Half-Life Free New Game Release Landing on Steam, More Immersive Than Ever

Half-Life fans will be able to enjoy a new free release later this week, and it’s the best excuse to revisit the 1998 classic.

As gamers around the world hold their breath for a potential Half-Life 3 announcement at The Game Awards, it’s a great time to go back and play the games that made us fall in love with PC gaming.

Half-Life 1, while certainly dated, is still absolutely worth your time in 2025, and this new free update to the game proves it.

Half-Life Legacy is a new free update to the original Half-Life, releasing as a standalone title on Steam, which adds achievements, improved controller support, and enhanced modding features.

It’s not an official release by Valve, but rather created by a modding team by the name of The Phoenix Project Software. You’ll need to own a copy of Half-Life to play it, but at this point who doesn’t own that game?

Valve / The Phoenix Project Software

Half-Life Legacy is a Great Reason to Revisit the 1998 Classic

Let’s start with probably the biggest feature here: full controller support. The original Half-Life technically already has controller support on Steam, which was added with the 25th anniversary update in 2023.

However, the support isn’t perfect. Many players have had difficulty getting it to work properly, and it requires a little tinkering using Steam Input to get it functioning. Half-Life Legacy removes this requirement, allowing you to plug in a controller and have it working without any issues.

This also makes it a great Steam Deck game, as you’ll be able to install it and play Half-Life on the go without running into any issues with the controller input.

The other big addition with the update is Steam Achievements, something I’m surprised was never added by Valve to the original Half-Life game.

While it’s true that not everyone cares about achievements, many people also find enjoyment in trying to get every achievement in a game.

According to the store page, there are achievements for completing each chapter, but also several extra ones for unique feats scattered throughout the game for you to grab.

Half-Life: Legacy also adds Steam Workshop support, allowing modders to upload their mods directly to Steam. It means that you’ll be able to download and install mods directly from the interface, rather than going to GameBanana or ModDB to find them.

Other improvements include various bug fixes, restored features from the different versions of Half-Life 1, and other under-the-hood changes that should make this the definitive experience.

Personally, I'm also hoping it adds level select, similar to Half-Life 2. But that might be wishful thinking.

You’ll be able to download Half-Life Legacy on Friday later this week, seeing you through to the weekend.