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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hl1_6839.jpg]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} Run. Think. Shoot. Live.]]'']]
6
7->''"Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel..."''
8-->-- '''Inbound'''
9
10''Half-Life'' is an 1998 FirstPersonShooter for [=PC=]s developed by Creator/{{Valve|Software}} as their debut title and originally published by Creator/{{Sierra}}, and the first installment of the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series.
11
12''Half-Life'' follows a day in the life of physicist Gordon Freeman, a bearded, bespectacled HeroicMime who works in the Anomalous Materials laboratory at the vast Black Mesa Research Facility, a [[ElaborateUnderGroundBase top-secret complex]] in the middle of the UsefulNotes/NewMexico desert. While performing a test on a [[GreenRocks strange crystalline substance]], Gordon accidentally initiates a '[[NegativeSpaceWedgie resonance]] [[TechnoBabble cascade]]' -- an event which causes bizarre, violent creatures to be spontaneously transported from {{another dimension}}. Now Gordon must work his way across the base in pursuit of a way to close the dimensional rift, fighting off not only the acid-spewing, electricity-shooting, zombifying aliens but also the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU), a special unit under the [[ArmiesAreEvil US military]], who have swarmed into the complex and are destroying the creatures and silencing the facility's personnel with equal vigour.
13
14Notable for its total immersion of the player. The game is [[UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective entirely played in first person]] and in real-time, with very little sound not produced by actions in the game world, and no sounds at all made by the central character; also, there are few cutscenes (and even they let you look around during them) -- the player has control of the character at all times, and the story unfolds entirely in-game.
15
16The designers had great difficulty with the level design at first and got stuck in a rut. To take stock, they created a single level containing every gimmick, enemy, and bit of level furniture that they had come up with for the game so far. Said level was fantastic, and they realized that this density of [[VideogameSetPiece set pieces]] was the "certain something" the game lacked.
17
18Creator/GearboxSoftware made three official {{Expansion Pack}}s for the original game, which act as {{POV Sequel}}s for the main plot. They are as follows:
19* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce Opposing Force]]'' begins shortly after the Resonance Cascade, and has the player controlling Corporal Adrian Shephard, one of numerous US Marines sent as the initial clean-up team. Involved in a chopper crash and separated from his squadron, Shephard awakens as the Marines begin their evacuation. Notably fills in what happened in Black Mesa after Freeman takes the battle to Xen. Additionally, Shephard is the only protagonist whose fate remains completely unknown.
20* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeBlueShift Blue Shift]]'' runs concurrently with about the first third of the main plot, with the player controlling security guard Barney Calhoun. Working to evacuate the facility following the accident, Barney's story examines the outbreak from a survivor's perspective; instead of combating the problem like Freeman, it's about getting out alive. The only expansion (presumed) to be canonical, as Barney [[LateArrivalSpoiler later reappears]] as a significant supporting character in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its following episodes.
21* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeDecay Decay]]'' follows two other Black Mesa scientists, Drs. Gina Cross and Colette Green, and is the only official co-operative entry to date. Following the doctors as they act as key scientists, their story shows the work of the Lambda scientists that Freeman co-operates with, explaining how they acted to undo the Resonance Cascade and Xen invasion. Developed and released exclusively for the [=PS2=] version of ''Half-Life'', it can also be played on the PC thanks to the efforts of the mod community.
22
23An official class-based multiplayer modification, ''VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic'', was also available as a free add-on for all owners of the original retail version of ''Half-Life'', and was included in most subsequent versions as well (e.g. the Game of the Year Edition).
24
25Gearbox took some liberties towards the storylines, which still causes [[BrokenBase fan disputes]] to their canonicity; as WordOfGod by the series' main writer, Marc Laidlaw, has deemed them [[LooseCanon semi-canonical]] until further notice, some label them as FanonDiscontinuity, while others ferociously defend their being canonical (due in no small part to Adrian Shephard's status as an EnsembleDarkhorse) and have attempted to pull together [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXn50yVez44 a timeline of the events along the four stories]].
26
27The game engine was also famous for being highly customizable, leading to a long series of mods. Some of them were single-player, such as ''VideoGame/GunmanChronicles'' and ''VideoGame/TheyHunger'',[[note]]TheWestern and SurvivalHorror[=/=]ZombieApocalypse[[/note]] while famous multiplayer mods include ''Deathmatch Classic'', ''Ricochet'', ''VideoGame/DayOfDefeat'', ''Natural Selection'', ''VideoGame/TheHiddenSource'', and ''VideoGame/AfraidOfMonsters''.[[note]]Repectively: old school VideoGame/{{Quake}}-style combat; fast-paced VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena-style action; ''{{Franchise/Tron}}''-esque energy disc battles, as you hop between platforms; a gritty World War II combat simulation; aliens vs. SpaceMarines, in a cross between first-person shooter and real-time strategy; SurvivalHorror[=/=]StealthBasedGame; and SurvivalHorror[=/=]StealthBasedGame.[[/note]] Especially notable of all mods are ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress|Classic}}'' and ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'', both of which have famously ascended to independent games in their own right (and adopted by Valve themselves); because of this, ''Half-Life'' and its mods are collectively one of the most influential games of all time.
28
29A sequel, ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', which would prove no less influential, was released in 2004. ''Half-Life'' and its multiplayer mode were ported to ''Half-Life 2'''s Source Engine as ''Half-Life: Source'' and ''Half-Life Deathmatch: Source'', though were otherwise mostly unchanged.
30
31In September 2012, ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', a comprehensive FanRemake that recreates the entire game in the Source engine, was released, after over [[ScheduleSlip eight years]] [[VaporWare of waiting]]. After almost eight ''more'' years, the 1.0 version was released in March 2020.
32
33In early 2013, with Valve's push to get Steam on Linux, they ported ''Half-Life 1'' to [[Platform/{{UNIX}} Linux]], as well as Platform/MacOS.
