There can be no conversation about the most influential or groundbreaking franchises in gaming history without mentioningHalf-Life. The original set new standards for first-person shooters with its revolutionary focus on storytelling in an FPS, physics-based gameplay, and epic world-building. From there, the series has kept outdoing itself, producing some ofthe best first-person shooters of all time in the process.
There hasn’t been a new entry in the franchise since 2020’sHalf-Life: Alyxbut a lot of fans are hopeful that could change in the not-so-distant future. With that in mind andHalf-Life 2 RTXgetting ready to drop, now seems like the perfect time to talk about the best of the best. It’s a good time to rank everyHalf-Lifeentry, expansion, and Episode based on a mixture of how well they stand up today, how good they were when they were released, their general quality, and how important they were to gaming.
The originalHalf-Lifehad a hugely popular multiplayer mode that was missing when the otherwise belovedHalf-Life 2. Valve remedied this omission by releasingHalf-Life 2: Deathmatchnot long after. Unfortunately, it was a standalone product that felt like it should have just been part of the originalHalf-Life 2.
At least it was fun. Players could use the Gravity Gun (easily one ofHalf-Life 2’s best guns) to pelt each other with objects using the Source engine’s impressive physics and the mode included weapons not seen in the main game. However, it has no story to speak and even by the time’s standards, is pretty basic. These days the lobbies are a ghost town, meaning there’s not much reason to go back and play this. Not a bad multiplayer game by any means, butHalf-Life 2: Deathmatchis arguably the worstHalf-Lifegame we’ve seen (although to be fair the other games set the bar pretty high).
10Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
A Glorified Tech Demo That’s Still Fun To Play
Some readers might feel this entry is a bit of a cheat sinceLost Coastis more of a tech demo than an actual game. However, it is playable, and it doesfeellikeHalf-Life, so we’ve included it.Lost Coastis a level originally cut fromHalf-Life 2that Valve took and repurposed as a demo to show off HDR and other graphic improvements in the Source Engine.
It isn’t just a walking simulator set in theHalf-Lifeworld though. There’s combat, puzzles, and even some lore additions, as well as a very fun and climactic ending. We can’t rank it any higher than this, since it’s short and not technically a game, butLost Coastis 100% worth playing. Especially since it’s free to anyone who ownsHalf-Life 2.
Half-Life: Decayis the entry even mostHalf-Lifefans have never heard of. There’s a good reason. It was added as a mini-expansion to the PS2 version of the original game, one ofthe best FPS games to hit the PlayStation 2, and remained an exclusive forever after. That was an odd move on Valve’s part, consideringHalf-Lifehas always had a predominantly PC-based community.
Of all the originalHalf-Life’sexpansions,Decayis also the most different from the main game. Set during the events of the Black Mesa, the expansion follows two of Gordon’s colleagues, Colette Green and Gina Cross. It’s designed to be played in co-op, although single-player is possible, and is much more puzzle-focused than the main game. Despite the short play time, all the puzzles slowed down the pacing and worked to kill the fun. A co-opHalf-Lifesounds awesome, butDecayjust isn’t all that fun.
We’re already getting to the good stuff, and we’re still in the low rankings.Blue Shiftwas the originalHalf-Life’ssecond expansion and let us play as the new protagonist, Barney Calhoun. Calhoun is Gordon Freeman’s buddy and went on to play an important role inHalf-Life 2. A large part of the fun ofBlue Shiftwas seeing the events of the main game from someone else’s point of view.
ButBlue Shiftdoes have a few issues. It’s pretty short and outside the new perspective lacks unique features that make it stand apart. The expansion reuses huge chunks of the main game’s content and story and just feels too similar to the main game. If it wasn’t for Barney’s blue sleeves you’d barely know at times you weren’t just playing the main game. If you enjoyed the original game, thenBlue Shiftis more of the same for better and worse.
Opposing Forceis arguably the best expansion the first game received. LikeBlue Shift, it lets the player control a new protagonist, but unlikeBlue Shift, it shookthings up in a big way. InOpposing Force, we control one of the marines sent to take out the Black Mesa Facility and everything within it. Basically, it lets us play as one of the bad guys.Opposing Forceis more action-orientated than the main game, featuring fewer puzzles and much more emphasis on letting the player let loose withHalf-Life’s best guns.
It also shook up the combat by introducing fun new weapons and Race X enemies, which required the player to use new strategies to take them out. Perhaps the biggest change, though, is that inOpposing Forcewe fight as part of a team. Having AI-controlled allies who aren’t a burden is a surprisingly big change and makes large combat encounters a lot of fun. At times all the combat might be a bit too much, especially for those who prefer the balance ofHalf-Life’smain entries, and it can feel a bit more like a more generic military shooter at times. But likeBlue Shift,Opposing Forcesis a welcome addition to the originalHalf-Lifeand certainly worth picking up.
