. It's way realistic versus looking at the screen and clicking the mouse.

edit: Wanted to clarify shooting in VR isn't a problem, I played other arcade-ish VR multi-player shooters. It was specifically how I had to use the pistol's sites like a real gun. It really got me and creeped me out. The VR game where you take the elevator and "walk out onto a ledge", we used an 8'x1' board on the ground and fanned some air at a friend, she was in honest tears, and we couldn't get the headset off of her fast enough. VR can have a really strong effect.

 

[Readlight]

Made on windows 95 with 512MB RAM?

 

[caroline!]

It's nice they've used the Sierra menu, that's how I first played the game, and indeed in a 640x480 CRT. Now I'll play in a 2048x1536 CRT, big upgrade.

However the Steam version you can get now is FAR different from what WON or "Day 1" release was, there are several tricks that don't work anymore, the most famous one being skipping the whole "We've got hostiles" level by shooting a scientist in the leg... there's also an ugly part of Office Complex you could skip by pushing a security guard against a door so that he could open it, oh and there was an invisible zombie waiting for you on the other side, iirc this happens just before We've got hostiles start. The gauss jump is also different, useful to skip the gargantua fight at the part where you have to use the artillery thingie on top of a water tank to open a door... small changes tho.

This might sound weird, but as a firearms owner, in the VR game when I first had to aim at a zombie head and pull the trigger, I physically sweated and it made me super uneasy. I actually uninstalled the game over this. It's way realistic versus looking at the screen and clicking the mouse.

You can get the no-vr patch and play it as usual. Some of the elements have been simplified in order to be used with keyboard and mouse tho, like the pistol animations or the interaction with in-game items, you can't see your arms either it's just a floating pistol.

I own guns too but not a VR set ^^

 

[Kyan]

However the Steam version you can get now is FAR different from what WON or "Day 1" release was, there are several tricks that don't work anymore, the most famous one being skipping the whole "We've got hostiles" level by shooting a scientist in the leg... there's also an ugly part of Office Complex you could skip by pushing a security guard against a door so that he could open it, oh and there was an invisible zombie waiting for you on the other side, iirc this happens just before We've got hostiles start. The gauss jump is also different, useful to skip the gargantua fight at the part where you have to use the artillery thingie on top of a water tank to open a door... small changes tho.

I'm pretty sure they still works, even in complete real life

 

[AusWolf]

WTF?! They released this for free 25 years after I paid my $60 for it. I want my money back Valve!

Not to mention, it runs way better on my PC than it did 25 years ago.

Being an early adopter sucks, I guess.

 

[RayneYoruka]

you are still missing Alyx, VR is too expensive for me though too so I understand.

I need to get around playing it, I've just been lazy, wondering if I should upgrade first to the quest 3 XD

Quest 2 lenses quality has thrown me off lately

 

[alwayssts]

Just saw this doc and thought to myself as I was watching it "I wonder if they hired Danny O’Dwyer and crew to work on this."

Fast forward to credits and was pleasantly surprised to learn it is indeed Danny and his (NoClip/Secret Tape) team. Very cool to see that; goes to show Valve has their finger on the pulse of the medium in more ways than one.

Glad Danny has now officially become 'that guy', not just to make things on his own or suggested accord, but for companies to officially document their productions, past and current. Good on him/them for filling that void and doing it very well imho.

 

[caroline!]

I'm pretty sure they still works, even in complete real life

Just tried the classics skip we've hot hostiles by using the scientist and power up with the tripmine hop and they work, nice.