Franchise file / Valve
Half-Life
Valve's crowbar classic
Valve's 1998 shooter put players in Gordon Freeman's boots at Black Mesa, told its story without cutscenes and grew into a line that reached VR with Half-Life: Alyx.
- 1998
- First game
- 1
- Series
- Valve
- Creator
One world. Many eras.
Choose your chapter
Black Mesa. Valve's debut and Gearbox's expansions cover one disaster from three viewpoints: Gordon Freeman's, a marine's and a security guard's.
Start with Half-LifeYour next late night
The essentials
A legacy worth revisiting
Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman.
Half-Life changed how shooters tell stories by never taking control away from the player. Gearbox widened the Black Mesa incident with its expansions, Half-Life 2 moved the war to City 17 on the Source engine, and Half-Life: Alyx proved the world could work in VR.
- 1998 to 2001
- Black Mesa
- 2004 to 2007
- City 17
- 2020
- Virtual reality
Scenes that stay with you
Inside the world
Select a frame to expand it.
