Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary

Dropping a 1 hour long documentary without any announcements or anything for it is the most Valve thing i've ever seen

25 years and Valve comes out of nowhere with an HOUR LONG documentary. Nice one

1:03:22 "Excited by the future" "The past are the stepping stones to what we'll be able to do in the future" Half-Life 3 confirmed bois.

15:40 this has got to be the best speech on game design, ever

"Late is for a little while, suck is forever" - Gaben. Man I love this guy, why can't all game studios have this man.

Valve actually acknowledging their past is crazy to see

38:10 Him remembering his buddy's cat's name 25 years later was so wholesome man ;_;

Awesome doc. Would love to see this done for Half-Life 2 also

Kelly Bailey doing all of the sound, music, and helping design levels. What an insanely talented guy, and the music is forever iconic.

It would be so cool to see a documentary like this on Half-Life 2

One thing i remember most about Half-Life from those days is how incredible the sound was! Leaps and bounds ahead of anything before. In 1998 i had Altec-Lansing stereo speakers with attached sub woofer and damn did this game CRANK! The explosions were vivid, gunshots raw, and the voices so realistic. The stereo spacial effects were (and still are) incredible, if something was to slightly to the left or directly behind you, it really sounded like that! The echoey footsteps especially on those metal catwalks were just absolutely striking, it really brought you into the game.

The part where they talk about cutting aliens from the game due to time constraints (25:00) is something I think acted unintentionally as a strength in the end product. When I think of Half Life the concrete monolithic pillars, metal walls and ambient soundtrack flood into my mind. The monsters and combat are amazing true but the environment really elevated this game above its peers. And with something as simple as an office building, missile silo or warehouse. Thank you to Valve for taking the FPS genre to what I feel was a deeper level!

Thank you Valve for one of the defining games of my life. This documentary was wonderful.

one hour documentary on a video game 25 years old... unannounced and almost 2 million views in three days. THAT'S how good Half Life was and is.

Long long ago, I remember someone drawing a distinction between "realistic" and "authentic". Usually you don't want literal realism. What you want is for the game to feel cohesive and internally consistent. Portals aren't realistic. If we actually had portals like Aperture Science, it would mean free energy. BUT the portals in Portal have an internal logic that's almost entirely consistent across two games. It FEELS real, even though it isn't realistic. That's authenticity.

It's so bizarre that this seemingly random group of people were able to create a game that felt like it had a 100 man team behind it. Truly lighting in a bottle. I never saved any of my old games, but I still have my original Half-Life box and CD from 1998. Just from the train opening alone you knew that you were playing something special, and as the years went by it only became more clear that what Valve did with Half-Life was, and still is, truly unique.

The game was designed to be fun, and it still is

Imagine starting a video game company with hardly any game developers on staff and then making Half-Life for your very first game.

The plot of the Half Life could be a very interesting movie. Great documentary, nice to know about the production and the team behind this incredible game. Props for the documentary and a big thanks to this team who made it possible.

For me the sound design makes the most of the Half-Life experience and creates the athmosphere so thanks for the one person creating it! :)