How Half-Life Broke First-Person Gaming Shooters Forever

Half-Life's Lasting Legacy

Alongside the likes of Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64, Half-Life ranked as one of the finest releases of 1998. But unlike those titles, its success transcended the base release as Valve released modding tools for the player-base to experiment with.

The likes of Counter-Strike, Team Fortress and Defense of the Ancients wouldn't exist without Half-Life's creation tools. This fuelled Valve's continued focus on putting players first and providing an excellent service across every major release.

What the game really makes a mark to this day is its focus on story. As games began to grow to tackle more mature content in their storylines, Half-Life put the player closer to the action than any other experience of its day. This would only continue in the equally revered Half-Life 2, which hit new strides in facial animation and immersion.

What's so impressive about the Half-Life franchise to this day is how its stellar gameplay goes hand-in-hand with major technical advancements. It took a long break from 2007 onwards as Valve chose to focus more on business to the disappointment of fans.

As of 2020 however, the series has made a stellar comeback with Half-Life: Alyx, arguably the best killer app VR headsets have to offer. WIth Valve Corporation being as celebrated as they are today, there's little doubt that they'll continue to sit at the top of the industry.

All it took was one debut release to stamp themselves onto the gaming scene. That is arguably Half-Life's greatest achievement and why it still resonates today.

Let's hope that the greater franchise is now back for good.