Expansions

This page is here to clear up confusion/misconceptions regarding Half-Life and games that take place in the same universe. Each of these games will have their own page made in the future, but this is specifically how they relate to Half-Life (regarding both canon and development).

Before giving a brief rundown of the timeline, here is my recommended order to play the games. They are mainly in release order and I grouped some games after the primary one, consider the ones that follow to be optional

  1. Half-Life, and then the gearbox expansions (Blue-Shift, Opposing Force, Decay)
  2. Half-Life 2, and then Portal
  3. Half-Life 2: Episode 1
  4. Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and then Portal 2
  5. Half-Life: Alyx

WARNING! YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE SPOILERS FOR THE HALF-LIFE FRANCHISE. PLEASE ONLY VIEW IF YOU HAVE PLAYED ALL OF THE GAMES!

Half-Life Game Timeline

Notes

  • All of these games take place at the exact same time as Half-Life 1, with each character seeing brief instances of the other stories. The expansions made by Gearbox are light-canon, meaning that Valve doesn't really care if they are or aren't canon.
  • Half-Life 2 takes place 20 years after HL1 and Half-Life: Alyx takes place 5 years prior to Half-Life 2. However, the overall story leads to Half-Life Alyx which in turn causes a split in the timeline.
  • Portal takes place sometime during the combine invasion. We know that GladOS is somehow keeping the combine out of the facility and that's about it. Many fans assume it takes place between HL1 and HL2, but I have yet to find concerete evidence for that.
  • Half-Life and Portal are not like the gearbox games, you do not see any character crossovers. There are many references to eachother, and this was originally going to lead to a crossover in Episode 3. There are several interviews where they hint Chell possibly having some larger involvement in a future Half-Life title. It is unknown and very unlikely if that will ever happen.













  • According to the Final Hours of Portal 2, the game is meant to take place about 50,000 years from Portal.

Resonance Cascade

Half-Life
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Decay

Combine Invasion

Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life 2
Portal
Half-Life 2: Episode 1
Half-Life 2: Episode 2

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Portal 2

Leftovers (Non-canon but semi-related)

Half-Life: Counter Strike

When Valve signed their initial contract with Sierra, they agreed to make 3 games. To later fulfill this contract, they named Counter-Strike as Half-Life: Counter Strike. While it reuses some Half-Life assets, it is not considered to be part of the canon.

Black-Mesa

A fan remake of Half-Life. It is pretty good with some flaws, but it is not a replacement for Half-Life. It is not official Valve content, although Valve allows the project creators to profit off of it. I would say play this if you really want to experience Half-Life in a different context.

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