Half-Life 2: Episode One on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Half-Life 2 has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and earned over 35 Game of the Year Awards. Episode One is the first in a series of games that reveal the aftermath of Half-Life 2 and launch a journey beyond City 17. Also features two multiplayer games. Half-Life 2 not required.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is a fps, action and sci-fi game developed and published by Valve.
Released on June 01st 2006 is available on Windows and Linux in 18 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Swedish and Thai.

It has received 31,822 reviews of which 30,478 were positive and 1,344 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.4 out of 10. 😍

The game is not available on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Half-Life 2: Episode One into these genres:

FPS Action Sci-fi Singleplayer Story Rich First-Person Shooter Classic Dystopian Aliens Zombies Adventure Episodic Atmospheric Silent Protagonist Great Soundtrack Short Puzzle Cinematic Moddable

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Half-Life 2: Episode One through various videos and screenshots.

Half-Life 2: Episode One screenshot
Half-Life 2: Episode One screenshot
Half-Life 2: Episode One screenshot
Half-Life 2: Episode One screenshot
Half-Life 2: Episode One screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

Minimum: 1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX® 8.1 level Graphics Card (Requires support for SSE), Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Feb. 2025
Welp, my review won't matter since this game was delisted. Don't worry, Valve just made HL2 Ep.1 and Ep.2 as part of HL2 base, so getting that will give you both this and Ep.2 with it. You aren't missing anything.
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Nov. 2024
Casual reminder that anyone who says that this doesn't exist anymore is wrong, they just made it so instead of being listed as a game, it was listed as a tool. What this means is that you can not only still install it but you can also still play it. if you want to find the game again search for the game in your library and look in the tools section👍 (same also goes for episode 2 and lost coast)
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Sept. 2024
Half-Life 2: Episode One is the continuation of Half-Life 2's story. It picks up right where Half-Life 2 left off. It's mostly the same of what you already had in Half-Life 2; fun combat and interesting maps. I feel as if in Episode 1 the developers were brave enough to build more creative maps that demand elements which were mostly forgotten about in the original Half-Life 2. Like, for example, during the first part of this game you have no proper weapon (i will get to this again later), and you have to navigate a dark tunnel full of zombies alongside Alyx. In Half-Life 2 you never really had to use your flashlight, but now you need it to bring light into the darkness and enable Alyx to kill the zombies for you. Besides this there a two things i'd like to point out which i disliked: 1) This game is a lot more linear, or at least it felt this way to me. In Half-Life 2 there were often split paths you could go down and explore, while this game is basically one straight line. This is further solidified by the fact that this game has wayyy more "wait whilst the story is being explained" type moments. More often than not you have to listen to Alyx talk while she does the important things, like fiddling with the computers to get you going. I feel like the orignal Half-Life 2 better integrated these moments into the gameplay loop. 2) Is the aforementioned weaponry in this game. There is one achievement in this game called "The One Free Bullet". To gain this achievement, you have to play through the entirety of Episode 1 whilst only firing one singular bullet (you have to shoot a lock off at one point). And like mentioned, the only weapon you have for the first few chapters is the gravity gun. I suppose this game was heavily built around this achievement, which, on one hand is pretty cool because it forces you to think of creative ways and use the physics to your advantage, but on the other hand is rather not so cool because Half-Life has a great gun feel and choosing to use the gravity gun should be a decision the player makes. More often than not i found myself cornered and beaten by zombies, because i couldn't properly defend myself with the explosive barrels without killing myself, too. In the end, Half-Life 2's Episode One is not a must. If you enjoyed Half-Life 2, and particularly want to know how the story goes on after the cliffhanger, then you should get this game. If you don't care about the story, then don't. Final Score: 8/10
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Aug. 2024
A direct continuation from the ending of Half-life 2, episode 1 sets up to be the survival story of Gordon Freeman and Alyx as they run away from imminent destruction of city 17. Time is of the essence. Super excited to start episode 2 and see how the story concludes.
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July 2024
Half-Life 2: Episode One is a short but sweet continuation of the Half-Life story that I liked, but has to be the weakest Half-Life 2 entry. It's still a great expansion to the world and gives you a fairly hard challenge with having to beat the game only using 1 bullet on a lock, meaning you have to rely on the gravity gun the rest of the game. I don't really have much to say about this one other than you could consider this one the "filler episode".
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Frequently Asked Questions

Half-Life 2: Episode One is not available on Steam.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is not available on Steam yet.

Half-Life 2: Episode One received 30,478 positive votes out of a total of 31,822 achieving an impressive rating of 9.38.
😍

Half-Life 2: Episode One was developed and published by Valve.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is not playable on MacOS.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is a single-player game.

There is a DLC available for Half-Life 2: Episode One. Explore additional content available for Half-Life 2: Episode One on Steam.

Half-Life 2: Episode One does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Half-Life 2: Episode One does not support Steam Remote Play.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Half-Life 2: Episode One.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 01 July 2025 15:20
SteamSpy data 05 July 2025 21:11
Steam reviews 06 July 2025 13:48

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Half-Life 2: Episode One, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Half-Life 2: Episode One
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Half-Life 2: Episode One concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Half-Life 2: Episode One compatibility
Half-Life 2: Episode One
-
9.4
30,478
1,344
Game modes
Features
Online players
22
Developer
Valve
Publisher
Valve
Release 01 Jun 2006
Platforms
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