

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 consists of diverse combat, exploration and puzzles. 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.
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Character
Plot-driven, earnest, grave and classical in form.
- character-ledplot-driven
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- classical in formformally daring
- intimateepic
Who loves it, who doesn't
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Where do you stand?
Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.
“Is Half-Life better than Portal 2?”
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“Is it the best shooter game of its decade?”
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“Would a little humor have helped?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
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About the game
- Platforms
- Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac
- Developer
- Valve
- Publisher
- Valve, Sierra Entertainment
- Released
- November 19, 1998
- Modes
- Single player, Multiplayer
- Perspective
- First person
- Engine
- GoldSrc
- Time to beat
- 7 h rushed · 12 h main story · 19 h completionist
IGDB rating 8.4/10 from 2926 ratings.
Screenshots
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
Half-Life 2 200480% alikeBoth plot-driven, earnest, grave.
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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor 201477% alikeBoth earnest, grave, plot-driven.
Nine Sols 202477% alikeBoth grave, plot-driven, earnest.
Both grave, plot-driven, earnest.
Tekken 4 200176% alikeBoth grave, plot-driven, earnest.
Tomb Raider 201376% alikeBoth grave, earnest, plot-driven.
Metroid Dread 202176% alikeBoth grave, plot-driven, earnest.
The Andromeda Strain 197180% alikeFilm · Both plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn 201077% alikeTelevision · Both earnest, grave, plot-driven.
Often played with
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