Half-Life News

Half-Life has been rebuilt so you can play the whole game backwards

Half-Life remains one of the best-loved and most-popular shooters in PC history. From the opening train ride into Black Mesa, to the mysterious appearances of G-Man, Surface Tension (ugh), and the final battle in Xen, after 25 years, you probably know every inch of Valve's landmark FPS like the back of your HEV-suited hand. But, a quarter of a century on, there are still new ways to play Half-Life. Imagine the entire game but in reverse, a flipped-on-its-head story about Gordon Freeman trying to escape Black Mesa by fighting from the Lambda complex back to the safety of the tram. Tweaked, rebuilt, and reimagined, this is Half-Life, but backwards.

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Dev reveals that Half-Life could've been called 'Bent', 'Screwed', 'Trash', 'CrYsis', and my personal favourite, 'Dirt'

Dario Casali, who started working at Valve in 1996, has started his own playthrough of the original 1998 Half-Life on YouTube (thanks, Gamesradar). The episodes are coming out at a blistering pace, with Chapters 1 through 8 already released, but the Chapter 1 walkthrough comes front-loaded with a fascinating glimpse into the classic's early development...
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Mystery Half-Life update added by Valve ahead of anniversary

A new Half-Life update of a mysterious nature has been added by Valve just ahead of the epochal sci-fi shooter's 25th anniversary. Sneaked away in the backend of Steam, the update potentially suggests new material for the original Half-Life, as we also await the arrival of Half-Life 2 RTX. However, after all this time waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Half-life 3, it seems advisable to keep expectations low. Something is happening with the original Half-Life, and it seems likely Valve would commemorate the silver anniversary of its Gordon Freeman, Black Mesa, and the G-Man's first appearances, but it's all very hush-hush.

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Half-Life's most ambitious rework is back from the dead

A fan-made project centering around Half-Life's original 1998 build, with new enemies, levels, and weapons that didn't make it into Valve's original FPS, is back from the dead. With a release date set for the game's 25th anniversary, Half-Life: Absolute Zero is coming back, and it's showing a lot of promise.

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Half-Life rebuilt as a brutal, fast-paced, Doom Eternal-style shooter

The opening section of Half-Life is iconic. In 1998, 'Anomalous Materials' revolutionized shooter design and narrative delivery in action games by impressing story rather than instant spectacle. You don't just spawn in, grab a gun, and start blasting - the tram ride introduces you to Black Mesa, and the opening walk through the lab gives you a concrete sense of your character, your companions, and why you're doing what you're doing. Smart and original, Half-Life's first level is one of the best, early examples of Valve's approach to writing. But I want you to imagine an alternate universe where that never happened, where instead of narrative and characterization, Valve's focus was on guns, kill streaks, and Gordon Freeman shouting "I have the power!" This is Half-Life by way of Doom Eternal. Welcome to Blood Mesa, the ultimate boomer shooter homage.

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