Half-Life Legacy News

[p]Good news, all! Recently, Valve's Steam Deck review team have checked out Half-Life Legacy and have marked it as Playable - which means while there are certain caveats such as the keyboard not auto-appearing, and missing button glyphs, you can play HLL from start to finish on the Steam Deck device.[/p][p]Of course, we did communicate this confidently beforehand, but for Valve to be effectively saying it themselves means a lot to me and the rest of the team. Thanks, Steam Team![/p][p]One of our goals for an upcoming update is to make HLL even more Steam Deck friendly so that hopefully we can get that Verified status sometime in the future - for now though, this is just the start![/p][p][/p][p]Sabian Roberts[/p][p]Co-founder of The Phoenix Project Software[/p][p]2026-02-24[/p][p][/p][p]P.S. we have observed numerous recent reports of the cart in Anomalous Materials not being pushable and will therefore soon be restoring the FPS-lock that was originally present in 1.5. This is not an issue we can directly remedy at the moment as some physics code is engine-side, which we don't have access to.[/p]

[p]Hey all! [/p][p]Later, I'll be playing through as much of Half-Life Legacy as I can within 3-4 hours, as well as going after achievements. Feel free to stop by and chill! I'm also willing to answer anyone's questions in the chat ːsteamhappyː[/p][p]Start Time: 2 PM GMT, 2026-01-19[/p][p]Hope to see you there![/p][p][/p][p]Sabian Roberts[/p][p]Lead Developer @ The Phoenix Project Software[/p][p]2026-01-19[/p]

[p]We've released a patch for Half-Life Legacy addressing post-launch feedback and issues.[/p][p]Estimated Download Size: 10.4 MB[/p][p][/p][p]Additionally, we've added TEN new achievements to the game - so get hunting![/p][p][/p][h2]CHANGELOG[/h2][h3]Additions[/h3]

• [p]Added options for adjusting viewmodel offsets to Multiplayer > Advanced.[/p]
• [p]Added Move speedometer/graph below crosshair option to Multiplayer > Advanced. ([c]hud_speedometer_below_cross [/c])[/p]
• [p]Added a toggle for the viewmodel shifting effect ([c]cl_shifting [/c]).[/p]
• [p]Added an Additional HUD effects command ([c]hud_fx [/c]).[/p]
• [p]Added a command for speedrunners to return the object boost glitch ([c]sv_obbo[/c]).[/p]
• [p]Like the PS2 version of Half-Life, a movement icon will display in the HUD if a gamepad is in use.[/p]
• [p]The game now tracks statistics for how many times the player has killed each enemy in the game, among a few other things.[/p]

  [p]While not immediately viewable in-game, Steam & SteamDB are good ways to view your stats for the timebeing.[/p]

[h3]Changes & Enhancements[/h3]

• [p]Fixed the Alien Slaves Killed stat (for the "Freed, in another kind of way" achievement) incrementing repeatedly on the same Alien Slave.[/p]
• [p]A biquad EQ filter is now applied to music playback, enhancing the quality of the in-game soundtrack so it sounds less 'flat' and 'crunchy.'[/p]
• [p]Fixed a softlock involving some boxes near the G-Man sighting in Apprehension.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Half-Life: Uplink button in the New Game dialog being the first highlighted option when using a controller or arrow keys.[/p]
• [p]The game now ships with node graphs pre-generated, with the hopes of fixing certain glitches such as the Lambda Core door. This should also hopefully fix the occassional stuttering when entering a level change zone.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Uplink titles not displaying correctly on non-English languages.[/p]
• [p]The game will now check more often if you're eligible to unlock the Marathon achievement.[/p]
• [p]VGUI2 panels, such as the Server Browser and Workshop Manager, now scale up to 4K displays.[/p]

  [p]Special thanks to Wuffesan of Monochrome Games for helping with this.[/p]

[h3]Removals[/h3]

• [p]Removed the default 100 FPS cap.[/p]

[p]As always, your feedback and support is appreciated![/p][p][/p][p]The Phoenix Project Software[/p][p]2026-01-16[/p]

