 Good evening. Try, if you will, to envision the worst Half-Life game. Okay, you and I both know that one doesn't count. One more try. Yeah, that thing. Everyone loves to dog on Half-Life Source. There are one bajillion videos on YouTube making fun of it. There are one bajillion negative reviews for it on Steam. It is one of the biggest punching bags in the Half-Life community, and it has been for about as long as I can remember. But while a lot of people have done videos mocking the bugs that plague it or warning people not to play it, I don't know that anyone has done a truly comprehensive video about why this game has developed the poor reputation it has. I also think that, to some degree, it might be just a little bit overhated. So today, I want to take a bit of a deeper look into the culture around the scandal of a game. The world's introduction to Half-Life Source was a rocky one. Allow me to set the stage. The year is 2003. You're a Half-Life fan eagerly awaiting the game's upcoming sequel when you get the jaw-dropping news. Half-Life 2's entire source tree and tons of files from Valve's internal servers have surfaced online thanks to some German kit. Any little kid who had an internet connection and the balls to download an enormous zip file off a shady website was able to boot up a functional, albeit scuffed as hell, version of Half-Life 2, and see exactly what Valve had been up to for the previous five years. Half-Life 2 was not the only thing that surfaced in this leak, not even close. Among the other files were a cancelled game called Three Wave, early builds of Counter-Strike, Source, and Team Fortress 2, and even files pertaining to an unannounced project called... Half-Life Source. On top of uncompiled Source engine ports of all the original maps from Half-Life, the leak included two early Zen maps that were cut from the original game, as well as a bizarro, abridged version of the single-player campaign designed to test all the game's entities and make sure they've ported properly to the new engine. Obviously, all of this stuff was massively overshadowed by the leaked Half-Life 2 material, but I think it's important to mention how Half-Life Source suffered from the 2003 leak as well, because it illustrates the fact that it was kind of a troubled project even before its release. In fact, this leak spoiling the surprise might have been the reason the game never received a formal announcement. But fast forward to September 2004, almost a year later, and the world is just now getting officially introduced to Half-Life Source. It was unceremoniously listed as part of the Half-Life 2 Gold and Silver bundles, and people weren't entirely sure what to expect from it. As part of the press run for Counter-Strike Source, Valves publicist Doug Lombardi said, Half-Life Source and Counter-Strike Source began its test to see what mod authors would experience if they attempted to bring their Half-Life 1 mods forward to Source. H.O. Source was the first test, and proved quite informative. But unlike Counter-Strike Source, which included new art and audio throughout, folks here had pretty firm opinions about not changing the content in Half-Life 1. Although it was advertised as a recreation of the original Half-Life, the product we got is much closer to a port than a remake, though it did have its fair share of changes that we'll get to in just a minute. And despite what you might expect, upon release, the game was received decently for what it was, players and reviewers at the time enjoyed Half-Life Source's novelty. It performed better than the original game, it had cool ragdoll physics and higher quality blood and water effects, it had a new useful chapter select system, and it had some touched up levels as well. Half-Life Source was undeniably an afterthought. That much was obvious from how it had been relegated to a bonus for Half-Life 2 and how little care had been put into its promotional material. But apart from some hangups over its arguably deceptive marketing, the gaming sphere's feelings about Half-Life Source was perhaps best summed up by a form post from one month before the game's launch. After Half-Life 2, I don't think I'll ever go back to Half-Life 1, even on Source. One of the few gripes with Half-Life Source that did stick at the time was that it didn't come with a multiplayer mode. It did eventually get one almost two years later with Half-Life Deathmatch Source, but the fact that it took so long and shipped as a separate product felt a bit disappointing to many players. I think most people, even at the time, understood that Half-Life Source and Deathmatch Source were pretty much mediocre products meant as bonus content to incentivize people to join Steam. But that's hardly what gives it the poor reputation it carries today. The real factor that drives such intense, passionate hate for Half-Life Source in the community today is how much the game has been neglected. Since it's one of their least popular products, Valve has never really cared all that much about Half-Life Source. The game's cover art is a lazy photo bash. The images used in its marketing aren't even running in the Source engine. Hell, to this day, the release date listed on the official Steam page for Half-Life Source is just blatantly wrong by several months and nobody really knows why. And does the Source engine has gotten updates and patches that automatically push to every game running it? Half-Life Source has gotten buggier and buggier. Nobody at Valve has bothered to come and fix it either. Broken NPCs, shiny floors, flying doors, whatever the fuck is going on in residue processing, milk. It's getting nasty out here, man. And to make things worse, a lot of the traits about Half-Life Source that impressed reviewers at the time of its release have since lost their charm. Now that we're accustomed to the technology, seeing Half-Life 2's water or shaders in the original Half-Life feels less like injecting futuristic technology into a classic game and more like a tasteless, lazy asset swap that desecrates the original art style. And because of its buggy state and inconsistent visuals, there's