Half-Life 2 will not be required to run Episode 1

By Tom Bramwell Published 24 February, 2006

Content will be 'richer' too.

Half-Life 2: Episode 1 won't actually require Half-Life 2 to play, Valve's explained, and although the game will be "four to six hours" long, marketing director Doug Lombardi reckons it's "markedly richer" in terms of content quality.

Basically, following the recent announcement that Half-Life 2: Aftermath would be known as Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and that a second episode is already in development, we sent off a few questions to Doug to make sure of some things. As always, he said lots of interesting stuff.

The change from Aftermath to Episode 1 was "simply a name change" he says, when asked about the shift to episodic content - which wasn't a shift at all, he adds, since "the format of episodic releases was decided before Half-Life 2 was made available".

Nor has the name-change meant any alteration to the content. "It is worth noting, however, that one of the benefits of developing an episodic game is that the team is able to produce more iterations of each aspect and flesh out each scene far more than in the production of non-episodic games. The result: Episode 1's complexion and density is markedly richer than Half-Life 2."

As for the recently announced Episode 2, it's "been in production for some time". "I promise it will arrive much faster than HL2 arrived after HL1," he adds. Well you'd hope so!

As to pricing and content: "For HL2: Episode 1 we're targeting four to six hours of new single player gaming plus HL2 DM and HL DM: Source for $19.99 - HL2 not required," he confirms. "For Episode 2, we're planning a similar offering at the same price."

And of course Episode 1 is due out on April 24th over Steam, with pre-orders and pre-loading options due beforehand. We'll be bringing you a review as soon as humanly possible, obviously. Thanks to Doug for answering our questions.

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 (39) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • Darkedge #1 6 years ago

    can we get a discount if we have HL2 and HL2 DM and HL DM: Source already or do we get screwed again?

  • Hicksy #2 6 years ago

    Bend over ;)

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #3 6 years ago

    4 hours?! :/

  • Talha #4 6 years ago

    Four to six hours? $19.99? That's as long as Black!!Where do I sign?

    I wish they had said 'No Steam Required".

    That is seriously good news. Let's hope they live up to the 'richer content' promise too. Call me whatever, for me that is one of the most exciting gaming news of 2006.

  • kgthatsme #5 6 years ago

    you're a cock

  • smoison #6 6 years ago

    Meh, after the slight dissapointment of HL2, I am really not sure about this one.

    Thank god Eurogamer will review it :D

    Lets hope the A.I is completly overhauled...

  • Talha #7 6 years ago

    @smoison: I think we should hope there IS an AI this time around. ;-)

  • CargoCult #8 6 years ago

    Talking about episodic - notice any changes?

  • jack_klugman #9 6 years ago

    Durandal?

  • neilka #10 6 years ago

    Great news, now everyone who didn't like Half-Life 2 will be able to play more of the same!

    Wait...

  • useyourloaf #11 6 years ago

    You don't already have HL DM: Source, unless you're a Valve dev, in which case I apologise

  • matrim83 #12 6 years ago

    I think we may find out 4 to 6 hours is a rather generous estimate. Games always boast of more play time then there actually is. Well as long as you play properly and not spend a lot of time just admiring the view.

    That is a nice brick.
    Ohhh lovely boulder that.

  • ram #13 6 years ago

    4-6 hours? Thats quite a big difference. As in 4 being 66% of 6. Unlike say 18-20 hours.

  • MrAtheist #14 6 years ago

    Dont believe the 4-6 hours - Valve claimed HL2 would last around 30 hours but you were lucky if it lasted half that.

  • smoison #15 6 years ago

    Well aftermath (proper add-on) would have been 10-12 hours play. So episode 1 and 2 combined will be about that.....

  • Darkedge #16 6 years ago

    ahh sorry forgot that the 7 year old game HL DM with a new engine (really hard port that) is worth 50 pence of my cash.
    Edited by 1 at 24/02/06 @ 13:07

  • smelly #17 6 years ago

    Well aftermath (proper add-on) would have been 10-12 hours play.

    If you read the ****ing article he says that ALL that has changed is aftermath has changed its name to episode 1.

    $19.99 = £11.42

    For 6 hour of entertainment. Now people are bitching it's more likely to be 4. Fair enough, that's £5.70 for 2 hours of entertainment. Which is about same price as going to the cinema for 2 hours, but more fun.

    Im sold.

  • JonFE #18 6 years ago

    No to require HL2 = Clever.
    The point of expansion packs is not only to expand the gamer's experience of the game, but also the game's installed base.

    4 to 6 hours long, though, is a bit disappointing. Hopefully that's a strict estimation and not a generous one.

    Does anyone know what we, Europeans, are supposed to pay if we purchase over Steam (I got HL2 collector's box, so I don't know how Valve treated us then) ?

