Half-Life cover art
Games / Shooter / Puzzle / Half-Life

Half-Life

"Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows."

Valve·Sierra Entertainment· November 19, 1998· Main Game
80
Critic Score
1 reviews
84
User Score
2.9k ratings

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 for PC (Microsoft Windows), Linux and Mac by Valve, published by Sierra Entertainment. Rated 16 by PEGI, 19+ by GRAC. About 12 hours to beat, 18.5 hours for everything.

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 screenshots

Half-Life screenshot 1
Half-Life screenshot 2
Half-Life screenshot 3
Half-Life screenshot 4
Half-Life screenshot 5
Half-Life screenshot 6
Half-Life screenshot 7
Half-Life screenshot 8
Half-Life screenshot 9
Half-Life screenshot 10
Half-Life screenshot 11
Half-Life screenshot 12

Half-Life DLC & expansions

Other versions of Half-Life

Games like Half-Life

More from Valve

Half-Life trailer and videos

Trailer
Trailer

Half-Life screenshots

Half-Life screenshot 1
Half-Life screenshot 2
Half-Life screenshot 3
Half-Life screenshot 4
Half-Life screenshot 5
Half-Life screenshot 6
Half-Life screenshot 7
Half-Life screenshot 8
Half-Life screenshot 9
Half-Life screenshot 10
Half-Life screenshot 11
Half-Life screenshot 12

Artwork & Box Art

Half-Life artwork 1
Half-Life artwork 2
Half-Life artwork 3
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Standard
NA
Nov 19, 1998
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Standard
EU
Nov 27, 1998
Linux
Standard
WW
Feb 14, 2013
Mac
Standard
WW
Feb 14, 2013
Critic Score
80 /100
Generally Favorable
Based on 1 professional review
Aggregated from professional game critics and publications.
User Score
84 /100
Generally Favorable
Based on 2.9k ratings
Aggregated from player ratings across platforms worldwide.
Score Comparison
Critics
80
Users
84
Score Guide
90–100
Universal Acclaim
75–89
Generally Favorable
CriticsUsers
50–74
Mixed or Average
20–49
Generally Unfavorable
0–19
Overwhelming Dislike