Half-Life cover
FranchiseHalf-LifeSeriesHalf-Life

Half-Life

Critic score1 critic
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First release
Nov 19, 1998
Engine
GoldSrc
Genres
Adventure, Shooter, Puzzle · Warfare, Action, Science fiction, Horror, Thriller
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Linux

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.

Also known as Half Life, Quiver, HL, HL1
… See more, hl.exe, HλLF-LIFE, 半条命, 戰慄時空

Attributes

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Details

Storyline, release dates, time to beat, age ratings, modes, links, keywords

Storyline
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.Read more

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.

Release dates
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Nov 19, 1998
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Nov 27, 1998
Mac
Feb 14, 2013
All 4 release dates
Linux
Feb 14, 2013
Time to beatIGDB · recorded
Main Story
7h
Main + Extras
12h
Completionist
19h
Game modes
Multiplayer, Single player
Perspective
First person
Keywords
aliens, assassin, bloody, gravity, death
… All 79, military, run and gun, steam, multiple endings, conspiracy, tank, slavery, teleportation, silent protagonist, alien invasion, one-man army, darkness, boss fight, explosion, radiation, death match, digital distribution, voice acting, human, polygonal 3d, wasd movement, non-player character, retail games with steam activation, checkpoints, falling damage, melee, real-time combat, a.i. companion, blindness, instant kill, friendly fire, difficulty level, quicksaving, quickloading, vending machine interaction, mercenary, cheat code, digital rights management, destructible environment, scientist, interactive environments, invisible wall, suicide, game with chapters, mod support, multiplayer lan, speedrun, team deathmatch, linear gameplay, meme origin, in-engine cinematic, dedicated servers, inverted controls, scripted events, vent crawling, jumping puzzle, first-person platforming, burning, infinite spawn, outside of the map, text dialogue, elevator ambush, fully customizable controls, foreshadowing, god mode, another world, strafe-jumping, machinima, professional gaming, novint falcon support, pc to console port, animal weaponry, male protagonist, regional censorship

At a Glance

Critic Score
80
Main Story (IGDB)
7h
Main + Extras (IGDB)
12h
Completionist (IGDB)
19h
OverviewHow it playsMediaCommunityBehind the gameRelated

Overview

Steam review summary

Steam users rate this Overwhelmingly Positive, 118,060 reviews in all languages, recorded 16 October 2026

Valve's summary of Steam user reviews. Valve counts only reviews from purchases on Steam, not key activations, and leaves out review periods it has marked as off-topic. It isn't part of the CritScore score.

Review summary: SteamSteam data provided via the Steam Web API (opens in a new tab)Not affiliated with Valve →

Multiplayer

  • Online multiplayerSteam · 16 Oct

Feature data: SteamSteam data provided via the Steam Web API (opens in a new tab)Not affiliated with Valve →

About storefront and compatibility information

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