Valve offers a Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update discussing news related to Sunday's quarter-century anniversary of the launch of the classic first-person shooter. The headline is that the game is currently free, so on the off chance you don't own it already, you can download Half-Life for Windows, macOS, and Linux from Steam for keeps right now. This is an updated version, and this page has details on all that's changed. It now includes the integration of Half-Life Uplink, four new multiplayer maps, updated graphics settings, controller and Steam networking support, Steam Deck support, UI scaling, restored content, and content from an obscure 1999 disc called Half-Life Further Data. There are also new sprays, bugfixes, wallpapers, and more. Lastly, the previous version of the game is still accessible as a public beta branch. Here's a new Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary, and here's word:

We launched Half-Life on November 19th, 1998. We are very proud of what we built back then and we remain extremely grateful for the community of players who have been enjoying it ever since. The game hasn't received as much attention in recent years as many other titles in our catalog, so we thought this milestone was a great opportunity to spruce up the player experience and add some fun new ways to play the game.

The same game you played in 1998 - restored, augmented, and revitalized

We created a new webpage to showcase all the updates in detail, but here's a quick rundown of the updates to the base game:

• Updated graphics settings, including lighting fixes and an actual widescreen field of view
• Controller and Steam Networking support
• Steam Deck support - officially Verified!

Also including lots of cool new (or restored) content!

The 25th Anniversary Update includes added content from Half-Life Uplink as well as four (4!) new multiplayer maps. We've also restored some content for the true nostalgia-seekers, including original main menu artwork and some early prototype player models from the alpha builds of the game.