Half-Life — Settings, Requirements & Optimization
1998 · Shooter, Action · Valve Software · ESRB Mature · Metacritic 96

Optimize Half-Life for your hardware
Pick your GPU, CPU, resolution and target refresh rate, then generate a printable settings card with per-preset expectations and upscaler guidance.
Optimize Half-Life for your PC
This is a planning estimate derived from the game's demand tier, not a benchmark.
My Half-Life Settings Card
Generated at GameFigs on 2026-08-21. Game demand tier: 3/9.
Official system requirements
Publisher-published Minimum / Recommended values via RAWG. Real-world performance varies with drivers, resolution and your full build.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Minimum: 500 mhz processor, 96mb ram, 16mb video card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection | — |
| Processor | Recommended: 800 mhz processor, 128mb ram, 32mb+ video card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection | — |
| Memory | — | — |
| Graphics | — | — |
About Half-Life
Half-Life is the original game in the series. Being a revolutionary at the time, we follow the story of Gordon Freeman - a silent scientist at the facility called Black Mesa. Arriving late at work and hastily doing his routine he runs into the experiment field. However, the experiment goes completely wrong and opens a portal to a completely different dimension called Xen. The laboratory is destroyed as well as the facility itself, as unknown creatures like Vortigaunts are now everywhere in the facility. Gordon must battle his way to the surface and find a way to close the portal. One of the main features of Half-Life was story-telling through scripted sequences within the actual gameplay. Without having cutscenes, the game was able to tell the full story of the game by showing scripted deaths, dialogues, character appearance while the gameplay was moving one. By not ripping off the player from the process, the game feels much more smooth as it continues. Despite his science nature, Gordon is masterfully using his weapons and destroys any enemy at his path with rifles, grenades, shotguns and much more.
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Sources & attribution
- Game data (release year, genres, platforms, system requirements, description, cover art) via RAWG.io, retrieved 2026-08-21.
- FPS bands, presets and upscaler advice on this page are GameFigs planning estimates from the game's demand tier — not benchmark results.
How the Half-Life optimization card is computed
Each game is scored on a 0–9 demand tier from its published PC requirements (and a year/genre fallback when requirements are absent). Your GPU and CPU selections map to comparable-class scores. The generator compares your hardware score against the game's demand to pick a starting preset, estimate an FPS band at 1080p/1440p/4K, and recommend an upscaler (DLSS / FSR 3) and ray-tracing posture. The output is a planning guide — always verify in-game with the built-in benchmark when available.