Half-Life 2 on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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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.

Half-Life 2 is a fps, action and sci-fi game developed and published by Valve.
Released on November 16th 2004 is available on Windows and Linux in 27 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Swedish, Thai, Bulgarian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Portuguese - Brazil, Romanian, Spanish - Latin America, Turkish and Ukrainian.

It has received 245,627 reviews of which 239,721 were positive and 5,906 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.7 out of 10. 😍

The game is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.


The Steam community has classified Half-Life 2 into these genres:

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Half-Life 2 through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows 7, Vista, XP
  • Processor: 1.7 Ghz
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX 8.1 level Graphics Card (requires support for SSE)
  • Storage: 6500 MB available space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

April 2025
Half-Life 2 is a game I've heard endless praises for for years and finally decided to give a go. And after finishing the final episode, I am left baffled wondering why the hell I put it off for so long. Half-Life 2 is a MASTERPIECE, plain and simple. Even more impressive of a game whenever all the minor details of it constantly remind you that it was released in 2004 and still plays/manages to be this good. The game features a linear story where you're mostly just shooting through enemies with a variety of guns and weapons in order to get to the next section. On paper and in first reaction it seems standard and repetitive, but the level design, enemy types, and atmosphere constantly evolve in such a cinematic way that it never gets tiring and always feels immersive and challenging and ABOVE ALL: UNIQUE. The level design is OFF THE CHARTS here. Each chapter of the game's world so immersive that it feels like a movie unfolding in your hands. You feel the stakes, you feel the action, you feel the emotions, you feel the terror. Every aspect of the game design is an effort of 10/10 craftsmanship. AND THIS GAME CAME OUT IN 2004?!?! From the start of the game to its end you feel such a sense of progression that really is movie-esque. I keep referring to it as film-like but there really is no better way to describe it; Half-Life 2 is a proper story. A unique and bizarre one with an atmosphere that is addicting to taste more of. Though the combat isn't crazily impressive, it's paced perfectly to allow the story all the room it needs to shine, which further immerses you the deeper into the Half-Life rabbit hole you get. And don't even get me started on the brilliant pick up/gravity gun system that allows for an absurd amount of creativity in how you chose to traverse a level or - furthermore - to fight (when guns aren't cutting it for you anymore). Half-Life 2 is undeniably one of the greatest games of all time. I've heard it said for years and now I can finally say it myself. Definitely worth the purchase and full play through, and if you like it, you'll join the club of people impatiently waiting for a 3rd. (ps. It's never coming is it?)
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Dec. 2024
Good Story The game is unreal for It's Age I'd recommend buying the Valve Complete Pack, so you can continue playing this with the episodes one and two.
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Nov. 2024
About 20 years ago when my parents separated I would stay at my father's apartment every so often where he would always have the latest newspaper. I used to always grab it and go to the end where there was a section for video game reviews. The games were rated out of 5 stars and the available platforms to play those games were shown next to the ratings at the top. The platforms for each game would be either PS, xbox or gamecube and I would wish that I had one of those to play these games that were rated 3 or 4 stars out of 5, the PC platform was rarely shown. By this time our N64 was gone but there were still computers at both my parents' places. One day in that section of the newspaper I came across a review for the game Half-Life 2. The only platform shown at the top was "PC" and it was the first full 5-star rating I saw. The review was full of praise of the game, one of the things I remember it saying was that the characters look and behave very realistically. I asked my father to buy it for me for Christmas that year and he agreed. Steam says I created my account on December 24, 2004, so it must have been a bit before that time that we went to EB Games and saw the price, from memory it was $60 (Australia). My dad asked me if we should just buy it there or should we try and find it cheaper somewhere else. I said we should see if it's cheaper somewhere else. We then went to BIG W in the same shopping centre and they did have it for cheaper, I think the difference was $10. The staff member went away and came back with the game asking my dad if that's correct, he said he doesn't know and he should ask his son (me), the staff member showed me the game and I said yes that's correct. Twenty years later I still have it and I've uploaded photos of it here on Steam. I'm trying to dig into the deep valleys of my memory right now, but I do remember putting the disk in, and it asking me to create an online account. That frightened me a little and put me off installing the game for some time, I don't