Half-Life will never die. Although it’s been almost 20 years since Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 3 has become essentially mythical, the Valve FPS game remains a stalwart of PC history, with mods and fan projects keeping the legacy of Gordon Freeman alive. Half-Life Alyx proved there’s still so, so much more to explore and enjoy in the world that brought us headcrabs and G-Man, and now, devout Half-Life fans aim to boost, promote, and memorialize the iconic shooter by breaking the Steam world record for concurrent players of HL Opposing Force – and everyone can take part.
Released in 1999, Half-Life Opposing Force throws you into the role of Adrian Shephard, one of the Hazardous Environmental Combat Unit (HECU) troops sent into Black Mesa to execute the government’s cover up. Previously, the Half-Life community has organized events to smash the world records for both Half-Life and HL2. Now, players want to set a new all-time high Steam count for Opposing Force.
Publicized by Valve content creators ‘Radiation Hazard’ and ‘Noclick,’ the upcoming ‘Opposing the Bar’ event is intended to unite the Half-Life community and celebrate the historic shooter.
“Many people who are new to these events often ask us about ‘why do we do these?’,” Radiation Hazard explains. “It’s plain and simple. Noclick and I do these events to bring together the community and celebrate our favorite games with our dear viewers. Valve may or may not care about this franchise any more, but we do. Let’s show them how the HECU handles the situation.”
As it stands, the all-time record for concurrent Opposing Force players on Steam is a small 620, set four years ago. Opposing the Bar naturally aims to break that, with previous events, like Half-Life 2’s Raising the Bar in 2021, pushing the HL2 player count record to over 10,000. Though 620 is a very achievable goal, Radiation Hazard has set a secondary objective of 5,000 concurrent Opposing Force players. And if you want to join in, it’s easy.
On Sunday, August 13, all you need to do is log into Steam at 7am PST / 10am EST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET and load up Opposing Force. After that, you don’t even need to play it – just leave it open on Steam for over an hour so that it registers on the player chart. And that’s it, you can become a part of Half-Life history. In the meantime, you might want to take a look at Half-Life Disrepair, a fan-made horror game set in the ruins of the Black Mesa lab.
Alternatively, if you’re suddenly feeling all nostalgic, take a look at the best old games. You might also want to know whatever happened to Half-Life 3, which we believe – and will always believe – is still on its way.