The Half-Life Series — How Valve's Debut Changed FPS Storytelling
From Valve's 1998 debut Half-Life to Half-Life 2 and the VR game Half-Life: Alyx: origins, gameplay, why it's a classic, and how to play it today.
Half-Life is a first-person shooter series made by Valve in the United States. The first title, released in 1998, was the first game Valve ever made, and it had a major influence on the FPS genre by carrying its story all the way through from the player's point of view without cutscenes. Its protagonist, theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman, who never says a word, became one of the most celebrated protagonists in gaming history.
The series is famous not only for the games themselves but also for what grew up around them. Counter-Strike began as a Half-Life mod, and Half-Life 2 was released through Steam, Valve's game distribution service. In this post, we cover the series' beginnings and gameplay, why it's considered a classic, its later entries, and how to play it today.
At a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| First release | November 19, 1998 (Windows, Half-Life) |
| Developer | Valve |
| Publisher | Sierra Studios (first game), Valve/Steam (from the second game on) |
| Engine | GoldSrc (first game), Source (second game), Source 2 (Alyx) |
| Platforms | Mainly Windows; ports to PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, macOS, and Linux; Alyx on PC VR |
| Genre | First-person shooter, puzzle |
| Sales | First game over 9 million copies (by 2008), second game 12 million copies (by 2011) |
Origins
Valve was founded in 1996 in Kirkland, Washington, by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, both formerly of Microsoft. For its first product, the company decided on a horror-themed FPS. Since building an engine from scratch was a heavy burden for a small team, they licensed id Software's Quake engine and heavily modified it into the "GoldSrc" engine.
Sources of inspiration include Doom (1993), Quake (1996), and Stephen King's novella The Mist. The story was written by science fiction author Marc Laidlaw. Because it was an ambitious plan from a first-time company, finding a publisher was difficult, but Sierra On-Line, which was interested in a 3D action game based on the Quake engine, signed a one-game deal.
Valve aimed for a November 1997 release to compete with Quake II, but around September 1997 concluded that, although the weapons, enemies, and levels had new elements, the game as a whole was not fun and lacked coherence. The team reworked development, and due to a lack of time, chose an approach that never broke the first-person perspective instead of the traditional cutscenes originally planned. Laidlaw said this choice turned out to be an unexpected strength that created immersion and a sense of lonely dread. The game was released on November 19, 1998.
Gameplay
In Half-Life (1998), the player becomes Gordon Freeman, a scientist at the underground research facility Black Mesa. When an experimental accident causes alien creatures to pour in, and even military forces are sent in to cover up the incident, Freeman must escape the facility.
- Uninterrupted first person: Apart from one short scene, there are no cutscenes, and the story is delivered through "scripted sequences" that unfold before the player's eyes. Instead of level divisions, chapter titles briefly appear on screen and then fade, and maps connect to the next after short loads.
- Combat and puzzles: There are many environmental puzzles, such as navigating conveyor belt mazes or stacking boxes to make a path. There's also combat that uses the surroundings, like turning a valve to kill enemies with scalding steam.
- NPCs and enemies: Security guards and scientists open paths and fight alongside you. Alien creatures such as headcrabs and vortigaunts, as well as human soldiers, appear as enemies.
- Controls: It was one of the early mainstream games to use the WASD keys as the default movement keys.
Half-Life 2 (2004) depicts an era about 20 years after the first game, when the alien empire known as the Combine rules Earth. It incorporates the Havok physics engine so that objects move realistically, and with the "Gravity Gun" you can pull or launch objects to use as weapons, shields, or platforms. Physics puzzles and sections driving an airboat and a buggy were also added.
Why It's a Classic
It changed how FPS games tell stories. Before Half-Life, FPS games often explained the plot with cutscenes between levels. Half-Life showed its story while barely taking control away from the player, and this approach became the standard for many first-person games afterward. The first game won more than 50 PC "Game of the Year" awards.
It combined technology and play. Valve designer Robin Walker explained that the Half-Life games were meant to solve problems where technology and art collide. The first game explored narrative, and the second explored characters and physics systems. Half-Life 2 won 39 Game of the Year awards.
It grew a modding ecosystem. Valve provided Worldcraft, the level editor used in development, along with development tools. Team Fortress Classic came out of this, and Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, made by independent developers, became official games.
Its far-greater-than-expected sales also stand out. According to Newell, the first game was budgeted on the expectation of around 180,000 lifetime sales, but it sold more than 9 million copies by 2008.
Series and Influence
| Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Half-Life | 1998 | Valve's debut |
| Opposing Force / Blue Shift / Decay | 1999–2001 | Expansion packs made by Gearbox Software |
| Half-Life 2 | 2004 | Source engine, Gravity Gun, released on Steam |
| Episode One / Episode Two | 2006 / 2007 | Follow-up episodes to the second game |
| Half-Life: Alyx | 2020 | PC VR only, set five years before the second game |
Episode Two ended with the story unresolved, and several plans after that, including Episode Three and Half-Life 3, were canceled. Half-Life: Alyx, released on March 23, 2020, is a VR-only game built on the Source 2 engine, with Alyx Vance as the protagonist. It won "Best VR/AR" at The Game Awards 2020.
The puzzle games Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011), which share the same universe, were also hugely beloved. Black Mesa, a fan-made remake of the first game in the Source engine, received Valve's approval and was officially released in 2020.
How to Play Today
- Steam (PC): Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are available on Steam. With the 25th anniversary update in November 2023, the first game's content was restored to its original 1998 state, and bug fixes, Steam Deck support, 4K resolution support, and more were added.
- Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Edition: A November 2024 update merged Episode One, Episode Two, and Lost Coast into the main game, and added graphics and control improvements as well as developer commentary.
- Half-Life: Alyx: Played on Windows and Linux with a PC-compatible VR headset.
- Black Mesa: If you want to enjoy the first game with new graphics, Black Mesa for Windows and Linux is another option.
If you're new to the series, playing the first game, then the second (including the episodes), then Alyx lets you follow the story naturally.