Pearls from the rest: Half-Life ends 20 years. This is one of the most important video games in history

Gordon Freeman and his story we met exactly 20 years ago. On November 19, 1998, one of the most important games in the whole history debuted: Half-Life.

Good morning and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System.

From these words 20 years ago, a new era of video games began. Half-Life was the title that paved the trails and set the direction of development for the entire industry. If not for this game, today we could not have such productions as The Last of Us or Uncharted.

The very intro to the game was unusual. Instead of the movie, we were immediately in the middle of the story. It started inconspicuously, from the caravan going deeper into the Black Mesa complex. Going for a few minutes on the rails from one side we had the opportunity to interact, because we could look around and move around the car, but on the other hand, the developers showed us specific things during the ride. The development of a concrete story with residual freedom. Is this what today's action games look like?

What happened later, every fan of video games knows. An unsuccessful scientific experiment, a great chaos and loss of consciousness, after which the entire research facility died out, and at the same time creatures from another dimension appeared. It is at this point Gordon Freeman, our "dumb" hero, threw out a notebook and a calculator to grab a crowbar and check what actually happened.

A year after the premiere of Half-Life the most important addition appeared: Counter Strike.

Counter Strike was an addition, or rather a modification of Half Life. It was the beginning of an absolutely phenomenal trend that continues to this day. After the premieres of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive the game is alive today and is better than ever. CS: GO is currently one of the most important e-sport titles, which attracts tens of thousands of viewers and multimillion advertiser budgets to the arena.

All this would not be possible without Half-Life.

G-Man dreamed about me for months.

In the first Half-Life I played in a much too young age. Unless headcrays and zombies made a big impression on me, G-Man was absolutely terrifying. A sad observer in a suit, holding an inseparable briefcase, appeared only for a moment, but always in the least expected moment. He accompanied us throughout the entire game, watching our struggles. The mystery of this character was indescribable.

The climate of leaving and disinformation lasted throughout the entire game. With the development of history, we found ourselves on more and more demanding newcomers and the army, which wanted to cover up events at the Black Mesa research facility.

The army was a key element of the first Half-Life supplement. In Opposing Force we experienced exactly the same events as in the basic version of the game, but from a different point of view. We played as a Marine.

In the next appendix called Blue Shift, we could experience the same story for the third time, this time watching it from the perspective of the guard of the Black Mesa complex.

Half-Life 2 appeared six years later and was received in a royal manner.

The gaming world shook in posture when inconspicuous advertisements began to appear in the press. On the white background one could see only a crowbar, which together with its shadow made the number "2". Players were crazy about the excitement.

Half-Life 2 again proved to be a huge success and once again set the standards in the industry. The mechanics of the game were very much based on the physics of objects, which in 2004 was a complete novelty. In addition, the game charmed with graphics, and at the same time contained the atmosphere and all the elements for which we loved the first Half-Life.

And although Valve promised us three additions, and then the third part of Half-Life, the number "3" turned out to be the curse of the fans of the series. After two additions, we never saw the third one, so we did not get to know the whole story of Gordon Freeman. The third part has never been presented, despite numerous rumors.

Half-Life is for me a series from the strictest top of the most important, the most breakthrough and favorite video games. For twenty years in the world of games a lot of great things happened, but Half-Life will always remain in the memory of my generation.

Pearls from the rest: Half-Life ends 20 years. This is one of the most important video games in history