Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 screenshot 1Half-Life 2 screenshot 2
ActionFPSSci-fiClassicSingleplayerStory Rich

1,044 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 1,976

Peak in the last 7 days: 2,496

Half-Life 2 Steam store

Game description

Reawakened from stasis in the occupied metropolis of City 17, Gordon Freeman is joined by Alyx Vance as he leads a desperate human resistance. Experience the landmark first-person shooter packed with immersive world-building, boundary-pushing physics, and exhilarating combat.

Basic info

DeveloperValve
PublisherValve
PlatformsWindows · Linux
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateNov 16, 2004
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7, Vista, XP
Processor1.7 Ghz
Memory512 MB
GraphicsDirectX 8.1 level Graphics Card (requires support for SSE)
Storage6500 MB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 359 reviews from the past 1 year

95.5/ 100
Top 1%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (98%)

Metacritic: 96 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

Two decades on, Half-Life 2 still wins steady praise for its story and world, and it holds 95.5 from 281,947 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

103 reviews find it still extremely enjoyable after all these years, and 81 praise a story they say has universal appeal. Story & World ranks 40th of 1096 and appears in 67% of analyzed reviews. 66 reviews describe an atmosphere and world design that make the trip unforgettable. Content Volume ranks 94th of 1351, and players argue its graphics, physics and pacing still beat many recent shooters.

👎 Where it falls short

The sharpest complaints are about where the story stops. 16 reviews find the ending painful and unsatisfying, and 13 fault the developer for never releasing Half-Life 3 to finish it. 12 say they got confused or stuck in a few places, and some describe stretches of constant ambushes as exhausting, or the antlion sections as tedious on a repeat playthrough.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“undisputed great game, extremely enjoyable” · 103 reviews
“one of the greatest stories in any media with universal appeal” · 81 reviews
“graphics and physics superior to most 2025-2026 releases” · 34 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 43% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +3.49 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “physics and pacing still superior to modern shooters” · 18 reviews
Negative “level design flawed, chapters hit or miss in gameplay” · 7 reviews

Progression 3% · Difficulty 10% · Onboarding 9% · Freedom 8% · Strategy 15%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 67% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

Story +4.00 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “one of the greatest stories in any media with universal appeal” · 81 reviews
Negative “ending is painful and unsatisfying” · 16 reviews

Characters 20% · World 36%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.60 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “game remains worth playing over 20 years after release” · 2 reviews
Negative “game ends, no continuation despite fan theories about Valve seeking perfection” · 2 reviews

Variety 13% · Replayability 6%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 38% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.80 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “graphics and physics superior to most 2025-2026 releases” · 34 reviews
Negative “gameplay and visuals feel outdated by 2024 standards” · 6 reviews

Audio 13%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 3% of reviews mention this.

Community +2.71 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 4% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.13 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “solid game and story for 77 rubles, great value” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 1% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 18% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.19 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “Half-Life 3 never released despite unfinished story” · 13 reviews

Stability 5% · Performance 7%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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