34
35On November 17, 2023, as part of the game's 25th Anniversary MilestoneCelebration, ''Half-Life 1'' received an update adding the Uplink demo as a playable campaign, 4 new multiplayer maps, and a plethora of Quality of Life updates, including making it playable on the Steam Deck, with this new update meant to replace ''Half-Life: Source'' as the definitive version going forward.
36
37If you enjoyed this game, or want to watch it instead of play it, do check out WebVideo/FreemansMind.
38
39----
40!!''Half-Life'' contains examples of:
41
42* ActionSurvivor: Black Mesa's security guards are armed with nothing but a pistol, and if Barney Calhoun is any indication, they don't always have a military background. Yet, these humble guardsmen are more than capable of holding their own against trained marines. Having one of them assisting you in a firefight can be the difference between getting mostly unscathed and being one foot in the grave.
43* AIIsACrapshoot: The Black Mesa ceiling turrets do not distinguish between friend or foe and will gun anyone down within their vicinity, whether it's the Black Mesa personnel or the invading Xen aliens.
44* AdjustableCensorship: You have the option to disable the blood and gore. It's not exactly the most thorough censor, however, as though turning the mature filter on disables blood spray and gibs that come from shooting enemies, environmental blood (of which there is a lot) is still present.
45* AnimatedOuttakes: The [=PS2=] version has some DummiedOut voice lines like this with animations to go with them, put to video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pIWNW1o3w here.]]
46* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
47** Security Guards will typically [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment turn on you]] if you try and attack them. The game however will give you leniency if the Security Guard is in a fight (in which case he'll ignore you, assuming that the friendly fire was the result of being caught in the crossfire), or if you were not aiming directly at them while not in a fight (in which he'll assume it was an accident for the first incident, and not turn on you until the second).
48** ''Half-Life'''s controls for using satchel charges were originally somewhat clunky, with Primary Fire serving to both throw the first satchel charge and activate the detonator, with subsequent satchels only being thrown with Secondary Fire. The game's 25th Anniversary Update changed this so that Primary Fire always throws a new satchel, and Secondary Fire only activates the detonator; a change originally demonstrated in the FanRemake ''VideoGame/BlackMesa''.
49* Area51: Black Mesa is a privately owned {{Expy}} for this.
50* ArmiesAreEvil: The HECU unit is tasked with killing everyone in Black Mesa, including all humans, to prevent the public from finding out about the event. Most soldiers never show any doubt or regret and talk about scientists being dumb and Freeman being mean for defending himself.
51* ArtificialBrilliance:
52** ''Half-Life'' was widely praised for the A.I. of its human Marine enemies, who were the first FPS enemies to work in squads and use complex tactical behaviours and movement patterns instead of simply charging in a straight line at the player. Valve made a selling point out of their ability to flush the player out with grenades.
53** The cockroaches are also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elwb2lV88hM pretty impressively programmed]] for prop [=NPCs=].
54** There's a channel by the name of [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVgZw2hguslwhERp-BRYFAg Marphitimus Blackimus]] that catalogues the different interesting little facts and programming features of ''Half-Life'' and its spinoffs.
55* ArtificialStupidity:
56** Marines have a tendency towards friendly casualties when throwing grenades, and will forget about armed grenades they drop if they catch sight of the player. The player can also trick grunts into a kill box by lying in wait behind a corner. No matter how many of their fellow grunts are slaughtered, they (and any other enemy, for that matter) will still charge blindly around corners.
57** The alien enemies in general are fairly dumb, even the sapient military units. Alien Grunts and Alien Slaves will simply stand still and shoot at you, rarely moving between cover. They're also pretty slow to react and will not use their powerful melee unless you get up in their face, even if you're standing five feet away from them. Alien Controllers just fly straight at you, making it trivially easy to lure them into tight corridors where they get stuck on the level geometry. Gargantuas have limited pathfinding ability (partly due to their size), will not react to getting shot past a certain distance (noticeably on Xen), and will forget that they saw you after less than a minute if you provoke one and then hide. If you go somewhere they can't reach, such as on top of a tower or into a crevice, they will simply walk away and forget you exist despite still clearly being able to see you.
58* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The US military shown in the game appears to be based primarily on the US Marines, but much of their equipment and vehicles are a mash-up of various branches that range from heavily outdated (such as the Mk 2 grenade, which had been replaced by the 1960s) to futuristic (such as using V-22 Ospreys as transport; while the Osprey's first flight was in 1989, it wouldn't be properly fielded in reality until 2007). Their Apache helicopters and Bradley APCs are Army vehicles, and their F-16s are Air Force, none in service with the Marines. The instruction manual refers to their submachine gun, the [=MP5=], as a Navy SEAL weapon. ''Opposing Force'' would {{retcon}} them into the fictional Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, who presumably pull equipment from all branches of the military.
59* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: The fuel used by the Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun is supposedly "depleted uranium-235" according to official materials. ''Depleted'' uranium, by definition, has almost '''no''' U-235 in it (and is useless as nuclear fuel).
60* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
61** While the tau is a real particle, it is basically like a giant electron, meaning a tau cannon would probably be more like a LightningGun than a pseudo laser gun.
62** Gordon's doctorate is in theoretical physics, but his actual role at Black Mesa places him as more of an experimental physicist. [[note]]Theoretical physics involves more predicting and rationalizing phenomena; experimental physics involves probing and experimentation to validate theories.[[/note]]
63* AwesomeButImpractical: The Gluon Gun can destroy any non-boss NPC in a second or so max. It also chews up all of your ammo in mere seconds.
64* BadassArmy:
65** The HECU is made up of highly trained marines backed by a full repertoire of US military hardware. The soldiers are quite deadly, but unfortunately for them, they're a single special forces battalion going up against an entire alien army (and [[BadassBookworm Gordon]] [[OneManArmy Freeman]]). Things go well for them at first, but once the alien invasion ramps up they're rather quickly overwhelmed and resort to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere pulling out of the facility altogether]].