  • space_ace #19 6 years ago

    a broken promise
    you could be honest

  • smelly #20 6 years ago

    Does anyone know what we, Europeans, are supposed to pay if we purchase over Steam

    it'll probs be the same as all other steam purchases, just whatever the $ converts to £. So $20 appx 12 quid.

  • JonFE #21 6 years ago

    Thanks smelly :)

  • wayn3h #22 6 years ago

    I bought DoD:S from Steam the other day for $19.99. Halfway through purchasing it says you have to pay additional tax on top, which brought it up to $23.99 I believe. So you end up paying a couple of quid extra.

    Not that I'm moaning.

  • TheMoonRat #23 6 years ago

    Yeps; you'll have to pay VAT on the converted $19.99 price

  • JonFE #24 6 years ago

    Thanks to the EU's rule to apply VAT on EU citizens...

  • smoison #25 6 years ago

    Thank Steam for selling its games at full retail price.

    They take the developers cut, and the retailers cut. Thx alot.

  • kangarootoo #26 6 years ago

    Oh you big ol' bunch of miserable muppets (well, not all of you of course). The only thing this article is telling you didn't already know is that you don't need HL2 in order top play this extra episode.

    Now maybe I missed a meeting, but thats good news isn't it?

    On the price note, 4-6 hours for around £12 seems very reasonable to me, given that you might pay £25-30 for a ten hour game at retail. Some people are just never happy.

    EDIT: Just saw the posts about VAT. So its not quite the bargain I suggested, but still a reasonable price.
    Edited by 1 at 24/02/06 @ 16:32

  • JonFE #27 6 years ago

    @smoison:
    Thank your free choice to purchase whatever you like and avoid the rest.

    No one is forcing any of this (Steam, HL2, HL2 Episodes 1/2 - or Aftermath if you please :) down your throat. It's their deal; take it or leave it.

    You didn't like HL2 anyway (judging by your posts about AI, etc.); why don't you give it a rest?

  • Hunam85 #28 6 years ago

    Yeah, a clever name for each episode would be nice, but nooooooo

  • AHiFi #29 6 years ago

    I'll say it now - I've not played Half Life 2 yet. I was planning on a price drop (before GOTY Edition arrived - much like the original) but I forgot about it and now they've brought the GOTY edition out. So I guess I'll give this a shot to see if it's worth paying to play the full game.

  • Collie #30 6 years ago

    Well for 4-6 hours of play, that's worth a fiver.

    Or several fivers if you're Valve.

  • kangarootoo #31 6 years ago

    Here's an idea. If you don't think its worth the money, don't buy it

    Tadaaaaaa!!

    Then you don't "get screwed again" or whatever else it is that people think Valve are doing to them with this release.

    You can all thank me later ;)

  • Fozzie_bear #32 6 years ago

    4 - 6 hours per episode sounds good to me. $19.99 may be just a little too much though.

  • Mechstra #33 6 years ago

    I dunno, it's not that much of a rip-off considering many full games sell for around $50 in the US and have (at most) 12 hours of gameplay time.

  • Talha #34 6 years ago

    I don't believe it. Most of you guys are posting here just because apparenrly you have an axe to grind with Valve. You folks even have the gall to scoff at the 4-6 hour play length. And yet, it is YOU who paid full price for the likes of FEAR and CoD2 and worse, BLACK - none of those clocked in at more than 10 hours.

    The difference being, if you really like HL, you go back to it again and again. Yes, it has nice boulders, and you spend a lot of time admiring that. With HL2, there is no hurry to get through the game since that is not the point (kind of like Far Cry). On top of that, the fact that they don't require HL2 for Episode One is pure genius. I honestly don't need more posts telling me how HL2 sucks, so please spare us all.

    Now, if only they got rid of Steam and came up with some clever name...but that is asking too much I think. I just hope Steam suffers a fatal clash with EA Downloader and both services annihilate each other in a burst of credit points, shredded bytes and smoke.

  • Daikon #35 6 years ago

    4-6 hours... Does that include the time it'll take to download it from Steam? ^_^

  • Mike_Hunt #36 6 years ago

    Any idea if it supports High Dynamic Range?

    [MH]

  • CargoCult #37 6 years ago

    HDR? Yes, it will.

    There's a nice new screenshot been posted as well. It has HDR, although it's very subtle - note the slight light bleed around Alyx, for example. The deep, intense colours are a bit of a giveaway too...

  • deadlock #38 6 years ago

    Notice anything about the screen in the background of that shot? Interesting...

  • Talha #39 6 years ago

    @blackdog: Hey man, I said MOST, not ALL. And yes, as far as their publishing practice is concerned, I have already said that it is quite painful for the consumer. Steam just plain sucks, and me being the old fashioned guy that I am, I want to have my game in a nice box and I want it to run straight away. But as I told you, i am getting old ;-).

    I also don't get this Episode One nonsense. At the very least it should have been HL2: Episode 2, since that is, you know, LOGICAL. So there, I honestly did not mean YOU, geddit?