Valve has just made every Half-Life game free to play for a limited time, as a way to hype up the release of Half-Life: Alyx. Anyone who has downloaded and installed Steam on their PC will be able to play any of the games; Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two.
This announcement was supposed to happen much later, but thanks to a mishap, Steam users were notified of the deal. However, Valve decided to run with it and leave the games available for all to check out. How nice of them.
Meaning that if you’ve never played any of the Half-Life games, now you have no excuse. Just make sure you check out these masterpieces before the release of Half-Life: Alyx. Once that game is released, the free to play offer will be pulled from the table. Still, you’ve got two months and some change to play through some of the best FPS games to grace any platform.
If you don’t already have Steam, but you have a PC that’s capable of playing games, you can download Steam here.
Half-Life: Alyx releases in March 2020 and takes place before the events of Half-Life 2. Players will take up the role of Alyx Vance, as she and her father, Eli Vance, attempt to stop the invading Combine alien forces.
Speaking of Half-Life, one game that isn’t free to play but one I recommend you play is Black Mesa Xen (formers Black Mesa: Steam). While not developed by Valve, Black Mesa Xen started as a mod for Half-Life 2, then later turned into a standalone early access game. Think of it as an imaging of the original game, but in Valve’s Source Engine. If you’re already played Half-Life 1 and 2, then give this a go as well.