At nearly a quarter of a century old, there will be some people reading this who weren’t around whenHalf-Lifefirst came into the gaming sphere. Asone of the most influential and innovative FPS titlesof the 1990s, if not all time, it helped usher in a new era for the genre, as well as make everyone sit up and pay attention to a little-known studio called Valve, despite it being their first release. As a result, there is a dedicated community of followers, and after all these years, there are still people making mods for it.
Uploading the file to ModDB recently, user y2keeth has created a visual add-on for the originalHalf-Life. Simply called “halflife hidef,” this mod updates the graphics of the game to give it, as the name suggests, more high-definition textures, with the description page saying that it implements 4K quality to the overall details as well as the models.
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Screenshots show the work that has gone into the mod, and while the general game still retains the look of the original, longtime players of the classic FPS will be able to see the difference. The creator has also uploaded a video which shows the mod off in the game’s famous opening train ride sequence. WhileHalf-Life 2’s opening moments in City 17are highly praised, the first game’s first fifteen minutes are so were something of a landmark in PC gaming at the time.
Given how beloved Valve’s first game was, and still is, it’s not surprising that fans are still tweaking the game and putting out new content for it after nearly two and a half decades. Recently, anothermod forHalf-Lifewas released which took 13 years to make, and essentially adds a whole new campaign that fills in some of the story from theOpposing ForceDLC. Essentially, the game still has a dedicated community of fans that are keen to keep the maiden antics of one Gordon Freeman alive for as long as possible.
Half-Life’sGordon Freeman is one of the best silent protagonistsin gaming. On the whole, the game felt like a fresh take on the shooter genre when it was released, showing that FPS titles didn’t have to take place from the perspective of a tough space marine, and that it was possible to build a complex world that didn’t feel episodic, and had a more free flow narrative and a believable universe. Those who were there when it was released back in 1998 can attest to the way it pushed PC gaming forward.
Half-Lifewas released in 1998 for PC, with ports to PS2, OS X and Linux.
