HL2: Episode One released

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 June, 2006

Available now.

Half-Life 2: Episode One is available now through Valve's digital distribution system Steam.

Released at 6pm this evening UK time, the game's a 4-6 hour episode that you can purchase and play without owning Half-Life 2 - although it picks up from the end of that most celebrated of PC shooters. Valve plans to release two more games in this series of episodes.

Reviewed on the site today and heavily trailed on Eurogamer TV, it's probably the most highly anticipated event in digital distribution since, well, since Half-Life 2 itself.

Those of you who already have it pre-loaded and pre-purchased will find the game files decrypt when you next load Steam, while those pre-loaded can purchase at their leisure for $19.95, or you can start from scratch by buying and downloading - although you might find it takes a while given the number of people likely to want to get hold of it now it's out.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that if you can't be bothered with all this Steam nonsense and you'd rather have one of those boxed games like in the old days, you can do that from tomorrow - with EA distributing the game through UK retail for around £15.

And with that, we'll shut up about Half-Life 2: Episode One. Although obviously we'd love to hear what you make of it.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TheBigK #1 6 years ago

    Anyone played it yet... worth splashing the cash??
    Edited by 1 at 01/06/06 @ 21:07

  • yorkiebar #2 6 years ago

    mine is also downloading now.... gosh, downloading the halo 3 trailer seems simply speedy compared to this....

    ...leaves computer on all night....

  • Hunam85 #3 6 years ago

    Done in 3hr 30mins dead on, the game, not the download.
    Edited by 1 at 01/06/06 @ 21:31

  • Eraysor #4 6 years ago

    Has some bugs (and I'm not talking about the antlions)...but it's rather nice.
    Edited by 1 at 01/06/06 @ 21:50

  • Contra #5 6 years ago

    your fault! you could have preloaded it, but noooo, you had to wait till the whole download frenzy started.....

    I preloaded it, and now its waiting on my harddisk and tomorrow evening I'm gonna play trough that beauty in one sitting. Ahh, I remember 2 beautiful days in September, I played HL2 nonstop. I was really immersed.

  • [TR] #6 6 years ago

    "Done in 3hr 30mins dead on, the game, not the download."

    :o
    Would you say it's worth its price?

  • Hunam85 #7 6 years ago

    Just about, if it was anymore id feel cheaped, and if id payed 19.99 in pounds id have freaked, but 19.99 USD is an almost fair price.

    But thats just logistical, the fun contained in the episode is immense, and it never lets up, just one more chapter would have clinched it for me.

  • Kiigan #8 6 years ago

    I'm a few hours into it now.

    So far it has been very enjoyable - just more HL2 really, which is exactly what I wanted. On the other hand, I haven't seen anything (in terms of locations, set pieces, or just awesome moments of play) that really compares to the original HL2. I've actually just turned the game off after getting pissed off with bloody antlions, but before that happened I was mostly having a blast.

    Anyway. If you want more HL2, it is worth picking up. It's the first thing I've purchased on Steam and it seems to work pretty well.

  • Hunam85 #9 6 years ago

    I really like the antlion bits, specially the car park

  • coojam #10 6 years ago

    This game makes you feel so damn clever when you figure out the "puzzles". It feels a lot more intelligent and well thought out that HL2 imo.

  • Freek #11 6 years ago

    It's awsome. Non stop packed with cool stuff, no padding. You need to slow down and look around in some places though, if you speed through it you might miss some of Alyx' cheesy jokes or story points.

  • tiddles #12 6 years ago

    Dammit - thought I had it preloaded, but when I go to authorise it, it turns out I only have 80%! gggnnnnggghhhh....

  • TwistidChimp #13 6 years ago

    Just completed it, very nice indeed. Although the teaser for episode 2 is refusing to load.

  • Hunam85 #14 6 years ago

    Oh, is that what is happening at the end, it just crashed out, i just chuckled and came here to boast :)

  • HoriZon #15 6 years ago

    Done in just over 4 hours.

    Good but not great, has some good moments and some boring ones.

    8/10

    Is it worth £11 from Steam - Yes

    Mine crashed for the preview too but reloaded to watch it (bug? me thinks so)
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/06 @ 02:03

  • TwistidChimp #16 6 years ago

    Episode 2 looks awsome.

  • yorkiebar #17 6 years ago

    And you get Lost Coast in there too.... even more HL2 to play with! Sweet!

  • DeveloperPump #18 6 years ago

    I completed it in a little under 4 hours, on the normal setting. Don't know what to make of that, really. I'd prefer a little more for $18. Perhaps I'm just cheap. However, what there was was pretty good, and I'll replay it on the hard setting, I reckon.

    The humour's pretty good this time around as well. For example, when Barney gives you the crowbar and tells you that he's quickly running out of those things and you should look after them better.

    Anyone found any easter eggs in it at all?

  • animal_mother #19 6 years ago

    I heard ages ago that Episode 2 was only going to comprise some 4-5 hours play, which immediately put me off. Sure enough, most reviewers seem to be saying that, even though it's more HL2 (which is a good thing) it's all over way too quickly.

    Valve reckon they're going to make HL2 an episodic affair, so we can expect more of the same in future. At $15 per episode I reckon it's a bit of con, to be honest.

  • trampatoni #20 6 years ago

    well you at first maybe it sounds like a con but when you consider the time that people have spent making it is well worth it.