66** The Xen aliens have a rather large number of [[CannonFodder easily killed mooks]], but the elite of their army-- [[EliteMook alien grunts]] and [[TheJuggernaut gargantua]], in particular--are quite dangerous. Their 'aircraft' (another alien species) are also a credible threat, seeming locked in a fairly even struggle with the HECU's aircraft throughout the battle.
67* BeeBeeGun: The Hivehand fires homing (or rather life-signs-seeking) hornets.
68* {{BFG}}: The Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun fill this role and are effective against attack choppers and heavy enemies. They even use depleted uranium as ammo.
69* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Black Mesa proves difficult to be mapped. The original game has a segment where Gordon blacks out (at the end of "Apprehension") and his point of view is interrupted, which makes it impossible to know where the anti-mass spectrometer at the beginning and the Lambda Complex teleporter at the end are in regards to each other. Mapping them thus requires taking into account the ''Opposing Force'' levels, which weren't designed by Valve, and it shows.[[note]]For example, the dam at the beginning of "Surface Tension" has a locked door which is extremely similar to another one featured during a brief surface walk during "Forget About Freeman!". Valve's intention was likely for those two doors to be the same (just on different sides). However, Gearbox didn't catch that, and when they featured the dam again in "Foxtrot Uniform", the dam door connected to an unrelated storage area.[[/note]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNt0EtqxLa8 An attempt]] to put all levels together estimated the actual distance between the two rooms to be about 91 meters, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOPTU120tq4 shows]] that many levels overlap, and portions of "Surface Tension" actually end up underground. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxGtJWy2rcA All in all]], considering Black Mesa is a massive underground facility, it's not surprising that its layout turns out to be difficult to understand.
70* {{Bookends}}:
71** The game begins and ends in a tram.
72** You go down an ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''-esque lift in "Unforeseen Consequences" (the first chapter after the Resonance Cascade), and then down a similar one at the beginning of "Lambda Core" (the last chapter to take place at Black Mesa). Just to reinforce it, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUOznZqo98E "Cavern Ambience"]] sounds in both times.
73* BootstrappedLeitmotif: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_SDgq5bp0 "Nuclear Mission Jam"]] was supposed to sound for the first time at the beginning of ''Apprehension'', during the short section with the railcar; however, the trigger for this instance seems to be glitched, so it doesn't play in the final game (though it does in ''Half-Life: Source''). Therefore, this song only plays right after the player acquires the Tau cannon, so most players think of this song as "the Tau cannon theme".
74* BootstrappedTheme: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAauUvsyi68 "Hazardous Environments"]] is the music from the logo for Creator/ValveSoftware.
75* BoringButPractical: The Hivehand is the only weapon that regenerates ammo. It's especially useful once you get to Xen, where ammo is very scarce overall.
76* BossArenaIdiocy: If the [[BigBad Nihilanth]] didn't have those gigantic stalagmites in his lair to hide behind it would be pretty much impossible to avoid his attacks (his main attack is lock-on and does massive damage).
77* BossBattle:
78** The original game had three; the [[PuzzleBoss Tentacle]], the [[DamageSpongeBoss Gonarch]], and the [[FinalBoss Nihilanth]].
79** MiniBoss: The Gargantuas, tanks, and helicopters.
80* BottomlessMagazines: Barney is the only NPC who never has to reload his gun. Likely unintentional since he does have an unused reload animation.
81* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Since the game does not penalize killing friendly [=NPCs=], you are only prevented from killing them if they are needed for opening a door required to progress or to perform some other plot-critical function.
82* CavalryBetrayal: Black Mesa survivors radio the government for military support. This only makes things worse, as the military has orders to silence witnesses as well.
83* ContrivedCoincidence: The damage from the Resonance Cascade (as well as other things) has caused a lot of the ways through Black Mesa to be blocked off. However, each one of these blockages just happens to have an alternative way around it (sometimes caused by the same damage, e.g. a hole has been broken in the wall or an air duct has been knocked in such a way you can now crawl into it).
84* CouldntFindAPen: There are some numbers written in blood near a scientist's corpse in the chapter "Lambda Core". These numbers are a hint for an upcoming puzzle.
85* CreepyCockroach: Black Mesa has no shortage of them. As noted under ArtificialBrilliance, the Roaches in the game have a surprising amount of VideoGameAI built into them. It is particularly impressive, given that even modern games usually give them pre-scripted animations or simply render them as particle effects.
86* CreepyMonotone: The G-Man, the Black Mesa PA system, and the HECU marines' radio chatter. The latter two are because they [[MadLibsDialogue have their dialogue stitched together from separate sound clips]]. Funnily enough, the marines sound like normal human beings in ''Opposing Force'', where they're your allies and are as such given actual dialogue.
87* CurbStompBattle: Both times this happens when the marines fight a Gargantua (the first one just fries them with his arm flamethrowers, whereas the second crushes two marines by shoving a car they were using as cover into them). Most likely this is to make it obvious you ''aren't'' meant to stand and fight the Gargantuas, as they are both {{puzzle boss}}es you're meant to kill using environmental objects.
88* CurbstompCushion: By the second day of the incident, the HECU is being steadily overwhelmed by the aliens, but as far as the player sees they tend to win the individual skirmishes. This suggests that the aliens are only winning because of superior numbers (a whole army vs a single special forces battalion) and that the Marines are giving as good as they get. Indeed, they're still enemies of the player ([[FieryCoverup and everyone else in Black Mesa]]) but it's still easier to root for the humans during an alien invasion.
89* DamnYouMuscleMemory: "Jump" in the [=PS2=] port is L1 by default; luckily, the schematic is remappable.
90** Also the 25th Anniversary update swaps the fire modes for the satchel charges, with the secondary fire throws the satchels & the primary fire detonates the charges.
