

And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies. Valve's debut title wins more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named "Best PC Game Ever" by PC Gamer, and launches a franchise with more than eight million retail units sold worldwide. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. The long drought is now set to end with "Half-Life: Alyx," with the title seemingly confirming that it will have at least some of the characters from "Half-Life 2." A virtual-reality title may not be exactly what fans had in mind, though, given that the original game was one of the most influential first-person shooters ever made.1998. Before Monday's announcement, the closest we ever got to a conclusion for "Half-Life" was in 2017, when Laidlaw leaked the plot twists that were intended for "Half-Life 2: Episode 3."

Its most recent effort, "Artifact," was a critical and commercial flop that was put on hold earlier this year.Īt the same time, "Half-Life" fans never stopped hoping for a new game - though hopes were very much dashed when the lead writer Marc Laidlaw left Valve in 2016. While it still operates hit titles like "Team Fortress 2" and the massive "Dota2" esports phenomenon, it's largely stopped developing new titles. While Valve first came to prominence as the developer of the first "Half-Life," way back in 1998, the company's focus has since largely shifted to Steam, its wildly popular (and profitable) digital PC games storefront and social-networking service.Īs Steam has grown, Valve's video game releases have grown less frequent.
