(According to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx takes place before the events of Half-Life 2.) Valve’s Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, its tech demo for HDR lightning, isn’t included in this promotion. Also available for free is Half-Life 2 and its two episodic expansions.
This promotion includes the original Half-Life (the Source version of the game with added physics to make it feel more modern to play, not the beautiful remaster Black Mesa) and its expansions, Half-Life: Blue Shift and Half-Life: Opposing Force.
Every game is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS (though all of these games are 32-bit apps, which means they don’t work on macOS 10.15 Catalina). This is basically a two-month-long trial you won’t get to keep these games. For the next two months, each of the Half-Life games will be free to play on Steam. Half-Life: Alyx will launch in March 2020 for PC-based VR headsets, but right now, Valve is giving gamers the opportunity to catch up on (almost) everything Half-Life-related at no expense.
