One game that has had a lasting impact is Half-Life. This game served as the starting point for Valve’s subsequent releases of Steam, Steam Deck, Counter-Strike, and numerous other games. Half-Life won more than 50 PC “Game of the Year” awards and was praised for its graphics, gameplay, and story.
It is regarded as one of the best first-person shooter games ever created and one of the most influential FPS games ever. It has sold over nine million copies by 2008. Currently, Half-Life is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
To kick off the celebration, Valve made the game available for everyone to play for free. Fans can head over to Steam and claim the original Half-Life if they never bought it. The offer is valid till November 20, 2023. Players can claim the title and go through the notorious Resonance Cascade event if they have a Steam account.
The Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update brings back a bunch of long-lost content, including the “Half-Life: Uplink” standalone demo, launch day main menu, and old deathmatch maps created by the original team, plus brand new deathmatch maps made by current Valve level designers. pic.twitter.com/PUWBmnUmm4
— Valve (@valvesoftware) November 17, 2023
However, in true Valve tradition, they went above and beyond by providing a free update. Appropriately dubbed “The 25th Anniversary Update,” the latest update honors the rich history of the game.
Half-Life’s 25th Anniversary Update
Valve’s 25th anniversary update for Half-Life comes with the following:
- New graphics settings with a widescreen field of view and lighting modifications.
- Support for Steam Networking and Controller.
- Officially Verified for Steam Deck support.
Four new multiplayer maps and additional Half-Life Uplink material are included in the 25th Anniversary Update. For those who truly crave nostalgia, Valve has also brought back certain content, like as the original main menu artwork and a few player prototypes from the game’s alpha builds.
Along with bug fixes and updated graphical options, the update also added more multiplayer maps and official support for Steam Deck.
One of the greats. ☕️
— TeaGuyTom (@TeaGuyTom) November 19, 2023
The 25th anniversary update has caused excitement among its fans. Many have taken to X to express their thoughts on the update. @TeaGuyTom tweeted, “One of the greats.” @crankzCSGO tweeted, “They did more for HL than for cs2″. @EoinFBarry tweeted, “That was a solid Christmas present thanks @AnnetteWolfhill”.
As a result of the 25th anniversary update, the player count of the game has increased dramatically. At one point, the unofficial player count tracker SteamDB displayed almost 31,000 active gamers. In the graph below, that peak is approximately twice as high as the highest one.
Half-Life 1 hit 31,000 concurrent players pic.twitter.com/X9DdfsbGZa
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) November 18, 2023
In addition to releasing the game for free and releasing an amazing update, Valve also released a 25th anniversary documentary. Here, the majority of the Half-Life game’s developers return for an hour-long film, sharing and discussing the game’s creation.