PCGame

Half-Life 2

Science-fiction first-person shooter mixing physics puzzles with a story campaign

Valve · Released Nov 16, 2004

Action

Reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
97% of 228K
Recent reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
97% of 1,645 in 30 days
Players
1,258
daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
Steam Deck
Verified
Last update on Steam
1 year ago
Jul 23, 2025
Minimum PC
DirectX 8 GPU
0.5 GB RAM · 6.4 GB disk
Full requirements

Metacritic: 96/100 (critic reviews)

What is Half-Life 2?

A single-player first-person shooter set on an alien-occupied Earth. Research scientist Gordon Freeman fights through a story campaign using firearms, a crowbar, and environmental physics while confronting the consequences of the Black Mesa incident. Episode One and Episode Two, which continue the story, are included.

For you if...

  • +you want a story-focused single-player science-fiction campaign
  • +you enjoy shooters combining combat, physics puzzles, and vehicles
  • +you like oppressive dystopian science-fiction settings

Not for you if...

  • −you dislike physics puzzles or extended vehicle sections
  • −you need every story thread fully resolved

What players say

97% of 227,576 reviews are positive · 97% of 1,645 in the last 30 days

Players most often praise the physics systems, campaign pacing, dystopian atmosphere, and story. Common complaints include drawn-out vehicle sections and an unresolved ending; recent players also report crashes, missing textures, and bugs that can block campaign progress.

Players over time

▼ -9% vs a month ago

Players online on Steam, one sample a day.

Highest since Sep 2026: 1,882 players on Sep 21, 2026.

Show the data
DayPlayers
Nov 7, 20261,258
Nov 6, 20261,065
Nov 5, 20261,059
Nov 4, 20261,176
Nov 3, 20261,140
Nov 2, 20261,213
Nov 1, 20261,256
Oct 31, 20261,248
Oct 30, 20261,147
Oct 29, 20261,086
Oct 28, 20261,125
Oct 27, 2026879
Oct 27, 20261,157
Oct 26, 20261,182
Oct 25, 20261,321
Oct 24, 20261,269
Oct 23, 20261,065
Oct 22, 20260
Oct 21, 20261,067
Oct 20, 20261,087
Oct 19, 20261,270
Oct 18, 20261,345
Oct 17, 20261,300
Oct 16, 20261,142
Oct 15, 20261,129
Oct 14, 20261,122
Oct 13, 20261,238
Oct 12, 20261,371
Oct 11, 20261,416
Oct 10, 20261,304
Oct 9, 20261,227
Oct 8, 20261,200
Oct 7, 20261,242
Oct 6, 20261,293
Oct 5, 20261,298
Oct 4, 20261,436
Oct 3, 20261,289
Oct 2, 20261,036
Oct 1, 20261,025
Sep 30, 2026949
Sep 29, 20261,009
Sep 28, 20261,089
Sep 27, 20261,195
Sep 26, 20261,154
Sep 25, 20261,018
Sep 24, 20261,000
Sep 23, 2026847
Sep 23, 20261,127
Sep 22, 20261,120
Sep 21, 20261,882

How many players finish Half-Life 2?

27% of Steam players have unlocked «Singularity Collapse», the achievement for finishing the main story.

Share of everyone who owns the game on Steam, including those who barely played it. Updated weekly.

Screenshots and trailer

Half-Life 2 screenshot 1

Half-Life 2 system requirements

Minimum: DirectX 8 GPU, 0.5 GB RAM, 6.4 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run Half-Life 2?

Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.

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Minimum

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

Does Half-Life 2 have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared. With Remote Play Together, one copy is enough to play the local modes online with friends.

Does Half-Life 2 run on Steam Deck?

Verified Yes, Verified by Valve: it works on Steam Deck out of the box.

  • All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
  • Shows Steam Deck controller icons
  • In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
  • Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM
None declared on Steam
Controller
Full controller support
Platforms
Windows, Linux
Achievements
69
Steam features
Workshop, Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
Languages
Full audio: English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish - Spain, Russian. Text only: 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, Ukrainian.

Does Half-Life 2 use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Nov 6, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam

Tags

Recent updates

1 DLC available.

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