8 ms·

Half-life 2 is imo still the most important and impactful game of our generation — from gameplay to art-style to game mechanics and so on, it’s still exceptiona

Half-life 2 is imo still the most important and impactful game of our generation — from gameplay to art-style to game mechanics and so on, it’s still exceptional and I struggle to come up with another single player game that blew me away like HL2 - Dead Space comes close but it was less revolutionary imo

Trasmatta 2y ago
> I struggle to come up with another single player game that blew me away like HL2 I feel the same, but incidentally one of the ones that blew my away like HL2 was Dishonored.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  Prey was really good too, if not quite up to the level of HL and Dishonored.
  - Trasmatta 2y ago
    Dishonored, Prey, Deus Ex. Relics of a lost era: I don't know if we'll ever see big budget "immersive sims" like them again.
    - Schiendelman 2y ago
      I'd recommend Death Stranding and Control.
      - Aeolun 2y ago
        Control, while fun, was too much of an action game for me.
        Schiendelman 2y ago
        I can understand that. I'm no good at action games, but it was great playing on easy! Well worth it.
- portaouflop 2y ago
  I never played it, gotta try it out soon!
rightbyte 2y ago
>I struggle to come up with another single player game that blew me away like HL2 The original? I thought the first person story telling mode of HL1 was really mind blowing.
- strangescript 2y ago
  Exactly, so many first of its kind moments in HL1. The first time you saw a scripted sequence, like wtf am I playing, this is amazing. HL2 was more refined, and the art style did help elevate the story telling.
  - shawabawa3 2y ago
    The gravity gun in hl2 was absolutely mind-blowing Every game up until then had been full of 100% static assets and suddenly you could just pick up and throw anything with realistic physics
    - brap 2y ago
      There was also that crossbow that shoots red hot rebar, let’s you pin things (and enemies) to walls. I had so much fun with that
    - rightbyte 2y ago
      The mix of good open landscape and good indoor maps were also quite impressive for the time if I remember correctly.
    - swinglock 2y ago
      Not quite static. Hitman and Red Faction comes to mind, years before Half-Life 2. Still, it was groundbreaking.
      - crest 2y ago
        Red Faction's destructible maps lend themselves to a lot of creative gameplay, but the (late) game was far to linear. The engine made a lot possible, but to explore using explosives you had to exploit item duplication glitches or cheats. In the end it felt like an engine demo posing as a complete game.
jakubmazanec 2y ago
Agree. I recently played HL2 again with the new commentary (added because of the 20th anniversary) and it really shows why the level design is so good: a lot of play testing and iterative design. They really did the work. Now I'm playing the Halo franchise and the difference in how boring and uninspired the levels are is really striking.
- ben_w 2y ago
  Mm. Halo 3 felt really open and expansive the first time I played it. Second time, I tried to explore outside the normal path and rapidly discovered that it was a very well disguised rails shooter. But I've also gone back further than that in Bungie's back catalogue, having recently been playing Marathon 2 and Marathon ∞ (winner of the MacFormat(?) magazine award for "largest version number increase between successive releases") on Steam, and… well, 2 has still-interesting levels, but Infinity's levels are a spatially confusing mess.
- Lammy 2y ago
  > Now I'm playing the Halo franchise and the difference in how boring and uninspired the levels are is really striking. Relevant PA: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28/the-rest-of-the-story https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28/the-rest-of-th...
- kawsper 2y ago
  Halo: ODST is the one for me with the best storytelling and ambiance.
rdtsc 2y ago
Absolutely agree. I just replayed all the Half Life series with my kids and they love it. It's a game that's just so well done and I think it held well after all these years.
AdrianB1 2y ago
HL2 is one of the top 5 most influential games. I think Duke Nukem 3D was one (first good multiplayer), Witcher 3 is another (one of the most immersive, story driven), the Elder Scrolls series and I am finding it very difficult to name the 5th, but HL series was great for its time.
- abhpro 2y ago
  Dark souls for sure now
squarefoot 2y ago
I loved HL2 so much. Not at the 1st place in my list because, well, the Mass Effect story line brings that one to another level, but HL2 for the time was unbeatable. I wonder why they didn't continue the franchise with a proper HL3; the entire world of gamers was (and probably still is) begging for it.
AI_beffr 2y ago
when i played HL2 in 2006 or whatever, i had no idea that there would never be anything like that again. we all thought that HL2 was just the beginning... but it was the opposite. i think that we all assumed that the game was made great by its technology. but the more i think about it, the more i realize that it was the people, the sensibilities of those people and that time, and the character of valve at that time, everything besides the technology, that made HL2 so good. and that also explains why it has never been reproduced. if i were going to be sent to another planet in another galaxy to seed another colony of humanity... and i could only bring 2 video games for that entire branch of humanity to know and appreciate... it would be HL2 and MGS2.
dvngnt_ 2y ago
half life alyx with the Jeff level

Trasmatta 2y ago

> I struggle to come up with another single player game that blew me away like HL2 I feel the same, but incidentally one of the ones that blew my away like HL2 was Dishonored.

