Half-Life: Source
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Half-Life: Source is a port of Valve's original acclaimed game Half-Life to their new Source engine used for Half-Life 2. It was initially only available in the Silver and Gold Edition Steam packages when buying Half-Life 2, and in the Collector's Edition retail disc package. Later, it could be bought separately through Valve's Steam game delivery system, where it comes with Half-Life: Deathmatch - Source.
It takes advantage of vertex and pixel shaders to create realistic water effects, and can now portray realistic physics effects. It also has new menus, improved lighting and soft shadows, ragdoll character animations, and a 3D skybox replacing the old 16-bit color pre-rendered bitmap skies. The storyline, weapons and levels remain the same as in the original version.
Unlike other Source engine games, Half-Life: Source was scarcely updated after release. Several updates to the Source engine repositories, which this game also uses, introduced bugs that were not present in the release version nor the original Half-Life, especially with the 2013 SteamPipe update. On 17 November 2023, Valve removed Half-Life: Source from Steam searches due to its lack of support and their decision to make the anniversary update of Half-Life the definitive version of the game, but it is still available for purchase regardless, explained by the use of its assets in fan-made Source engine modifications.
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Half-Life universe- Previous: Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (2004)
- Next: Half-Life: Deathmatch - Source (2005)
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Half-Life (Original Soundtrack)
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Credits (Windows version)
84 People · View all
Collaborations
People credited on this game were also credited on:
- Half-Life 2, a group of 84 people
- Counter-Strike: Source, a group of 82 people
- Half-Life 2: Episode One, a group of 70 people
- And 22 more...
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Other Games
In addition to this game, these people were also credited on other games:
- Scott Lynch on 71 other games
- Gabe Newell on 57 other games
- Robin Walker on 41 other games
- And 22 more...
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Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 41 ratings with 0 reviews)
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Trivia
German version
There are a number of changes in the German version:
- All human enemies were replaced with robots
- Except for exploding monsters, all blood and gore effects were removed
- Killed enemies/persons disappear instantly
A detailed list of all changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German)
High Definition Pack
Initially, Half-Life: Source did not include the High Definition Pack textures by Gearbox Software. On 21 September 2013, they added a fan-made package that was ported by A. [ Stone ] Denisov and uploaded to modification site GameBanana, but failed to extract many of the additional unofficial textures.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Scaryfun.
Macintosh, Linux added by Alsy.
Additional contributors: Patrick Bregger, Plok, Koterminus.
Game added October 14, 2009. Last modified January 19, 2026.