[p]Hey all, hope you're doing well. I'm taking this opportunity personally to cover how the community has received Half-Life Legacy now that the weekend has passed since its launch on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. I will be addressing reactions to achievements, bugs in the game, and the community's feature requests.[/p][p][/p][p]Firstly, I want to give everyone a huge heartfelt thanks for their support and kind words. Seeing HLL open on Steam to a generally warm and positive reaction is nothing short of relieving. It's made the entire team here at The Phoenix Project Software feel that we haven't shipped a pure piece of hot trash, so to speak. We are thrilled that people are enjoying our changes to the game and our additions. The goal of HLL is to bring Half-Life back to its original 1998 state, yet keep in modern refinements that don't get in the way of the late 90s vibe. I'd also like to give a congratulations to Dark Vector who, an hour before us, also saw a successful and positive launch of Half-Life Arena![/p][p][/p][p]Additionally, before I continue to the grit of it, I want to clarify why we even released HLL on Steam in 2025. [/p][p]This title was originally launched in February 2020 via ModDB as "Half-Life Classic," and essentially did what Half-Life's official 25th Anniversary Update ended up doing. As much as I like to say "ha, we had a three-year headstart," in Nov. 2023 we internally placed it in what we call a "dormant" state, meaning that we won't be committing to large-scale updates anymore, and will only issue 'emergency patches' if anything breaks down the line.[/p][p]In late 2024, when we joined Steamworks as a publisher, to test the features that it offers like achievements, we used Half-Life Classic 1.3 as a test app. Then, we also had released the 1.4 update on ModDB just to bring in the HL25 UI support and classic intro video.[/p][p]While working on Cross Product Multiplayer's 2.9.2 Steam Release update in the Spring of 2025, we looked back at Half-Life Legacy and thought "well, we put the effort in, we should release it with an extra coat of polish - there will be some people out there who will appreciate HL1 with achievements;" and thus, HLL 1.5 as you know it today was born.[/p][p][/p][p]Rolling out today are going to be some immediate changes and clarifications to achievements in response to community feedback:[/p]

1. [p]Got the Chills II is going to be removed. This is because we agree that achievements should generally be for what the player would have to make a genuine effort to go through, and this section is not one you can skip. We did make a lapse with this one. The first Got the Chills achievement will be staying as that is a section which is arguable easy to bypass.[/p]
2. [p]Bye bye headhumpers is going to be lowered from 1,000 to 500. The reason is we have seen a lot of people in the community arguing that 1,000 is a little too much and in retrospect, I can agree. Our approach to adding this was the fact that the Headcrab is the single most common enemy in the game, but, on average since the launch of HLL, we have seen that people average on about 200-350 crabs killed. This was a pretty tough call to make because now that some people have got it, I don't want to discredit their efforts; however, I think that in the long run, it will have been the right decision.[/p]
3. [p]Marathon's description has been clarified. I am personally not sure why, but we have seen quite a few people assuming it all had to be done in one play session. We have not programmed the achievement this way. It has been programmed to, at boot, check if you have all of the chapters, hazard course, and Uplink complete, and if so, achievement unlocks. We will be adding more "Marathon checks" throughout the game as current it only checks during boot-up, and this confused some people too. I will clarify just once again, that it does NOT have to be done in a specific order, and does NOT have to be done within one sitting.[/p]
4. [p]Did I just do that? is going to be removed. I recognize that people feel some of our achievements come across a little uncreative, so I'm going to clarify why there is an achievement for, yes, pressing a button. It was simply a gag, as interactivity within the world was one of Half-Life's core innovations. However, we know now that these sorts of gags aren't the way to approach achievements. It's not like a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing, I can see in retrospect how it can come across as genuinely condescending to some players because it's such a simple function. Sorry about this.[/p]

[p]Further down the pipeline in a soon-to-come 1.5.1 patch update, we have the following coming for you (subject to change):[/p]

1. [p]More Explorer achievements are on the way, including one or two in Uplink.[/p]
2. [p]A couple of Xen related achievements[/p]
3. [p]Difficulty-tracked achievements (i.e. "beat X on Hard")[/p]

[p]Overall, we're making efforts to make them feel more rewarding.[/p][p][/p][p]In both the 1.5.1 patch, and the eventual 1.6 update in 2026, we are aiming to address the following bugs:[/p]

• [p]Lambda Core - scientist won't open the door in Level A - this bug also happens in OGHL, but we'll make an effort to fix it once and for all.[/p]
• [p]Speedometer position is unable to change[/p]
• [p]Controller vibrating when not being used[/p]
• [p]Vortigaunt-kill stat not counted correctly[/p]

[p]...and whichever more bugs we find down the line.[/p][p][/p][p]We've really enjoyed reading everyone's requests for things to be added to Legacy. In the pipeline for the 1.5.1 patch, we hope to add:[/p]

1. [p]A proper Adv. Options menu, not nested in the Multiplayer tab[/p]
2. [p]HUD effects such as flashing when on low ammo etc, which will be OFF by default[/p]
3. [p]UX improvements in Harbinger 2[/p]
4. [p]EQ enhancements to the new music playback system, which on some players' sound systems can sound flat and "crunchy"[/p]

[p]And in the pipeline for 1.6:[/p]

1. [p]New complete sound system with EAX and surround sound support[/p]
2. [p]In-game achievements menu[/p]
3. [p]16:9 HUD safezone for ultrawide monitors[/p]
4. [p]Chapter selection menu[/p]
5. [p]Even harder fourth difficulty[/p]

[p][/p][p]We hope you continue to enjoy Legacy, and, can't wait to release the 1.5.1 patch for you all! No ETA for now, but it won't be long.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for playing![/p][p][/p][p]Sabian[/p][p]Co-founder of The Phoenix Project Software[/p][p]2025-12-15[/p][p][/p][p]P.S. PLEASE stop sending developers friend requests. If you need to reach out, create a Discussion thread or join the Discord.[/p]