There won’t be a third Half-Life. Even though it could be, I need to convince myself this in order to go on. In the meantime, I continue to find comfort in the passionate Half-Life fandom, which never stops doing incredible speedruns and learning new things about the game’s AI and systems. And now, in honour of Valve’s renowned 1998 first-person shooter, Half-Life enthusiasts intend to use Steam to break a brand-new world record. Everyone is invited.
On August 14, 2022, at exactly 3PM GMT, the Half-Life community, mobilised by YouTubers Radiation Hazard and Noclick, will log into Steam en masse, and open their copies of Half-Life. The objective is to beat the game’s all-time SteamDB record for concurrently playing users, which currently stands at around 6,000. It’s a very achievable goal, especially considering that in 2021, as part of an event called Breaking the Bar, the same Half-Life community managed to get 16,000 people playing Half-Life 2 all at the same time, smashing the previous record, and planting a flag for the enduring popularity of the sci-fi shooter.
If you want to take part, the rules are simple. First, make sure you’re playing a vanilla copy of the original Half-Life – no Half-Life Source, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Black Mesa, or any other modded or expanded versions of the FPS. Second, you have to play for at least 30 minutes, otherwise your presence won’t register on Steam’s database.
You can share your participation and spread the word using the hashtag #RememberFreeman, and various, prominent Half-Life YouTubers will be streaming the game on the day as well. You can find more information in the video from Radiation Hazard below.
So that’s it. Pull out your crowbars, microwave your casseroles, and get ready to remind the world that even if it’s never coming back, we all still love Half-Life.