Cover of Half-Life

Similar games

Games like Half-Life

1998 PC 9.69 € 👍 97 % Overwhelmingly positive, 148,221 reviews on Steam

The landmark shooter sends physicist Gordon Freeman through the alien- and soldier-infested Black Mesa facility, telling its story seamlessly without cutscenes while mixing tense firefights with environmental and physics puzzles.

What defines Half-Life:

  • Sci-fi setting
  • Action-packed real-time combat
  • Strong, story-driven narrative
  • Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)

10 games with a similar feel, sorted by match

Show games from the same series

Best match

Marathon 2: Durandal

92 %

1995 PCXbox

  • Sci-fi setting
  • Action-packed real-time combat
  • Strong, story-driven narrative

A 90s classic first-person shooter notable for its story told through computer terminals. You fight through sci-fi levels full of switch puzzles, rival alien factions and weapons with multiple fire modes.

Scars Above

Challenging difficulty

A challenging sci-fi third-person action game where you play a scientist stranded on an alien planet, fighting monsters with elemental weapons and solving puzzles. Its checkpoint-based difficulty echoes soulslikes, while a mystery story drives you onward.

TimeShift

Realistic visuals

A first-person shooter where you can freeze, slow down or rewind time to outwit enemies and solve small puzzles. It unfolds in a grim alternate reality ruled by a dictator.

Red Faction

Realistic visuals

A first-person shooter set on Mars where you play a miner joining a rebellion. Its Geo-Mod tech lets you blast through walls and terrain in real time, which made for standout moments back then.

Quake 4

Sci-fi setting

A linear sci-fi shooter on the Doom 3 engine where marine Matthew Kane takes the fight to the Strogg homeworld, featuring the infamous stroggification twist. Squad missions, vehicle sections and fast arena multiplayer round it out.

Singularity

Sci-fi setting

A sci-fi shooter set on an abandoned Soviet island, where a time-manipulation device lets you age enemies to dust, restore decayed objects and solve environmental puzzles. Its BioShock-style horror atmosphere frames a Cold War time-paradox story.

Aliens versus Predator 2

Sci-fi setting

An atmospheric first-person shooter where you play three distinct campaigns as Marine, Predator and Alien, each with its own playstyle. The dark Alien-universe setting creates tense horror built on ambushes and hunting.

Crusader: No Remorse

Sci-fi setting

An isometric sci-fi action shooter where you play a defecting Silencer taking down a corrupt world government with heavy weapons, destructible environments, and tricky traps and puzzles.

Feedback