Aeolun 2y ago
Prey was really good too, if not quite up to the level of HL and Dishonored.
- Trasmatta 2y ago
  Dishonored, Prey, Deus Ex. Relics of a lost era: I don't know if we'll ever see big budget "immersive sims" like them again.
  - Schiendelman 2y ago
    I'd recommend Death Stranding and Control.
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      Control, while fun, was too much of an action game for me.
      - Schiendelman 2y ago
        I can understand that. I'm no good at action games, but it was great playing on easy! Well worth it.
portaouflop 2y ago
I never played it, gotta try it out soon!

rightbyte 2y ago

>I struggle to come up with another single player game that blew me away like HL2 The original? I thought the first person story telling mode of HL1 was really mind blowing.

strangescript 2y ago
Exactly, so many first of its kind moments in HL1. The first time you saw a scripted sequence, like wtf am I playing, this is amazing. HL2 was more refined, and the art style did help elevate the story telling.
- shawabawa3 2y ago
  The gravity gun in hl2 was absolutely mind-blowing Every game up until then had been full of 100% static assets and suddenly you could just pick up and throw anything with realistic physics
  - brap 2y ago
    There was also that crossbow that shoots red hot rebar, let’s you pin things (and enemies) to walls. I had so much fun with that
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    The mix of good open landscape and good indoor maps were also quite impressive for the time if I remember correctly.
  - swinglock 2y ago
    Not quite static. Hitman and Red Faction comes to mind, years before Half-Life 2. Still, it was groundbreaking.
    - crest 2y ago
      Red Faction's destructible maps lend themselves to a lot of creative gameplay, but the (late) game was far to linear. The engine made a lot possible, but to explore using explosives you had to exploit item duplication glitches or cheats. In the end it felt like an engine demo posing as a complete game.

jakubmazanec 2y ago

Agree. I recently played HL2 again with the new commentary (added because of the 20th anniversary) and it really shows why the level design is so good: a lot of play testing and iterative design. They really did the work. Now I'm playing the Halo franchise and the difference in how boring and uninspired the levels are is really striking.

ben_w 2y ago
Mm. Halo 3 felt really open and expansive the first time I played it. Second time, I tried to explore outside the normal path and rapidly discovered that it was a very well disguised rails shooter. But I've also gone back further than that in Bungie's back catalogue, having recently been playing Marathon 2 and Marathon ∞ (winner of the MacFormat(?) magazine award for "largest version number increase between successive releases") on Steam, and… well, 2 has still-interesting levels, but Infinity's levels are a spatially confusing mess.
Lammy 2y ago
> Now I'm playing the Halo franchise and the difference in how boring and uninspired the levels are is really striking. Relevant PA: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28/the-rest-of-the-story https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28/the-rest-of-th...
kawsper 2y ago
Halo: ODST is the one for me with the best storytelling and ambiance.

rdtsc 2y ago

Absolutely agree. I just replayed all the Half Life series with my kids and they love it. It's a game that's just so well done and I think it held well after all these years.

AdrianB1 2y ago

HL2 is one of the top 5 most influential games. I think Duke Nukem 3D was one (first good multiplayer), Witcher 3 is another (one of the most immersive, story driven), the Elder Scrolls series and I am finding it very difficult to name the 5th, but HL series was great for its time.

abhpro 2y ago
Dark souls for sure now

squarefoot 2y ago

I loved HL2 so much. Not at the 1st place in my list because, well, the Mass Effect story line brings that one to another level, but HL2 for the time was unbeatable. I wonder why they didn't continue the franchise with a proper HL3; the entire world of gamers was (and probably still is) begging for it.

AI_beffr 2y ago

when i played HL2 in 2006 or whatever, i had no idea that there would never be anything like that again. we all thought that HL2 was just the beginning... but it was the opposite. i think that we all assumed that the game was made great by its technology. but the more i think about it, the more i realize that it was the people, the sensibilities of those people and that time, and the character of valve at that time, everything besides the technology, that made HL2 so good. and that also explains why it has never been reproduced. if i were going to be sent to another planet in another galaxy to seed another colony of humanity... and i could only bring 2 video games for that entire branch of humanity to know and appreciate... it would be HL2 and MGS2.

dvngnt_ 2y ago

half life alyx with the Jeff level