Bonus: it also seems that the episodes have been rolled into the base game. Full details of the anniversary update.
Hmmm… I guess it has been over a decade. Maybe it’s time to play HL2 again.
I remember when halflife 1 became free
us Half-Life fans are eating good this month. first, we get Project Borealis Prologue, and now HL2 update and the game going free to own for a limited time. i am so going to enjoy checking the update out. and the documentary as well.
That changelog is waaaay longer than I expected it to be.
Intriguing thumbnail!
Finally Alf-Life 2. I was going we’d get a sequel for our cat eating alien roommate.
Hah! You kill me.
Hey, yeah, about that cat…
Ah, this is why I come to lemmy.
Thank you kind user!
Never played any of these before. Do I start with this one or would I need 1?
If you’re gonna start with 1, I recommend playing Black Mesa as the updated graphics and qol stuff make it easier to tolerate in modern times.
But that’s just me. There is probably some crucial reason why Black Mesa is not the definitive version, and I’m about to hear why
Start with 1, So you can understand what is happening.
Start with 1
If you start with the second one you won’t know what’s going on and feel like you’ve missed a bunch of important story.
This is how it felt after playing the first one as well. Half Life 2 is almost an unrelated game. The plots of the two barely line up.
Imo the best enjoyment to time ratio is:
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Black Mesa (the Xen level at the end was redone and extended compared to in HL1 and it’s cool but if it starts to drag just move on)
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HL2 (main game)
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HL2: EP1 start it but maybe skip and watch a playthrough if you get bored
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HL2: EP2
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HL Alyx, if you can play it on a decent headset. DO NOT MOD IT TO PLAY IT WITH MOUSE/KB it will be extremely boring since it’s designed for VR
Have fun, there’s simply nothing else like Half-Life games
Also, to add to this: if you haven’t played Portal and Portal 2, then you need to do that now. Like possibly even before HL
Was thinking of adding those but wanted to keep it HL specific. But yes the Portals are must plays. Pretty much perfect games. I remember watching the ending of 2 over and over because it was so dope.
I disagree. Black Mesa is Black Mesa. It is no Half Life 1. The atmosphere in one is completely lost with Black Mesa. Start with Half Life and play to Alyx. Go back to Mesa for a second way to view 1.
This might only be true for people who played the original when it first came out (or at least, were playing video games at that time, and are used to the dated graphics).
Interesting, I haven’t actually played HL1 but I enjoyed BM a lot, and figured it’d be the better reccomendation for someone just getting into HL.
What parts of the atmosphere do you think BM missed? When I watched videos of HL1 gameplay it seemed that BM did a great job having a graphically updated but similar vibe
If you can play Alyx on a decent headset, you’ll probably want to play Half Life 2 in VR too. The port is amazing.
The port is amazing.
It is, but sadly the dev has said this latest update is unlikely to ever be ported to the HL2 VR mod
I remember liking Opposing Force and Blue Shift too.
This is the way.
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I played Half Life first time few years ago, and it has aged really well in my opinnion. I enjoyed it more than Black Mesa. Also I don’t think of Black Mesa as a substitute for hl1, but as a good game you can play after beating og.
In terms of storyline, it doesn’t really matter too much.
I still think you should play through the first one. If you need something that feels less 1998, Black Mesa is a remake of the original Half Life and it is very fun.
Maybe it’s because I played them too late, but while I mostly had a blast playing HL2, the first one never clicked for me.
I know, it’s been very influential and new when it released, but it was still quite straight a FPS game. Whereas HL2 is like a crazy theme park of different ambiences and mechanics.
Playing the original Half-Life is like a formative gaming memory for me… It had been such a massive leap from your DOOM 2s and Dukes Nukem. I was super young though, so I don’t know how much I cared about the narrative.
HL2, on the other hand…Now that I remember vividly. I remember having to use five CDs to install it because Steam had literally just been invented (for HL2). Having to create a Steam account and log into a service to play a game was so foreign at the time lol…
Might be time to re-play.
FYI, Black Mesa is currently on sale for $4.99, absolute steal at that price.
Hl1 and hl2 are not really connected plotwise and can be enjoyed separately. There’s some small references and a couple characters you wouldn’t necessarily know even if you played HL1, because HL1 didn’t have much of a focus on that kind of story-telling.
The series is certainly a must play because of how much it influenced the industry. Going back to it now may not seem like it’s all that great; but you gotta keep in mind, it was one of the very first FPS games designed this way. Before Half-Life, FPS games were all just basically Doom clones.
They each stand completely on their own. Start with 1 if you want the whole lore and like 90s PC games. Start with 2 if you want a slightly more modern experience.
The first is a bit rough. It got a remake with Black Mesa which used to be free, but I don’t think it is any more.
I’d honestly just start with 2. It’s a better game all round. You can always go back and play Black Mesa later if you like it.
If you have a VR headset and a decent rig, Half Life Alyx is well worth it. I’d definitely play HL2 plus Episodes 1 and 2 before heading into that one.
Yes, Black Mesa costs money but it’s absolutely worth it, they put a LOT of effort into restoring the original as faithful as possible but with more modern graphics (Source engine based). I played the original Half-Life when it came out and Black Mesa definitely gave me the same amount of awe and wonder. One of the best fan remakes of any game I’ve ever seen.
Also, I see that it’s currently on sale for only $5 (75% off), at that price it’s a steal and absolutely worth it.
Sheeiit I absolutely loved the first one, even only having played it for the first time last year. I was blown away at how well it holds up. I do recommend trying it if you have even a morsel of interest. Just my personal 2 cents tho.
Start with HL2 on normal difficulty. Then do 2E1 and 2E2 on normal difficulty.
