Half-Life | 25th Anniversary Update | GamePlay PC
We launched Half-Life on November 19th, 1998. We are very proud of what we built back then and we remain extremely grateful for the community of players who have been enjoying it ever since. The game hasn't received as much attention in recent years as many other titles in our catalog, so we thought this milestone was a great opportunity to spruce up the player experience and add some fun new ways to play the game. The same game you played in 1998 - restored, augmented, and revitalized We created a new webpage to showcase all the updates in detail, but here's a quick rundown of the updates to the base game: • Updated graphics settings, including lighting fixes and an actual widescreen field of view • Controller and Steam Networking support • Steam Deck support - officially Verified! Also including lots of cool new (or restored) content! The 25th Anniversary Update includes added content from Half-Life Uplink as well as four (4!) new multiplayer maps. We've also restored some content for the true nostalgia-seekers, including original main menu artwork and some early prototype player models from the alpha builds of the game. And a short film to mark the occasion We invited the the original development team to get back together to reminisce about what it was like working on Half-Life all those years ago. (For those of us who worked on it, 25 years is, after all, literally half a life.) The fine folks at Secret Tape captured the reunion on film. If you're so inclined, please take a stroll down memory lane with us or just hop back in to the game and enjoy (we hope!) the updates, new maps, and more. Thank you, everyone, truly, for 25 years of Half-Life. For those new to the game, Half-Life is available for free this weekend - grab it now and keep it forever, and check out discounts on the whole franchise. Bug Fixes and Change Notes New Content Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default). Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the "New Game" menu. Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm. Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch. Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD. Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features. Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa. Nostalgia Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the "-novid" launch command. Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu. Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models. Gameplay Changes Improved physics for throwing grenades. Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer. Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates. Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate. Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer. Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions. Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue. Fixed weapon view-bob angles. Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended. Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls). Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down. Fixed certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game. Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim. Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame. Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating. Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs. Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions. Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI. Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc) Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities. Fixed some buffer overflow exploits. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/70/view/6941797379568863069
We launched Half-Life on November 19th, 1998. We are very proud of what we built back then and we remain extremely grateful for the community of players who have been enjoying it ever since. The game hasn't received as much attention in recent years as many other titles in our catalog, so we thought this milestone was a great opportunity to spruce up the player experience and add some fun new ways to play the game. The same game you played in 1998 - restored, augmented, and revitalized We created a new webpage to showcase all the updates in detail, but here's a quick rundown of the updates to the base game: • Updated graphics settings, including lighting fixes and an actual widescreen field of view • Controller and Steam Networking support • Steam Deck support - officially Verified! Also including lots of cool new (or restored) content! The 25th Anniversary Update includes added content from Half-Life Uplink as well as four (4!) new multiplayer maps. We've also restored some content for the true nostalgia-seekers, including original main menu artwork and some early prototype player models from the alpha builds of the game. And a short film to mark the occasion We invited the the original development team to get back together to reminisce about what it was like working on Half-Life all those years ago. (For those of us who worked on it, 25 years is, after all, literally half a life.) The fine folks at Secret Tape captured the reunion on film. If you're so inclined, please take a stroll down memory lane with us or just hop back in to the game and enjoy (we hope!) the updates, new maps, and more. Thank you, everyone, truly, for 25 years of Half-Life. For those new to the game, Half-Life is available for free this weekend - grab it now and keep it forever, and check out discounts on the whole franchise. Bug Fixes and Change Notes New Content Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default). Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the "New Game" menu. Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm. Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch. Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD. Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features. Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa. Nostalgia Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the "-novid" launch command. Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu. Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models. Gameplay Changes Improved physics for throwing grenades. Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer. Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates. Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate. Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer. Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions. Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue. Fixed weapon view-bob angles. Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended. Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls). Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down. Fixed certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game. Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim. Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame. Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating. Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs. Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions. Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI. Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc) Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities. Fixed some buffer overflow exploits. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/70/view/6941797379568863069