know how long. I must have ended up doing it on December 24th and now I wish I would have just done it right when we brought the game home so I can get the 'Years of Service' badge on Steam sooner! Anyway, it was the first mouse+keyboard shooting game I ever played, using the WASD keys to move and aiming with the ball mouse was strange for me at the time but I persevered because the game looked absolutely amazing and the world was so interesting. When there was a loading screen I would just sit patiently waiting even though it took about 10 minutes. I remember one of my dads friends came over with his daughters who were much older than me. I don't remember how exactly but they found out I was obsessed with this game called Half-Life 2 and one of the daughters asked if she could watch me play. She sat next to me watching, I remember her getting spooked by the antlions and me reassuring her it's OK because I have the bait that makes them friendly, and when I held the mouse button to continuously swing the crowbar at the face of the female scientist, we exploded in laughter when that NPC slowly but surely drifted her eyes to us XD I also remember a puzzle in the game, where you have to swim to one side to drain the water so you can swim to the other side to reach the top? Something like that, but I remember when playing the game for the first time, there was a section I didn't know how to pass so I got pretty much all the barrels from the top, dropped them to the bottom section, and stacked them like a pyramid to jump to the other hole at the top. It took me hours because the barrels kept falling, but when I finally reached the other side, I was stuck and realised I was supposed to do something with the water. I'm sure people who have played it recently know what I'm talking about? I also told many friends at school about the game, when I was talking about the ending I said "you die but you don't die" and they bursted out laughing at me, one of them kept saying that to me after that. One friend did end up playing it as well and he agreed with me that it was good. When we were talking about the game I mentioned that it doesn't matter how many times the enemy hits you at the beginning, you won't die, and he said yes because you don't even have a health bar. I remember when finishing the game for the first time, I was reading the credits and trying to memorise the names of the people. Of course I didn't remember a single one but in my child brain I was thinking that if I ever came across any of those people I would thank them for making the game. I did the same for Half Life Alyx after finishing that on my Valve Index but there's still 15 years to go before I review that one. Thank you for making the game and being a big positive part of my life.
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Nov. 2024
GOAT LORD GABEN Now that we are in the 20th anniversary of this game How long do we have to wait for Half-Life 3 ( or Half-Life 2 Episode 3) ? I leave the comment section open for you to answer it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are an Old Gamer; You know that countless video games have been inspired by this game. shooting system; Physics based puzzles, game engine , story line and many more... Half Life 2 as a huge revolution in video games and made the gaming industry move forward by several years. Twenty years later, it's still enjoyable and trust me it's better than most new generation games A clear example of art has no expiration date With respect to other games, but the only game that deserves a perfect score of 10 out of 10
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Aug. 2024
Easily the best game Valve has ever made. Incredible sci-fi story, problem solving, and level design. The combine enemies are really cool. Needs a movie adaptation eventually. If you're thinking about trying it, do. Goes on sale often enough. Gameplay stands the test of time. The physics and graphics rival modern releases. Thanks Valve.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Half-Life 2 is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.

Half-Life 2 is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.75€ on Steam.

Half-Life 2 received 239,721 positive votes out of a total of 245,627 achieving an impressive rating of 9.65.
😍

Half-Life 2 was developed and published by Valve.

Half-Life 2 is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Half-Life 2 is not playable on MacOS.

Half-Life 2 is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Half-Life 2 is a single-player game.

There is a DLC available for Half-Life 2. Explore additional content available for Half-Life 2 on Steam.

Half-Life 2 is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.

Half-Life 2 supports Remote Play on Phone, Remote Play on Tablet and Remote Play Together. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.

Half-Life 2 is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Half-Life 2.

Data sources

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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 08 June 2025 06:16
SteamSpy data 11 June 2025 12:37
Steam price 14 June 2025 20:44
Steam reviews 13 June 2025 11:57

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Half-Life 2, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Half-Life 2
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Half-Life 2 concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Half-Life 2 compatibility
Half-Life 2
9.7
239,721
5,906
Game modes
Features
Online players
1,801
Developer
Valve
Publisher
Valve
Release 16 Nov 2004
Platforms
Remote Play