Then repeat all of that on hard.
Then you’ll be where I am. Never bothered with 1.
Neat, but.
Even HL: Alyx left us with just as much of a cliffhanger as the end of HL2 Episode 2…
“Best I can do I more cliffhangers”
-valve probably
Even if they do repeat 3 (and I kinda feel they will,) it’ll have a cliffhanger too. And I’m okay with that.
It’ll be here sooner than you think, friend
Deckard exclusive likely
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Cool, but I already bought it like 20 years ago and still have it on steam
…Think it’s too late to get a refund?
They didn’t even do refunds back then
So you’re saying there’s a chance…
I don’t think they can refund ATi Half Life 2 tokens.
Ye gods, 18 years, 4 months for mine. You’d hope that they’d just automatically stop asking if I’m old enough to view store pages, right?
My account is so old I have (or had, before they normalized the format) a four digit steam ID. I “owned” Half Life 2 for like four months before it released thanks to getting a code free in the box with my Radeon 9800 Pro back in the day. For a short and glorious flash of time in the summer of 2004, I was guaranteed a copy of the most hotly anticipated game ever, even though nobody could play it yet, and also owned an example of the fastest video card on the planet. Damned if I didn’t mow a fuckton of lawns and reinstall Windows and Outlook an a horde of septuagenarians’ computers to afford that card.
And no, they do not stop asking about your age.
My account turned 21 a couple months ago. They really should just go “yeah, it’s fine” and don’t ask
My steam account just turned 20. Fugggggg
edit: just double checked… 21 years of service.
I remember downloading it bundled with CS 1.6 - with the download being behind a queing system, so the servers weren’t overloaded.
was in the queue for a day and the download took over night
Oh hell, mine too back in August. Guess I’ll have to take it out drinking next year.
Mine turns 20 in 2 days. Yikes.
Oh wow, I just checked and mine turned 21 today! 🎊
Jesus Christ my steam account is old enough to drink in the US.
we old lol.
I probably have 500+ hours in Counter Strike Source and about the same in Day of Defeat Source, (edit def add cs1.6 and original dod to those numbers) from 2003-2005. All before steam kept track of play time. So many games (including HL2!) show “no recorded activity”. It really irks me but it’s also kind of funny. Took a near total break from gaming until about 2015. Didn’t get a decent PC until 2020. I Was surprised I even remembered my steam login.
Originally played on orange box on the 360, I’m surprised I didn’t already have it on steam. Glad I stumbled on this post
Holy crap, someone who actually didn’t have it yet!
I mean I do, just not on steam
Close enough I suppose.
Well, they implemented some graphical improvements and options, as well as workshop mod support so now would be a good time for a replay.
This new edition concludes the Half-Life 2 development story, with never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.
Not that it should be a surprise to anyone, but is this the first time Valve has openly admitted that Episode 3 is officially cancelled?
They have mentioned before that they gave up on episodic development, which tacitly ditches Episode 3. The episodes ended up not being that much easier or faster to make and in a time when PC games in retail was still kind of relevant, it was a pain to make, distribute, and get shelf space for.
from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.
Emphasis mine. They mean HL2 Ep 3 was planned and canceled. Not HL3.
They’ve admitted to cancelling ideas before, getting to various stages of production before going back to the drawing board, but always (and appear to still) insist that it is in development on some level. That’s why Newell’s responses to questions about hl3 are usually some form of “we have nothing new to share.” Valve doesn’t like sharing until they’re in the final stages of development, and hl3 has never made it that far.
Only those ideas and experiments never came to be. There’s still hope
No. They publicly stated the cancellation of episode 3 years ago when it was still relevant, and is one of the reasons I was always confused about every single rumor that HL3 was going to be a thing; they never announced a HL3 and they already said Episode 3 wasn’t coming out. Where the heck did the HL3 rumors come from?
The cliffhanger ending of E2 would do it.
Yo after all this time I never bought episode 1 or 2. I’m playing the fuck outta it
Weren’t the two episodes free?
Maybe there was some special or package deal, but no.
Not unless they had some special bundle for HL2 I can’t remember.
Ep1 had to be purchased. Ep2 came with The Orange Box (which also contained TF2 and Portal 1 as well as Richochet, though it wasn’t advertised).
Pretty sure when Orange Box was released, it included HL2 and HL2 Episode 1 in addition to HL2 Episode 2. Hard to remember because there were so many good games that came from that one purchase.
I probably just remember EP2 only because it was released then and how I got it. I already had HL2 and ep1 at the time.
It did. Still does.
Hell yeah! Commentary! Looks like I’m replaying it for the 100th time.
Huh? I wanted to see whether Portal 1 and 2 are free as well to recommend them to family and friends but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. They don’t show any info on purchasing them whether I’m logged in or not.
It says they’re at full price to me; it’s the HL2 anniversary, after all. The Orange Box as a whole is 90% off though.
It’s a better deal to just get the Orange Box bundle because it is 90% off.
Plus, you still get the Proof of Purchase in TF2!
When I look at the steam store Portal has a price tag of $9.99.
Portal didn’t come out until 2007 with the orange box, which also had hl2: episode 2 (and tf2), but the base game of hl2 came out standalone in 2004. This giveaway is a celebration of hl2’s 20th anniversary, so maybe they’ll do a portal giveaway in 2027.
Both are still showing up full price for me, if that helps.
Same, no sale
Sweeeeeeet! I had HL2 on my ancient Steam account that I lost ages ago, it feels right to have it back in my library all these years later.
The anniversary update sounds tempting, but I think I’ll wait for HL2 RTX before replaying it.
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