Still holds up today
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“Still better than most modern games.”
Steam review · 12.1 h played ↗
Half-Life
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 97%Valve1998FPS · Shooter · Action
The verdict
A landmark story-driven FPS whose atmosphere, level design and environmental storytelling still impress. Skip it if you hate slippery movement, obscure navigation and 1998 jank.
Great for
Players who love gaming history, atmospheric level design and old-school shooters, ideally bought on sale
Main risk
Dated slippery movement, unclear navigation and punishing sections can make it a frustrating slog
What players love
Groundbreaking storytelling and atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“One of my favorite things about the game is the way it tells its story through environmental storytelling instead of boring cutscenes.”
Steam review · 194 h played ↗
Smart enemy AI and varied weapons
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“They flank you, throw grenades into your cover, fall back under fire and call out to each other.”
Steam review · 8.4 h played ↗
Excellent level design
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“smart & puzzling level design, unique industrial ambience, challenging AI, iconic SFX + funny scientists”
Steam review · 12.4 h played ↗
Cheap on sale and a must-play classic
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews
“It's literally like pennies on all of the Steam sales... I promise you, you will love it.”
Steam review · 39 h played ↗
What players complain about
Aged badly and overhyped
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“now its just a high effort walking sim”
Steam review · 9.8 h played ↗
Unclear navigation and obscure puzzles
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“its so hard to tell where you have to go. its so obscure. how did anybody finish this game before walk-throughs?”
Steam review · 11.1 h played ↗
Punishing difficulty and save-scumming
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“i love having to save scum every 15 seconds to be able to make any tangible progress”
Steam review · 18.7 h played ↗
Slippery, janky movement and platforming
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“It controls like garbage, everything feels like you're walking on ice, and the platforming if frequent and atrocious.”
Steam review · 10.9 h played ↗
Xen and the final boss are bad
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“Xen is an absolute trainwreck and destroys any goodwill the first 70% of this game establishes.”
Steam review · 13.7 h played ↗
Soft locks and progression bugs
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“constant soft locks because event flags won't trigger”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support
Steam doesn’t list requirements for this game.
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