91* DeadCharacterWalking: The original has this: if an NPC has scripted dialogue, but you kill them before they begin to speak, the corpse will speak anyway. The mouth moves and the audio can be heard, but they are otherwise dead. (This works at least on the security guard at the end of the "Power Up" sequence.)
92* {{Deconstruction}}: Arguably one for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''-like FPS games which had been popular before ''Half-Life'', showing exactly how terrifying and horrific [[AlienInvasion an invasion by the monstrous extra-terrestrial/dimensional beings]] would be in RealLife as well as showing just what sort of person the protagonist have to be to even stand a chance of ''survival'', let alone stopping it. These aspects are much better demonstrated with the ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' FanRemake.
93** Aliens teleporting randomly to Earth from another world due to a disastrous teleportation experiment would more likely be hostile out of sheer terror and confusion at suddenly disappearing from their original habitats and appearing in one that is as alien to them as they and the place they come from are to us. Also, randomly teleporting alien life is not guaranteed to be sapient, as many of the hostile aliens are Xen wildlife. Even when the AlienInvasion became organized, it was still more opportunistic than pre-planned since any teleporting accident that gives them access to Earth would be just as much a surprise to them as it is to us.
94** While initially holding the upper hand, the human military gets their asses handed to them as soon as the AlienInvasion gets even a little more organized since any surprise AlienInvasion would be such an OutsideContextProblem no human faction or force on Earth would even be remotely prepared to deal with them at its onset, especially given the short timeframe (around 48 hours) and [[FromBadToWorse growing numerical and technological superiority from the aliens' end]]. In all likelihood, it would likely have taken the US government weeks, if not months, just to get a grip on the situation as well as their opponent and bring the firepower and resources necessary to bear just to deal with them - time which the humans simply do not have. True to form, the US government [[spoiler:eventually [[GodzillaThreshold resorted to]] [[NuclearOption nuking]] Black Mesa]] just to contain the invasion, and even then [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 it didn't work entirely]].
95** Gordon Freeman, TheProtagonist, isn't a badass supersoldier at the start but is little more than a theoretical physicist of slightly above-average fitness who just happens to find himself at ground zero of a science experiment GoneHorriblyWrong which caused the whole mess. He had no real goal at first beyond just getting out of the facility alive and getting help and only ended up becoming Humanity's last, best hope of stopping an AlienInvasion after he slaughtered his way through two armies (one of which was a human army) and acquired enough firepower to do the job, and he mostly did it for the sake of self-preservation and protecting his fellow scientists. And being a scientist instead of a soldier, he relied as much on his wits as he did his arsenal of weapons to figure his way out of impossible situations as well as strategize how to best fight his opponents - and there are plenty of such obstacles and enemies around where he simply cannot defeat by running in guns-blazing like traditional [=FPS=] protagonists. And thank ''goodness'' Black Mesa just happened to develop the incredibly protective HEV suit that he wore and is filled to the brim with health and power stations/packs with which he could replenish/recharge his body health and suit power, as well as having many helpful security guards and scientists who are also trying to survive and working to end the catastrophe.
96* DieHardOnAnX: This game is pretty much ''Die Hard'' in a research facility.
97* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Both endings. Either Gordon is placed into stasis as some sort of mercenary, or he dies at the hands of the Nihilanth's remnant forces. The Black Mesa Research Facility is overrun by aliens and ultimately destroyed by a nuclear weapon, with nearly everyone who was holding out for Gordon to get help dying and little Gordon could do to save them. And ''Half-Life 2'' showed the event paved the way for the Combine invasion and conquest of Earth]]. What possibly pushes the ending into a BittersweetEnding territory is that canonically, [[spoiler:Gordon accepted the G-Man's offer, meaning he at least survived the Black Mesa Incident, and either way he still saved Earth from being overrun by Xen forces. His deeds also made him a legend and a leader among the Human-Vortigaunt resistance by the time of ''Half-Life 2''. And if his performance continues the same way, he may just save Earth from Combine occupation like he did from the Xen invasion]].
98* DumbButDiligent: This trope seems to be encouraged by Black Mesa, with several signs throughout the facility saying "Work harder, not smarter."
99* DumbJock: The graffiti tags the Marines leave on the walls to intimidate Gordon are full of misspellings, like "YORE DEAD FREEMAN".
100* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
101** The general design of the game and its expansions are much more brightly colored than its sequel.
102** The Vortigaunts, due to the general lack of knowledge about Xen in this game, are called "Alien Slaves" [[AllThereInTheScript in the game files]], and talk in a stereotypically high-pitched, "alien" voice, as opposed to the monk-esque manner they do in the sequels.
103** Allies and enemies alike can [[LudicrousGibs explode into a bunch of body parts]], which isn't as prominent in later instalments.
104** In general, the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] {{Dystopia}} elements of the franchise are completely absent in favour of promoting a more ScienceFiction ConspiracyThriller where the United States military is depicted as an antagonistic force alongside the aliens (most of which were mindless beasts). Later instalments of the franchise emphasized more of a "humanity vs. alien empire" story, in which the aliens have already won in the grand scheme of things.
105* EasterEgg:
106** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdLRZzCf_kk You can irritate VOX if you're particularly persistent]].
107** If you attempt to remove the payload during the Resonance Cascade, the game rewards you with an early Vortigaunt encounter.
108%%* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Many of the enemies (as well as the HECU) get one.
109* EvilVsEvil: At multiple points, you can encounter HECU marines battling Xen creatures, and wait around to take out the winner.
110* ExplosiveInstrumentation: Black Mesa's computers seem to be prone to this even ''before'' the resonance cascade.
111* {{Foreshadowing}}:
112** On his way to work Gordon passes by so many computer malfunctions, mechanical failures, and mutterings about "unusual readings". There might as well be a giant "FreakLabAccident Today!" sign in the lab.
