I have just finished the Half-Life series. Prompted by the 20th anniversary of HL2, I decided to play HL1 (1997), then HL2 (2004), and both episodes. I’m currently playing through Black Mesa and it’s very enjoyable so far, it’s like they took everything from HL1 and removed the annoying parts, I’m excited to see what more changes they decided to make, and what other references are present.

HL1 aged badly imo, but I recognize the technical achievement that it was at the time it was released. It’s full of good ideas, and I’m amazed by what they’ve accomplished.

HL2 didn’t feel like a it has a technical leap as big as its predecessor, but the gameplay ideas in there feel more modern than most game 20 years later. The game has some long stretches that were a bit annoying but the whole journey felt worth it. During the last chapter where you get the upgraded gravity gun, I started seeing the seeds of Portal games, more so in Episode 1, it was like I suddenly understood Valve as game devs and their philosophy. Episode 2 was the most fun I had and despite being short it felt like a full fledged campaign.

Alyx was fun to watch on youtube 🤡

I’m really happy that I completed the games and can put them down (compared to grinding endlessly in live service games), I’m really glad that I now understand why the series is praised, why people are aching for the third Episode, why Valve backed themselves into a corner because of their technical ambitions.

But now, I want more of this, more of those one of a kind experiences that push the genre forward. More gameplay ideas. I’ll probably replay the Portal games, but what other games would you recommend?

Some times, Half Life reminded me of more modern immersive sims I played before (Dishonored, Prey, I’ll probably go back to them at some point), maybe Deux Ex, System Shock should be on my list?

        • sugar_in_your_tea
          1·
          14 days ago

          Or they’re the same game: HL3: Silksong. Plot:

          Secret gameplay leak from Valve

          Waking Gordon Freeman from stasis ran into complications, so G-man recruits the Knight to control Freeman like Remy controlled Linguini until Freeman regains full control. The first 1/3 of the game plays a bit like Human Fall Flat, with the player fumbling around to hold weapons and whatnot, the second 1/3 the Knight and Freeman are separated and you swap between players, and the final third, Freeman realizes G-man has outfitted him with a bullet-time augmentation, so while bullets are traveling, you can pause time and jump across bullets as the Knight to completely massacre your opponents.

          Don’t tell anyone, it’s going to be epic.

          Oh, and it’ll also come alongside the release of Winds of Winter from GRRM and the final book of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, though due to the books starting sooner, they didn’t combine w/ Valve and Team Cherry on the plot.

      • dev_null@lemmy.ml
        2·
        19 days ago

        “The outline of a potential story” being out is different from an actual game being out though.

        • Klear@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          19 days ago

          Yeah, but I realised this is closure enough for me. Don’t need an actual game, just an end to the story.

    • LikeTearsInTheRain@lemmynsfw.com
      2·
      20 days ago

      Project Borealis is a fan led spiritual successor. Unfortunately it’s been a slow moving thing for a while. Suppose if this is about patient gaming, might as well be patient about it in case it ever comes out.