After the success ofHalf-Life 2, fans were crying out for more of the same. Rather than announcing another sequel, or expansions, Valve decided to start releasing “episodes”. The idea was that they would be able to churn these out more quickly than full sequels, keeping their fans happy, and the cash train running. Sadly, things didn’t turn out that way. Famously, we only ever got two episodes, and the first was a bit of a disappointment.
MoreHalf-Life 2could never be a bad thing, but Episode 1 heavily relies on reusing City 17’s visuals and assets and plays very similarly to the urban sections ofHalf-Life 2. This isn’t helped by the fact that its plot moves at a snail’s pace and ends up not moving the overarching plot forward much. If this were an anime, it would be an entertaining filler episode. On the plus side, Episode 1 does do an awesome job of fleshing out Alyx Vance, paving the way for her to becomeone of Valve’s bestprotagonists. It also introduced some impressive AI improvements that gave the episode a particular co-op vibe.Episode 1is still great, but shows why Valve probably should have stayed with full releases. Perfection takes time.
Half-Life: Alyxmight just be the most controversial entry in the series. It has a lot going for it, but that doesn’t change the fact that its announcement deeply upset a lot of fans. Its continued VR exclusivity hasn’t helped things. It’s easy to see why the fans were so upset, and still are. They’d been begging Valvefor yearsto release aHalf-Life 2sequel or at the very leastEpisode 3. Instead, what they got was a prequel set five years beforeHalf-Life 2that followed Alyx and could only be played on high-end VR headsets (which very few people still own).
But, here’s the thing.Half-Life: Alyxis awesome. Five years after it was released, it is still one of the most impressive VR games ever made (and some might say worth the high cost of entry). It helped prove that VR could be more than a gimmick. It’s also an excellentHalf-Lifegame in its own right, fleshing out the franchise’s lore and featuring excellent combat and puzzle-solving. The physics engine is particularly remarkable, and thisAlyxstill has some ofthe best VR physicswe’ve seen. Some may feel it deserves a higher ranking, but those still feeling salty may believe it should be much lower. We’re sticking it near the middle but would love to see a version made more accessible to the masses.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1may be a little disappointing, but the same can’t be said forEpisode 2. In many ways, it was a big improvement onHalf-Life 2. It’s more fast-paced, crams in an impressive variety of sections that last just the right amount of time, and adds exciting new enemies like the difficult-to-dispatch Hunter. The world itself is more open and a ton of fun to explore, especially since the muscle car is a big upgrade from the original dune buggy.
But there’s no denyingEpisode 2also has some problems, lowering its ranking. The final combat/ driving section outstays its welcome and is underwhelming compared to everything that came before it. Valve stuffed so much intoEpisode 2that by the end it starts to feel like they were running out of steam (pun intended). The worst part of it all, of course, is the ending.Episode 2ends on one of gaming’s most infuriating cliffhangers. It’s an ending that makesEpisode 2, and the franchise in general, come across as unfinished. Maybe someday we’ll seeEpisode 3, or dare we dream,Half-Life 3.
The originalHalf-Lifewas revolutionary when it was first released and was one ofthe 90’s best video games. But the 90s were a long time ago and the game feels pretty dated today, especially if you come in without the benefit of nostalgia. Then again, it’s an old game so try not to be too hard on it. The gunplay still holds up, most of the level design is excellent, and it’s still really easy to find yourself immersed in Freeman’s escape from Black Mesa.
The game also deserves a lot of credit for having a surprisingly good plot that laid the groundwork for the stories in the sequels. That story is clearly inspired by some iconic sci-fi movies and books and Gordon Freeman and his crowbar have become equally iconic themselves. ButHalf-Lifehas one big glaring issue - the ending levels. They were bad in 1998, and they’re still bad now.Half-Lifeis the kind of game that fans find themselves replaying every year or so, but a lot of them will admit to skipping the Xen levels, especially the beyond-bizarre final boss.
Pretty much every criticism that can be leveled at the originalHalf-Lifewas fixed with Black Mesa. For those not in the know, Black Mesa started life as a fan-made mod/ remake that aimed to updateHalf-Life’sgraphics and bring in major modernizations. It was first released as a free but unfinished mod in 2012 that impressed Valve so much they approved a commercial release. Take note, Bethesda.
Fans had to wait a long time for that commercial release though. After multiple delays, it was finally released in March 2020. It was well worth the wait. A brilliant remake, it makesHalf-Lifelook and feel modern. There are countless gameplay improvements, but the biggest changes were saved for the final levels. We just talked about how bad those final levels were in the original. Thankfully, the Crowbar Collective reworked them in a big way. Every FPS player should go back and play the originalHalf-Life, then playBlack Mesato see what a truly modern version would feel like.