113** Very subtly in "Unforeseen Consequences". Gordon passes through the "Coolant Reserve Facility", implying that there's a reactor around here somewhere, despite Black Mesa being powered by a hydroelectric dam. [[spoiler: This sets up the Lambda Reactor that powers the teleporters]] in Chapter 14.
114** At the beginning of "We've Got Hostiles!", a panicking scientists begs for the silo door to be opened, saying that "they" are coming for him and fellow Black Mesa personnel. You soon find out that [[spoiler:"they" are the HECU marines, and [[CalvaryBetrayal they're coming to kill the personnel instead of evacuating them]]]].
115** One of the Nihilanth's quotes directly foreshadows the [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 sequel]] by mentioning exactly what it and its underlings are.
116---> ''Their slaves... we are their slaves... we are...''
117** In the chapter "Apprehension", you meet a scientist who claims that he and the military both are tracking Freeman through Black Mesa's security system and trackers in the HEV suit. [[spoiler: And later in the chapter, you are captured]].
118* FragileSpeedster: The female Black Ops Assassins have below-average health, but are crazy fast, can make huge leaps, and on the highest difficulty setting, come equipped with a cloaking device. They're also {{Glass Cannon}}s, and can easily wipe half your health away in groups.
119* FromBadToWorse: Dr Freeman starts his day running late, gets trapped in the middle of an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong, has to escape from the ''creatures'' emerging from said experiment, ''then'' has to deal with the marines working on containment, ''THEN'' black-ops ninjas. Even after that it gets ''even worse'' for him ''[[VideoGame/HalfLife2 and the rest of humanity]].''
120* GainaxEnding: So very much. Not only is the FinalBoss pretty weird to start and an UnexpectedGameplayChange in how you fight it, but the actual ending makes little sense and leaves tons of unanswered questions.
121* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can run around with as little as one hit-point and still be at full strength, and all it takes to improve the situation is to collect a medkit or a health charger. However, occasionally you will find allies who are critically injured or dying, barely able to move. In one case a scientist is administering CPR. One wonders why medkits can't be used to help these people. (Sometimes there are medkits on the ground close by!)
122* GoneHorriblyWrong: The experiment that let the aliens in.
123* {{Gorn}}:
124** ''Plenty'' of it. Human remains flying out of vents, human remains falling out of Barnacles, headcrabs latching onto human skulls '''and''' causing their human victims to rot while still alive and conscious. Even worse, humans infected by headcrabs have giant mouths where their stomachs should be.
125** The "Brutal Half-Life" mod just amps it up ''even more'' and makes the gore far more realistic than it should be. [[https://youtu.be/JcijpYjE1_k See for yourself]].
126* TheGovernment: So much for them. They decided to contain the Black Mesa incident through force, which unfortunately included the Science and Security Personnel, and later, many of the US Marines were left behind in a hasty evacuation.
127* GrayingMorality: While it seems at first like the Black Mesa personnel are the innocent victims of an alien invasion, we find out later (in a level aptly named ''Questionable Ethics'') that the humans have been kidnapping aliens and doing experiments on them for months before the resonance cascade. Furthermore, WordOfGod says that the crystal used in the experiment that caused the resonance cascade in the first place was stolen from the Nihilanth's lair.
128* GuestFighter: ComicBook/TooMuchCoffeeMan is among the official usable skins for the game's multiplayer deathmatch mode. Previously only available on the ''Half-Life: Further Data'' CD, he was later brought back in the 25th Anniversary update for the Steam release.
129* HandCannon: The Python does far more damage than the .357 it's supposed to be, doing three times more damage than ''Opposing Force'''s M249, which fires rifle rounds that fairly realistically take down marines in full body armor after 3-5 hits.
130* HealThyself: The game follows the standard convention of instantly healing by picking up medkits. Unusually though, this appears to be canonical rather than a game mechanic. The syringes the scientist uses to heal you (as well as the wall health kits in the Platform/PlayStation2 port) have some weird green liquid in them that instantly heals all your wounds, and the medkits appear to contain the same substance. This may seem odd, but when you get to Xen, you encounter several pools of water that also magically heal you. The abundance of human corpses around Xen (as well as the location of an actual research outpost in ''Blue Shift'') suggests that the technology for this was stolen from the aliens via these pools.
131* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: In the training course, the holographic instructor mentions the "use" key.
132* HiddenMechanic: Even though the [[BeeBeeGun Hivehand]] regenerates its tiny ammo supply, it is possible to replenish it by picking up another one.
133* HyperspaceArsenal: By the end of the first game, Gordon is carrying [[CrowbarCombatant a crowbar]], [[StandardFPSGuns a 9mm handgun, a shotgun, a sub-machine gun]], [[RevolversAreJustBetter a revolver]], [[StuffBlowingUp grenades, an RPG, laser tripmines]], [[EnergyWeapon a laser gun]], [[DisintegratorRay a bigger laser gun]], [[BeeBeeGun an alien gun with living bullets]], [[StuffBlowingUp satchel charges]] and [[OrganicTechnology snarks]]. Plus ammunition. The worst example is the Gluon Gun, which is a ''backpack-mounted nuclear reactor.''
134* IJustWantToBeBadass: The first game was one of the first FPS games to avert this trope, and the game was remarkably atmospheric as a result. As the game has aged, the atmosphere remains, but Gordon's [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in wish-fulfillment]].
135* ImproperlyPlacedFirearms: While the underslung grenade launcher attachment on the [=MP5=] submachinegun isn't a gun, it counts as such attachments didn't exist in 1998, and even if they did US Marines wouldn't use them. ISTEC would create such an attachment in 2000, but it was meant for the British SAS and saw very little use anyway. The [=MP5=] was replaced with the Colt Commando assault rifle in later versions of the game, a much more logical weapon for US forces to use and to attach an underslung grenade launcher to.
