Valve celebrates Half-Life's 25th Anniversary offering Half-Life 1 for free with brand new content and other discounts on Steam



The legendary influential and era defining first person shooter, Half-Life, is celebrating its 25th Anniversary today, and to commemorate the occasion, Valve has launched a bunch of new updates and discounts to anything Half-Life related on their own store, Steam, starting on November 17th, 2023 and ending November 21st, 2023.

To start off, Valve got the development team back together for an exclusive new interview as the team revisits the game and how it eventually shaped into how it is today. Additionally, Valve is currently offering for a limited time the original Half Life 1 FOR FREE on Steam, so those interested in reliving the title that defined a generation of gaming can do so without a dime. Valve is also offering discounts on Steam for everything Half-Life related, going from Half-Life 1 and its expansions like Blue Shift and Opposing Force, but also Half-Life 2 and its expansions are on a 90% discount right now with incredibly low prices ($0.99).

But the celebration doesn't end there!

Valve is also offering a brand new update for Half-Life 1 that adds a lot bugfixes and new content, ranging from previously exclusive content like the Uplink mini-campaign and the 3 multiplayer maps exclusive to Further Data, to previously removed content, like the original Valve into video, and the original alpha models of the hero, titled "Ivan the Space Biker" and "Proto-Barney" as multiplayer skins. Valve also added 4 brand new multiplayer maps, full Steam Deck support (now showing the game as Verified for the Deck), UI scaling support, gamepad config for controller support, Steam Networking support, a bunch of updated graphical settings (Widescreen, lighting fixes, texture filter options, Linux software rendering), and much, much more!

:arrow: Half-Life's 25th Anniversary message by Valve
:arrow: Half-Life's new content for its 25th Anniversary
:arrow: Get Half-Life 1 for free on Steam until Nov 21st
 

Marc_LFD

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2021
Messages
5,666
Trophies
1
Age
34
XP
9,128
Country
United States
Recently I've read that Half Life was developed for the legendary Dreamcast (I downloaded the prototype), but for PC and especially an FPS you just can't beat playing an FPS on anywhere other than PC.

Playing FPS with two analog sticks is fine while with just one you're asking for trouble. 🤣

I do love the DC except playing shooters on it, friggin' buttons to control the camera is just outdated as hell.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Xzi

tech3475

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
3,681
Trophies
2
XP
6,085
Country
Recently I've read that Half Life was developed for the legendary Dreamcast (I downloaded the prototype), but for PC and especially an FPS you just can't beat playing an FPS on anywhere other than PC.

Playing FPS with two analog sticks is fine while with just one you're asking for trouble. 🤣

I do love the DC except playing shooters on it, friggin' buttons to control the camera is just outdated as hell.

IIRC though, it supports the DC KB/M.
 
  • Love
Reactions: PopcornSweetie

alexfree

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2021
Messages
215
Trophies
0
Website
alex-free.github.io
XP
1,209
Country
United States
Recently I've read that Half Life was developed for the legendary Dreamcast (I downloaded the prototype), but for PC and especially an FPS you just can't beat playing an FPS on anywhere other than PC.

Playing FPS with two analog sticks is fine while with just one you're asking for trouble. 🤣

I do love the DC except playing shooters on it, friggin' buttons to control the camera is just outdated as hell.
Buy a Dreamcast mouse and keyboard it supports it.. regardless I played the whole game on controller just fine.
 
  • Love
Reactions: PopcornSweetie

Deleted member 194275

Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
2,685
Trophies
2
XP
4,351
Oh I remember those times, when valve was cool.

Now it's just another huge corp doing huge corp things.

(New content for an old game is cool, even when coming from a huge corp).
 

Marc_LFD

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2021
Messages
5,666
Trophies
1
Age
34
XP
9,128
Country
United States
Oh I remember those times, when valve was cool.

Now it's just another huge corp doing huge corp things.

(New content for an old game is cool, even when coming from a huge corp).
You make Valve sound like they don't care about their customers whatsoever, but they do.

Steam is awesome, the Steam Deck was an excellent idea of a handheld and the Deck OLED is going to be even better.

