Half-Life deserves its own thread. Kicking it off with the discovery of an eater egg in Half-Life: Decay — a PS2 game I didn’t even know existed.
It’s amazing to see little easter eggs still being discovered in games like Half-LIfe decades after they were released.
Spend so much time playing when I was younger. I vividly remember the disc was purple of this game and had a blast playing it. Weeks and weekends went by trying to finish it with friends and family. Also remembered there was a cheat code for slow mo somewhere in the game. Can’t remember if it was in the credits or not.
Also something that had bothered me. And I don’t know if it’s an error or not but if you went to Decay (the co-op) champaign there seems to be a last mission aswell but you can select it. Always wondered about it
Half-Life “celebrated” its 20th birthday this past week and there have been a few good articles discussing it lately:
I only came to play Half-Life after I had finished Half-Life 2 and its episodes but I am glad that I did get to play it. I found it to be a lot of fun and full of memorable moments. I enjoyed RPS’s article (linked above) where John Walker talks about some of the things he’d realised he’d forgotten about the game as he replayed it.
While I don’t think I’ll replay the original Half-Life, it’s remake Black Mesa is looking really good now that it is nearing completion (you can already play most of it). I’m keen to see how they “fix” the Xen section which was admittedly the weakest part of the game.
Named Game of the Year by over 50 publications, Valve’s debut title and the first game in the Half-Life series, introduced Gordon Freeman, the scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Reasearch Facility, 25 years ago.
In the first ten years since its 19 November 1998 release it had sold more than nine million copies, and is still considered to be one of the most influential FPS games and one of the greatest video games ever made.
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary Valve reunited the original development team to share their memories of creating Valve’s first game.
Also released is the Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update. The update includes restored content, new multiplayer maps, and a bunch of quality of life updates for the original game.
On sale now at -90% off (for another six hours)
Or… “Life at 50”?
They had to do the 25th anniversary because the 30th just wouldn’t work for them.
That’s pretty cool. The editor should be ashamed though, they could have at least put in a timestamp for the scene when posting a 20 minute video saying “look at the scientist”
Half-Life 2’s turn for anniversary celebrations…
Episode One and Two Expansions in the box
Half-Life 2 now includes the complete Episode One and Episode Two expansions along with the base game. They’re accessible from the main menu, and you will automatically advance to the next expansion after completing each one.
Steam Workshop Support
Browse, install, and play user-created content for Half-Life 2 without ever leaving the game. Look for it in the Extras menu!
Steam Game Recording
Preserve your precious memories of City 17 with the help of Steam! Take a look at the Game Recording timeline in your Steam Overlay for event markers that commemorate big and surprising moments in your playthrough.
Updated Game Content
Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog:
Updated Graphics Settings
Gamepad, Input, and Steam Deck Updates
The complete patch notes and change record is towards the bottom of the page here:
Keep scrolling below the loooong list and you’ll also find some neat new wallpapers and links to the soundtracks as well.
Complimenting the anniversary update, enjoy a feature length documentary which tells the behind-the-scenes story of HL2’s development and features members of the original development team.
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2, we’ve gotten members of the HL2 team back to talk about the game’s development, how we almost ran out of money, what it was like when we were hacked, what happened when we were sued by our publisher, the birthplace of Steam, and much more.
Check out the Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update, with developer commentary, steam workshop support, tons of fixes and quality of life updates, and more at Half-Life 2 Anniversary Update