136* InformedAbility: The most we ever see of Gordon Freeman being a ''physicist'' is when he pushes a cart into the anti-mass spectrometer. Barney lampshades this in the sequel. Justified, as watching him do a bunch of advanced math [[RuleOfDrama wouldn't exactly be exciting.]]
137* InstantExpert: Despite being ''a physicist,'' Gordon not only handles every gun he comes across with perfect competence, but he also manages to gun down ''dozens'' of '''''actual trained soldiers''''' throughout the game. This is HandWaved by ''Hazard Course'', which specifically shows that HEV Suit operators receive firearms training.
138* JustFollowingOrders:
139** Pretty much the extent Gordon had to do with the resonance cascade.
140** Then the marines who are called in to take out the scientists - then the black ops team who are called in to take out the ''marines''.
141* LastDayOfNormalcy: The game begins with a regular day in Gordon Freeman's life on the day the events that led to the Resonance Cascade, which changed the entire world of the franchise, took place.
142* LastSecondEndingChoice: After Gordon has defeated [[FinalBoss the Nihilanth]], the G-Man intercepts him, saying that his employers are very impressed with Gordon's work. He then offers to either employ Gordon, or [[NonStandardGameOver throw him into a battle that cannot be won]]. How Gordon responds is up to you.
143* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqj3fJ34zdQ "Nepal Monastery"]] tends to be played around a Tentacle, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbGMbFjoshA "Alien Shock"]] around a Gargantua.
144* LivingWeapon: The Hivehand, basically a living alien beehive that shoots a constantly replenishing supply of [[BeeBeeGun bee-like aliens]]. There's also the Snarks, small beetle-like aliens. If you can get some from their nest, you can sic them on enemies, where they'll pester them rather effectively until they either get smashed or blow themselves up.
145* MilitariesAreUseless: The soldiers sent to contain the incident are pretty tough, and individually competent. However, they hardly stand a chance against the invading Xen aliens, especially when they start showing up in larger numbers and with stronger units, and their directive to kill all Black Mesa personnel makes them an active hindrance to Gordon and his colleagues, who have the plan to stop the invasion.
146* MinimalistCast: Freeman and the Nihilanth are the only characters in the game who are even named. There's also the G-Man, but his name is an unofficial, internal one.
147* MonsterCloset: The game explains it by way of the monsters getting into unused drywalled-off corridors due to random teleporting.
148* NintendoHard: The combat in the game's Military Base segment, and also the platforming in its Xen segment.
149* NoIndoorVoice: The HECU Marines, due to their voices always sounding like they're coming out of walkie-talkies. Even {{lampshaded}} by one line they say while idle: "[[WithCatlikeTread Squad, quiet down!]]" at the same not-very-quiet level.
150* NonCombatantImmunity: You won't encounter any enemies in the game until you get a crowbar, at which point all Hell breaks loose. Although there is one enemy before that, it's just a lone [[TheGoomba headcrab]], which is easy to dodge and merely serves to illustrate what types of enemies you'll fight later on.
151* NonStandardGameOver: There are two times when failing an EscortMission to get a locked door open will result in this.
152** If all 3 of the ''Questionable Ethics'' scientists die before one of them opens the lobby entrance door, it results in an instant loss.
153** In ''Surface Tension'', you have to escort a security guard towards two doors that only he can open (the front door of the building the guard started in, and the door that leads to the parking garage). It's an instant loss if the guard dies before both doors have been opened.
154* NoOSHACompliance:
155** Black Mesa was supposedly built by people to ensure no employee survives in even the smallest emergency. Partially justified as the Resonance Cascade did extensive damage to the complex. That said, parts of it still seem pretty unsafe to begin with such as the [[AcidPool open pools of toxic waste]] in multiple levels, just for one.
156** Could probably have a page of its own what with missing handrails, ladders to nowhere etc, but one particularly egregious example is in the "Blast Pit" mission. You have to start a giant fan which you approach from above, but the button to turn it on is underneath with a bottomless pit below. Since the blades fill the entire room, once the fan is on, you have to climb a ladder very quickly to avoid them before they get up to full speed... ([[FridgeLogic How anyone is supposed to turn it off is a mystery!]]) Then it blows a gust hard enough to lift you high into the air, so your only escape is through a vent at the very top (which is blocked by planks of timber you have to hack through). To top it all off, this particular room has a lot of catwalks without handrails! This is all by design rather than caused by damage from the Resonance Cascade.
157--> '''Dario Casali (when asked about the fan in ''Blast Pit''):''' I'm pretty sure we mostly designed spaces knowing what the setting should be, but starting with a gameplay or experiential concept first, and adopting a "you get the idea" approach to making it feel like it could exist. Number one was always how the game played. If it was fun, we'd turn a blind eye to whether or not it could exist. It's liberating for the design to free yourself from constraints that were conceived not of how the game plays, but where it's set and whether or not it needs to conform closely to reality.
158** [[SarcasmMode Averted]] - At least the catwalks have non-slip surfaces!
159 * NotSoStoic: The HEV suit computer is usually, well, mechanical, with no inflection on its words. But when Gordon is on the verge of death:
160--> '''HEV Suit:''' ''(Urgent tone)'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis EMERGENCY! USER! DEATH! IMMINENT!!]]
161* PortalNetwork: Xen has one. Gordon uses it to navigate the place, as he often finds himself trapped inside small floating islands that can barely sustain a few animals (such as the first real island), or even "islands" that are just rocks that have just enough room to stand on. ''Why'' they have one is a mystery however, as the aliens are repeatedly shown to be able to teleport wherever they want, even in groups, as a consequence of the Nihilanth's control.
162* PostDefeatExplosionChain: Each time a Gargantua is killed, its death is marked by a series of explosions.
