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Half-Life

1998 84 / 100 Adventure Puzzle Shooter

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 consi Show full summary

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World design Linear ExperienceCinematic ExperienceChoices MoodHorror Game feelChallenging

Deep dive / Spielprofil

What it is about.

A structured look at the narrative, game feel, and traits that define this game.

Story & context

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.

ExperienceCinematic ExperienceChoices MoodHorror Game feelChallenging GameplayCombat-focused GameplayPuzzles Game modeMultiplayer GenreAdventure GenrePuzzle GenreShooter ThemeAction ThemeHorror ThemeScience fiction ThemeThriller ThemeWarfare Traita.i. companion Traitalien invasion Traitaliens Traitanimal weaponry Traitanother world Traitassassin Traitblindness Traitbloody Traitboss fight Traitburning Traitcheat code Traitcheckpoints Traitconspiracy Traitdarkness Traitdeath Traitdeath match Traitdedicated servers Traitdestructible environment Traitdifficulty level Traitdigital distribution Traitdigital rights management Traitelevator ambush Traitexplosion Traitfalling damage Traitfirst-person platforming Traitforeshadowing Traitfriendly fire Traitfully customizable controls Traitgame with chapters Traitgod mode Traitgravity Traithuman Traitin-engine cinematic Traitinfinite spawn Traitinstant kill Traitinteractive environments Traitinverted controls Traitinvisible wall Traitjumping puzzle Traitlinear gameplay Traitmachinima Traitmale protagonist Traitmelee Traitmeme origin Traitmercenary Traitmilitary Traitmod support Traitmultiplayer lan Traitmultiple endings Traitnon-player character Traitnovint falcon support Traitone-man army Traitoutside of the map Traitpc to console port Traitpolygonal 3d Traitprofessional gaming Traitquickloading Traitquicksaving Traitradiation Traitreal-time combat Traitregional censorship Traitretail games with steam activation Traitrun and gun Traitscientist Traitscripted events Traitsilent protagonist Traitslavery Traitspeedrun Traitsteam Traitstrafe-jumping Traitsuicide Traittank Traitteam deathmatch Traitteleportation Traittext dialogue Traitvending machine interaction Traitvent crawling Traitvoice acting Traitwasd movement

Media / Screenshots