I seriously think I'll get one. Beats the competition and it's not eWaste or outdated as soon as it's out (*cough* Nintendo *cough*).
 

Wavy

Splatana Stamper Enjoyer
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2020
Messages
303
Trophies
0
Location
MAP13: Downtown
XP
1,576
Country
Australia
This year we've had Quake 2, Rise of the Triad, and now Half-Life make a comeback. Couldn't be any happier.

(Also it getting Deck verified now is great as I only got my Deck a couple weeks ago)
 

tech3475

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
3,681
Trophies
2
XP
6,085
Country
I imagine if this drums up renewed interest, someone at valve can finally pitch a means to make a new Half Life game and have it happen.

From everything I've heard, it's not pitching new content that's the issue, it's building up and maintaining momentum.

Regardless, apparently they have been working on things e.g. Citadel, which may be HL related, but it's not HL3.

Everyone wants half-life 3... but when are we getting full-life hm?

But if Half Life is about the time it takes for something to decay, wouldn't we have already had full life and this is what it looked like?:

https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/half-life.com/images/halflife25/ivan_and_bbbbarney.jpg
 

pedro702

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Messages
12,729
Trophies
2
Age
33
XP
8,720
Country
Portugal
i wish they just ported it to current consoles imo it would have been better.

the only way to play half life 1 besides pc is the ps2 port, its wild they never ported the game to any other console imo.
 

lordofcombo

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2015
Messages
119
Trophies
0
Age
38
XP
683
Country
Mauritania
You make Valve sound like they don't care about their customers whatsoever, but they do.

Steam is awesome, the Steam Deck was an excellent idea of a handheld and the Deck OLED is going to be even better.

I seriously think I'll get one. Beats the competition and it's not eWaste or outdated as soon as it's out (*cough* Nintendo *cough*).
The steam deck is the eWaste.Valve wishes,no,dreams of Switche's success.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • BakerMan
    I rather enjoy a life of taking it easy. I haven't reached that life yet though.
  • Xdqwerty
    what are you looking at?
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    Both of mine are i5's lol
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    All right! Who stole my right sock? :angry:
  • RedColoredStars @ RedColoredStars:
    At least someone other than myself thought it was funny :rofl:
    +2
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    DNDBD (DND×DBD) IS A REAL THING
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    I didnt have school today
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Cuz it's some kind of holiday related to the town I live in
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Am I [R WORD]?
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @Xdqwerty, People who create revival services for the Wii end up in disaster, same goes for Pretendo lol.
    +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @SylverReZ, atleast wiimmfii went fine although people only use it for Mario kart Wii
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    At least if they ban you for cheating, get another Wii. They're cheap as chips.
    +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Remember when RiiShop was a thing?
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    not really
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    It got shutdown because somebody "accidentally" leaked the database for the amount of people using the beta.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    RiiShop is the laziest way of downloading Wii games. Did somebody not think of this through?
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    although i ended up accidentally changing my nand with no way of going back bc i didn't know you needed a gamecube controller to restore it (i have a wii minus/1.1, which doesn't have gamecube controller support)
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @BakerMan, I think you're talking about the recovery mode that the SaveMii used, and also was to restore softbricked systems.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    If your NAND was hardbricked, then just buy another Wii. Or go with the dirty NAND flasher method.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    and if i find the sd card i have my NAND backed up on, i can not only restore the NAND if i solder the right part in, but i can also put my NAND on dolphin, then i can play dolphin online, like PMEX Remix or MKWii Riibalanced
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Brb
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @BakerMan, Oh yeah, that was a thing too. Dolphin does support Wiimmfi.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    yeah you just need to put your NAND backup with wiimmfi on it
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    ngl i feel like if a bunch of my friends have wiis and know how to get wiimmfi and back up their NAND, then we could do a PMEX Remix tournament
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    maybe even add UMVC3/DBFZ and make it a biathlon/triathlon
    BakerMan @ BakerMan: maybe even add UMVC3/DBFZ and make it a biathlon/triathlon