163* PretentiousLatinMotto: Black Mesa's Advanced Biological Research Lab has the motto ''Superbus via Inscientiæ'', [[http://latindiscussion.com/forum/threads/superbus-via-inscientiae.7737/ which is intended to mean "arrogance through ignorance,"]] and was put in by Karen Laur because she was annoyed by the hubris of her co-workers.
164* PublicDomainSoundtrack:
165** A number of tracks use stock music cues from [[https://search.upright-music.pl/album/ffd02335-27e7-4c68-9982-2c2750239c8a SCD 709 Dramatic Workshop 26 - Moodsetters, Links & Stings]], including:
166*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeiIBYzh33U "Military Precision"]] (various "Stab" cues)
167*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAgvblw5FuI "Adrenaline Horror"]] ("Wild And Free B")
168*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ubdjv7SnmA "Dark Piano Short"]] ("Doom Threat")
169*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_SDgq5bp0 "Nuclear Mission Jam"]] ("Cluster 1")
170*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkgwKuu5l7M "Bass String"]] ("Lost Hearts B")
171** The duduk heard in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBzsmUuKPM "Jungle Drums"]] is sampled from the Zero-G Ethnic Flavors album. It's also been used in other works, like ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' and ''WesternAnimation/JumanjiTheAnimatedSeries''.
172** Overall, many of the tracks use frequent sampling. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odXWmLYHiWQ These]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na02e0Fya9Q videos]] show it.
173* PunchClockVillain: The Marines you fight are very much this, as they are just doing their job and at a few points you overhear some of them expressing qualms about killing innocent civilians.
174* PunchPackingPistol: For some reason, the same 9mm cartridges do more damage when fired from the Glock than when fired from the [=MP5=]. Also, the Glock is given the miraculous ability to be fired underwater[[note]]In reality a 9mm Glock can fire underwater, although the bullet would only travel a few metres and would do little damage[[/note]].
175* PuzzleBoss:
176** The Tentacles when you first encounter them. They're defeated by activating the surrounding machinery, which requires the player to sneak or run past the boss several times to reach the necessary switches.
177** The Gargantuas. Each one you encounter has some method to kill it using the environment. Technically, you can kill one with your weapons, but having maxed-out ammunition for every weapon in your inventory is just ''barely'' enough firepower.
178* {{Retcon}}: A minor version, but ''Blue Shift'', ''Decay'' and both console ports of the original game change the infamous [=MP5=] with grenade launcher submachine gun into a Colt Commando assault rifle, a more logical service weapon for the marines and also a more logical one to have a mounted grenade launcher. The Steam version of the original game also now does this, unless you de-select the High Definition Pack from the options menu. The Glock 17 also becomes a Beretta [=92FS=] while the Colt Python becomes a Colt Anaconda, which is both more logical weapons as well (the [=M9=] because it's the U.S. military's service pistol, the Anaconda because .44 Magnum makes the ArbitraryGunPower ''slightly'' less ridiculous than the Python's .357 Magnum... though unlike with the Commando and [=M9=], the High Definition Pack didn't bother to change the model of the Anaconda's ammo pick-up).
179* RougeAnglesOfSatin: A building full of explosives in "Surface Tension" has a prominent sign reading "ORDINANCE STORAGE FACILITY". Presumably, they meant ''ordnance'', unless the building was meant to be a law library... This spelling error was kept in ''Opposing Force'' as well, where ''two'' more buildings are called that.
180* ScenicTourLevel: The former TropeNamer. The game opens with Gordon taking a tram on his way to work.
181* SecondaryFire: Several weapons feature this. Mostly they are simple things like a laser sight or a scope, but in some cases, it makes the weapon two guns in one, and in other FPS games of the time it would've been a separate weapon altogether rather than a secondary fire. It can be said that ''Half-Life'' actually has 19 weapons instead of 15.
182** The SMG/assault rifle has an M203 grenade launcher mounted under that can hold ''ten grenades'' and never needs to be reloaded. This, combined with its reasonably common ammo, makes it somewhat overpowered.
183** The shotgun can [[GunsDoNotWorkThatWay fire both barrels at the same time (even though it only has one barrel)]], giving you twice the damage at the cost of accuracy, ammo, and pump time. Very similar to the Super Shotgun weapon in ''VideoGame/DoomII''.
184** The Tau Cannon's secondary fire is a powerful, charged, pixel-accurate laser beam that changes it from a rapid-fire infantry muncher to a single-shot anti-vehicle weapon.
185** The Hivehand has two modes of fire: the primary fire launches heat-seeking "thornets" at a semi-automatic rate. The secondary function "dumb fires" all the thornets in quick succession; much faster than the primary fire, but without the homing ability.
186* SequenceBreaking: Several examples.
187** There are several ways to skip portions of certain chapters, or in some cases, skip them ''entirely''.
188*** In "Office Complex," you can shove an NPC into the locked door in the cafeteria area, which results in the door opening; meaning that the player gets to skip the freezer section of the chapter.
189*** At the start of "'We've Got Hostiles!'," it's possible to bug the starting scientist that's yelling about the silo door to open the door to the security office. The player would then press the button within said security office to open the silo door and head to "Blast Pit;" effectively skipping the entire chapter.
190*** At the start of "Power Up," it's possible to just climb over the cement divider barricade that blocks the tram track, and then squeeze through the tram elevator to reach the next level; effectively skipping the entire chapter. This one doesn't work in the Source version of the game as it's no longer possible to squeeze your way through the tram elevator that comes after the cement divider wall.
191*** In "Gonarch's Lair," you can skip having to fight Gonarch the final time. Normally, the death of the Gonarch causes a big explosion that opens up the floor to jump down into the room with the teleporter to the "Interloper" chapter. However, players can use their explosive weapons to break up the floor and head off to "Interloper" before Gonarch's completely defeated.
192*** There are several cases where you can use explosives to blast-jump up to areas you normally wouldn't be able to get to until much later. The prime example is the first map of "Interloper" where you can just explosion jump to the floating teleporter island behind the starting spot; effectively skipping the entire first section of the chapter.