a concern in the community that since Half-Life Source advertises itself as an enhancement, new players might choose to play it over the original and walk away from the series with a bad taste in their mouth. So a lot of people consider it highly important to be proactive in warning people against getting the game. But to get specific, what are the things that people hate about this port? Well, first of the aforementioned water effects. It's pretty drawing to see such a difference in visual fidelity between the water in this game and the rest of the surrounding environments. Sometimes the water also just glitches the hell out and turns into a milk-like substance. I've got no earthly clue what causes this. Second, Half-Life Source's implementation of the HD models is janky and strange. These HD models are already a big punching bag in the Half-Life 1 community. In fact, I guarantee if you scroll down right now, you'll find at least one comment chain of two of the biggest gorilla-brained morons clashing over whether Barney should look like a mannequin or a sex offender. But see, Half-Life Source's HD models are not the original HD models. They are apparently just straight-up lifted from a random fan project on Game Banana, and I think that is possibly the greatest testament to how little Valve cares about this game. Third, the lighting on these maps is just kind of strange. Certain areas and certain levels are weirdly dull compared to their original counterparts. And it wasn't always like this, but almost every floor in the facility looks like it's been freshly mopped and is squeaky clean, even the ghostly abandoned railway. The NPCs also tend to misbehave, even more than the original Half-Life ones do. Probably the most notorious example being the floating chair guys. But my personal favorite oddity is this cliffside map. The cliffside area from Half-Life 1 is one of the most beloved and iconic FPS game levels of all time, and what Half-Life Source does to it is perplexing to say the least. Alright, so it makes sense that Valve would add a 3D skybox to this map to show off the Source Engine's rendering capabilities, but the skybox they added is just deranged. First of all, let me get this out of the way. This rock texture has always been hideous. Anybody who tries to convince you otherwise probably has boomer brain rot or something. Even Valve and Gearbox knew it, which is why they completely replaced it in the PS2 version. But in this context especially, blown up on these oddly flat rock formations, it doesn't even look like terrain. It looks like a meat volcano or something. And the choice to make the ground beneath it this greenish-blue clashing texture which bleeds into nasty, cheap water, it all comes around to create a vomit inducing level that it's hard for me to believe was impressive looking even back in 2004. The degree to which Half-Life Source just completely ruins this iconic part of the original game is something I barely see talked about, which is insane given how much time people online spend making fun of this game. Also, this might not be Valve's fault, but Half-Life Source is also home to one of the most disgusting modding communities I've ever seen. What the hell is this man? This is disgusting. Do people really play it like this? There's a lot of other minor bugs and issues with the game, so many that there are entire online series dedicated to documenting them. But to respect your time, I tried to keep it to the ones I found most notable. Half-Life Deathmatch Source being sold as a separate game probably wasn't seen as too egregious back in the day, since it was included in so many bundles. But today we see that it has its own steam page and that Valve wants ten dollars for it, which is frankly just fucking predatory. Half-Life Source is so buggy and goofy that it's kind of amazing how little flak Valve gets for it. But as crazy as it might be to say out loud, I think people get so wrapped up ridiculing it, they forget to acknowledge the good that it's done. You might be wondering what I mean by that, so let me make myself clear. I think that Half-Life Source has provided unfathomable value to the Half-Life community. Don't believe me? Here's a quick experiment. Think of a popular piece of Half-Life 1 internet media, something after referenced and permanently associated with the game's culture. If you're a Fortnite Zoomer, maybe you thought of Half-Life VR, but the AI is self-aware. That series is made possible through Half-Life Source's compatibility with GMod. If you've been around the block a little longer, maybe you thought of Freeman's Mind. That series is powered by Half-Life Source's demo system. If you're truly old school, maybe you envision the G-Man Squad. Well, that series was also made entirely within Half-Life Deathmatch Source. It's actually an interesting question to ask. How popular would Half-Life 1 related media still be without Half-Life Source modernizing and making its assets more accessible? I also think it's important to remember that if it weren't for Half-Life Source being a disappointment, we would have never gotten the fantastic fan remake Black Mesa. Now, all of that definitely doesn't invalidate the fact that Half-Life Source is a crummy, broken product. But to be fair, it always kinda sucked, and I doubt if you worked at Valve you would want to work on it either. Most of the technical problems it has could easily be fixed in an afternoon, and have been by the community for years now with mods like Half-Life Source fixed. And while that kinda makes it more embarrassing that Valve continues to sell it in the state it's in, it also makes me think that the circle jerk around how much of a disgrace it is might be a little too strong. So while it's undeniably nasty, I still think that Half-Life Source is an experience every Half-Life fan should endure, just uh, not as their introduction to the series. I encourage you to continue dunking on Valve's lazy handling of the game, but try to remember the value it's provided as well. There's two sides to every story. Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video, have a good day.