Valve

Half-Life

Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is overrun by aliens following a disastrous scientific experiment. Its gameplay consists of diverse combat, exploration and puzzles.

Released: 19 November 1998
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Engine: GoldSrc
Perspective: First person
Age rating: PEGI 16 · ESRB M
Controller: Full controller support
Metacritic: 96/100
Steam recommendations: 116,852
Platforms: Linux · PC (Microsoft Windows) · Mac
Genres: Shooter · Puzzle · Adventure
Also known as: HL · HL1 · HλLF-LIFE · Quiver
Estimated owners: 10,000,000–20,000,000 (est.)

84
Player rating: 80
Critic rating: 2,896
Ratings counted: 96.5%
Steam reviews: 1
DLC packs

Half-Life

Quick answers

Steam Deck Verified Player counts 1,174

Half-Life

The story

Dr. Gordon Freeman arrives late for work at 8:47 am in the Black Mesa Research Facility, using the advanced Black Mesa tram system that leads through the facility. He arrives at the Anomalous Materials Lab, his work place, and he is informed by the security officer that the scientists have a special experiment today, so he goes to the locker room and puts on the hazard suit. He goes to the lab's lower levels, and arrives at the Anti-Mass Chamber, where he is instructed that the specimen to be used that day is the rarest and also the most unstable specimen. He is tasked with pushing the specimen into the scanning beam of the Anti-Mass Spectrometer for analysis. However as soon as he pushes it, it explodes, and creates a sudden catastrophe called a "resonance cascade", opening a portal between Earth and a dimension called Xen. Freeman is apparently teleported to an alien planet and catches glimpses of various alien lifeforms, including a circle of Vortigaunts, shortly before blacking out.

Half-Life