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Valve is making ‘Half-Life collection’ free to play until Half-Life: Alyx release

Arthands

Arthands

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,039
Update: Half-Life Free COMFIRMED. All of the games are FREE, MAN.



Half-Life: Alyx is coming in March, and we are celebrating early by making all games in the Half-Life Collection FREE to play for Steam users, from now until the day it launches!



Half-Life: Alyx is set before the events of Half-Life 2 and the episodes, but the games share characters and story elements. The Half-Life: Alyx team believes that the best way to enjoy the new game is to play through the old ones, especially Half-Life 2 and the episodes, so we want to make that as easy as possible.



From now until Half-Life: Alyx launches, visit the game page of each Half-Life game to install it and play as much as you want, right up until the day Half-Life: Alyx is released!



If you already have Steam installed, you can click the following links to start playing now!

Half-Life
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two


Also included in this bundle and available to play for free are:

Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Team Fortress Classic


If you don't have Steam, you can download it
here
.
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"Might" because there is no formal announcement yet.
Lots of people has spotted a Steam event that says

unknown.png


its might be a leak. Perhaps Valve wants to let players (re)play the previous Half-Life games to catch up on the stories before HL: Alyx launch.

geoff keighley was at Valve last week, so I got a feeling some new news is incoming soon
 
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TheUnseenTheUnheard

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
That's cool even though it's been available for a few dollars or less in the past.

edit: yep
f9699e4dd4c1336b6183d02a22ecdfbd.png
 
Windu

Windu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,627
I think i already own everything half life related. Whats in this collection of theirs?
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,674
Western Australia
Windu said:
I think i already own everything half life related. Whats in this collection of theirs?
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There's no such thing as "Half-Life Collection" (which is probably part of the reason why the event was deleted), but there is "Half-Life Complete", which contains every Half-Life game, including expansions, and Team Fortress Classic.

Edit: To be clear, the Portal games are not included.
 
Parcas

Parcas

Member
Dec 12, 2017
1,735
I hope this makes some people who have never tried it to experience the pure pleasure that is Half-life and then understand why some people are still obsessed with the idea of a new entry even after so many many years.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,674
Western Australia
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
I already played through Half-life stuff on PS3 Orange box. The load times on that game... and we're still waiting on Episode 3. I remember trying to hurry up and finish the episodes to be ready for Ep.3. Funny, I'm kind of glad I have no clue what the story is anymore. I have 0 interest in Alyx VR.
 
CHC

CHC

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,246
That's great but at this point it feels like you would have had to work harder to NOT wind up getting the Half Life games in your library at some point over the years.
 
wafflebrain

wafflebrain

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,235
Ploid 6.0 said:
I already played through Half-life stuff on PS3 Orange box. The load times on that game... and we're still waiting on Episode 3. I remember trying to hurry up and finish the episodes to be ready for Ep.3. Funny, I'm kind of glad I have no clue what the story is anymore. I have 0 interest in Alyx VR.
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Alyx IS essentially EP3, Valve have confirmed that it is a continuation of the former games:

The "feature length" VR game was announced via a trailer on Thursday, and veteran programmer David Speyrer insisted in an interview with The Verge that it's "not a side-story" but "the next part" of the Half-Life story – so much so that he recommends players finish 2007's Episode Two before playing it.
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Sure you don't wanna refresh your memory of what happened through some youtube story summaries :)
 
Vilam

Vilam

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,055
It's not a sequel; what's to catch up on? Get a whole new generation pissed off over an unresolved cliffhanger?

Spare me their FAQ where they beat around the bush with non-answers.
 
TheUnseenTheUnheard

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
Vilam said:
It's not a sequel; what's to catch up on? Get a whole new generation pissed off over an unresolved cliffhanger?

Spare me their FAQ where they beat around the bush with non-answers.
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They did say that if Half Life Alyx is well received they would like to work on Half Life 3.
 
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
wafflebrain said:
Alyx IS essentially EP3, Valve have confirmed that it is a continuation of the former games:




Sure you don't wanna refresh your memory of what happened through some youtube story summaries :)
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I'm not getting PC VR for this. I'll just see what happened on youtube. I mainly remember wanting to save Eli, wondering how/if Portal is part of it somehow, and wanting to know what is going on at Aperture Science's Arctic location.

It's cool that the Half-Life games may be free for people that never played it though.
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,573
I could see it happening. The games are already frequently discounted and free weekends are a common thing on Steam.
 
Sword Familiar

Sword Familiar

Member
Jan 9, 2018
4,403
Sweden
Haven't played these and don't own them, but I doubt I'll get around to it even if it's free, especially if it's timed. Cool though. Someday.
 
sleepnaught

sleepnaught

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
4,538
Might just be the pessimism in me, but is this a signal of an impending delay? Here's some free games for the wait kinda thing?
 
TheUnseenTheUnheard

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
sleepnaught said:
Might just be the pessimism in me, but is this a signal of an impending delay? Here's some free games for the wait kinda thing?
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No that doesn't really make sense. Why bring attention to the game now when it's delayed? This makes for a good leadup to it's launch and removes any excuse for anyone who hasn't played/caught up yet.
 
kami_sama

kami_sama

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,004
Well I already have everything valve has made (including Alyx) so this doesn't concern me, but for people that haven't played the games, it is a great gesture from them.
 
Soap

Soap

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,186
I haven't played the original half life in years (and I own a lot of steam games). I think I will use this as an opportunity to go back.
 
Jaded Alyx

Jaded Alyx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,374
Vilam said:
It's not a sequel; what's to catch up on? Get a whole new generation pissed off over an unresolved cliffhanger?

Spare me their FAQ where they beat around the bush with non-answers.
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"While it does take place before the events of Half-Life 2, we actually recommend that you play through Half-Life 2: Episode 2 before you play Half-Life: Alyx, for reasons that will become clear as you progress."
 
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