193** This happens twice when it comes to scripted NPC events:
194*** In "Blast Pit," it's possible to save the scientist who would have been taken away by a Tentacle by quickly rushing over to him, and speaking to him; cancelling the scientist's scripted event.
195*** In "Residue Processing," it's possible to stop the security guard from running off and getting eaten by a Barnacle if you're fast enough to run up to him and talk to him; cancelling out the security guard's scripted event. However, this does have a bit of a downside as it means that you won't be getting the regular Pistol for the chapter since the only one drops off the security guard.
196* ShoutOut: Dario Casali's developer commentary explains some of his inspirations for the game's setpieces, including:
197** The Gargantua sequence in "Power Up" was inspired by ''Film/JurassicPark''.
198** The sequence in the middle of "Questionable Ethics", where the headcrabs bust through the glass, was inspired by the Facehuggers inside vials from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
199** The exploding barrels that launch into the sky at the beginning of "Surface Tension" were inspired by ''Film/{{Backdraft}}''.
200* {{Sidekick}}: The security guards, nicknamed the "Barneys". Recruiting them allows them to fight at your side.
201* SlaveMooks: The Vortigaunts.
202* SpiritualAntithesis: One can easily think of it as ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' PlayedForHorror, owing to its similar plot setup yet very different tone and gameplay. According to Gabe Newell, this was the intention.
203-->'''Newell:''' ''Half-Life'' in many ways was a reactionary response to the trivialization of the experience of the first-person genre. Many of us had fallen in love with video games because of the phenomenological possibilities of the field and felt like the industry was reducing the experiences to least common denominators rather than exploring those possibilities. Our hope was that building worlds and characters would be more compelling than building shooting galleries.
204* StarfishAliens: Most of the aliens barely resemble any form of Earth wildlife.
205* StealthyMook: The female Black Ops assassins use silenced pistols and never speak, and on Hard difficulty they use cloaking fields which make them partially invisible.
206* StopPokingMe: Walking into certain locked doors repeatedly will [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdLRZzCf_kk start to drive VOX crazy.]]
207* TemptingFate: You can overhear one HECU trooper telling another that he killed a bunch of scientists and "not one of them fought back", and proceed to do exactly that.
208* TenSecondFlashlight: Severely {{downplayed|Trope}}. While the torch does recharge faster than its juice is spent, it lasts for a long time. Most of the time, you won't see the icon grow dim past the beam portion of it.
209* TooDumbToLive: The guard you hear playing with the tau cannon. The scientist in the room with him warns against overcharging the device, but the guard has just enough time to ask "What do you mean overcharge?" before the [[LudicrousGibs kaboom]]. Presumably this whole sequence is meant to teach the player how the tau cannon works (you can charge it up for a more powerful shot, but holding the fire button too long will make it overcharge and cause massive, possibly fatal damage.)
210* TrackingDevice: Freeman's HEV suit has one, and both the science team and the military have been using it to monitor his location and, in the latter's case, set up ambushes.
211* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Many of the game's platforming segments, and ''especially'' its "minefield" segment. Admittedly, most of the minefields can be dealt with safely through means such as firing a shotgun or SMG into it or using more explosives if you're desperate (however, the big one in "Surface Tension" can't, as doing so is a NonStandardGameOver).
212* TwoKeyedLock: The test chamber has to be unlocked by two scientists each activating retinal scanners.
213* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: The TropeCodifier for the use of this trope in a narrative context. As described above, the game unfolds entirely from the perspective of Gordon Freeman, with no cutscenes.
214* UnbuiltTrope: This game is one of the first to attempt to be more realistic than the cartoonish games that inspired it, being set in a facility that is much more logically designed than previous video games complete with intercoms and warning signs and logical machinery in the facilities, and many of the games trying to be realistic to the point they sacrifice fun for realism, especially shooters, cite this as a chief influence. The game still has a lot of ArtisticLicense and frequently breaks reality to make things more interesting or less of a hassle, and has ended up often being favorably compared to said realistic games that it inspired made afterwards. Several developer interviews even admit this.
215* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: The worst case scenario regarding the Saving system happens if the player has no other saves and has accidentally quick-saved at the exact moment when the player, or any crucial NPC dies by merely seconds, leaving the player no time to react.
216* UniqueEnemy:
217** There are only three Automatic Turrets (the ones mounted on the ceiling, as opposed to the Sentry Guns mounted on tripods). The first two are small, have a single barrel, and are only encountered in "Office Complex". The third example is much bigger, has a tri-barrel gun, and is only faced during "Forget About Freeman".
218** The Alien Cannon appears once during "Forget About Freeman", having been set up by Alien Grunts in a corridor, and then is never seen again. Notably, this enemy is absent from the game's console ports, having been replaced by a stack of crates instead.
219** Two Bradley [=IFVs=] are faced during "Surface Tension". One of them has a [=TOW=] Launcher, while the other one doesn't, making them both unique. A third Bradley is seen but never fought, instead serving solely as a transport to bring in HECU reinforcements during a warehouse battle between them and a bunch of Xen aliens.
220* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Except for a few [=NPCs=] necessary to advance, nothing is stopping you from killing every scientist or guard you see as long as you have a weapon. Although if you try it in the tutorial level, the guards and auto-turrets will gun you down.
221* WeaponizedOffspring: The Gonarch spawns baby Headcrabs during the fight against it.
222* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Both {{Mook}} and OneManArmy are {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed; sneaky players can listen in on the {{Arm|iesAreEvil}}y as they have weird, regretful conversations about [[CavalryBetrayal slaughtering hundreds of scientists who expected them to RESCUE them]] - and later their rage at the player, who they believe was the mastermind behind the invasion and have been slaughtering their comrades wholesale. On the other hand, one of the Marines laments having none of the scientists fight back.
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