Game profile
Half-Life 2
A milestone of the shooter genre that blends story-driven gameplay with the revolutionary Gravity Gun. Gordon Freeman fights against an alien occupation regime.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Shooter / Action, set in a science fiction world. Visually it is going for realism, and the overall tone stays dark throughout. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The narrative carries the whole thing, and the mechanics serve it. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 4 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Gravity Gun
- Physics-based puzzles
- Groundbreaking presentation
This fits you if
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- the writing matters more to you than the mechanics
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you are watching your budget
- you prefer a darker, heavier tone
Look elsewhere if
- you skip cutscenes and want to get to the gameplay
- you want something light and easy going
- you specifically want an open world to roam
- you want to play it side by side with someone
How long is Half-Life 2?
About 13 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 2 weeks, or 7 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 79 out of 100, which puts it above 25 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 915 overall. That is the lower end of this database, critics were more reserved here than with most titles. The number does not tell you whether a game is exactly right for the right evening, though.
For comparison, Shooter averages 81 points across the database, so this one sits 2 points below its own genre. The figure rests on 3491 collected ratings.
Released in 2004, which makes it 22 years old. A genuine classic, and worth checking how the version you buy holds up today.
The facts
- Release year
- 2004
- Genres
- Shooter, Action, Puzzle
- Playtime
- approx. 13 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Carries the whole game
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Sci-fi, Post-apocalyptic
- Visual style
- Realistic
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 79 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Life 2 | 2004 | approx. 13 hrs. | 79 | Budget |
| Gears of War: E-Day | 2026 | approx. 15 hrs. | 80 | Full price |
| Gears of War: Ultimate Edition | 2015 | approx. 8 hrs. | 78 | Budget |
| Hail to the Rainbow | 2025 | approx. 10 hrs. | n/a | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
- 80/100 Gears of War: E-Day Shared: Shooter, Action, Sci-fi, rated higher
- 78/100 Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Shared: Shooter, Action, Sci-fi, shorter
- n/a Hail to the Rainbow Shared: Puzzle, Sci-fi
- 75/100 Cyberpunk 2077 Shared: Shooter, Action, Sci-fi, longer
- n/a Sand: Raiders Of Sophie Shared: Shooter, Action, Sci-fi, longer
- 82/100 Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Shared: Action, Puzzle, longer, rated higher