7 Games That Started Out As Half-Life Mods

The following games all began life as mods for the original Half-Life, on Valve's GoldSrc engine. Being modifications initially, they once required Half-Life (or at least a bunch of its files) in order to run. Since, however, the games on this list have seen full standalone releases and can now be played completely independently of Half-Life. Some simply come packaged with the required files and others are rebuilt while remaining faithful to the mod that spawned them.

1. Counter-Strike

Probably the most recognisable entry on this list, Counter-Strike was one of the first massive multiplayer shooters that popularised the genre in the late nineties. Over the years, Valve have since taken this action-packed terrorist-versus-law enforcement FPS and built upon it. However, it was nothing more than a humble mod for Half-Life when it arrived back in 1999. It didn't take the innovative Valve long to recognise the potential of Counter-Strike's then-unique offering, and they hired the team and acquired the property rights, before releasing it as a standalone game in the year 2000.

2. Gunman Chronicles

Developed by the now defunct Rewolf Software, Gunman Chronicles went through several major changes before Sierra had it published as an independent title. Initially built around the Quake engine, it was then worked on further on the Quake II engine, until Rewolf settled on Valve's GoldSrc engine to finish the job. As GoldSrc was already a heavily modified Quake engine, created in-house at Valve, it was a good fit for further development.

Gunman Chronicles is a sci-fi FPS that sees you in the role of Major Archer, a member of an intergalactic police force known as the Gunmen. The plot involves Archer unearthing a rogue Gunman cell, hell-bent on revenge, during a mission to a dinosaur-inhabited planet where even the fauna is deadly.

3. Sven Co-op

The third entry on the list is a cooperative-focused reworking of Half-Life, developed by Daniel "Sven Viking" Fearon — hence the name. The Sven Co-op mod was released in January of 1999 and, to begin with, only had levels based around those found in Half-Life. Although, this would progress to include sections based on Half-Life 2 and even integrate user-created levels. It's just the same first-person Half-Life experience you're familiar with, but with friends, meaning there's nothing extra to delve into.

While it has the necessary Half-Life base game files built into it, players are unfortunately still required to own Half-Life's DLCs. The game was dependent on Half-Life for 17 years; it was finally released in 2016 — making it the game on this list with the largest gap between its mod release and full release.

4. Day Of Defeat

Day of Defeat is a team-based multiplayer shooter, set during World War II, and takes place on the Western front theatre. Being a first-person experience, the game strives to simulate typical infantry-based combat where cooperation is key. Players are restricted by realistic features too, such as harsh weapon recoil and limited stamina.

Whether you choose the Allies or the Axis Powers, rounds are simply won when one team completes their objectives first. Maps have objectives and force players together to fuel the action.

Valve would eventually purchase the rights and release the game as a standalone title in 2003.

5. The Wastes

The Wastes is a fast-paced FPS, set in a post-apocalyptic environment. Originating, like all the other mods on this list, as a GoldSrc mod for Half-Life — the game lay dormant for well over a decade before finally releasing in 2018. This version, however, is a completely new game, built from the ground up using id Tech 3 and powered by FTE QuakeWorld.

The game does have a single-player mode but is made up of bot-controlled skirmishes referred to as "scenarios" by developer Vera Visions. The main focus of the game though is the multiplayer experience - which offers a wide variety of game modes to tackle. There are the typical free-for-all, team deathmatch, and capture-the-flag modes, but there are also vehicle derbies and wave survival modes too.

6. Cry Of Fear

Cry of Fear is a strange addition to this list, as it wasn't created until 2012, 14 years after Half-Life was released. The mod was released as a standalone title only the following year, due mainly in part to Steam forcing the hand of the developer, Team Psykskaller. Steam had uploaded some updates with the unfortunate side effect that made Cry Of Fear unplayable.

Anyway, videogame politics aside, Cry Of Fear is an off-beat survival-horror, with monsters to battle and puzzles to solve. The adventure takes place across both the real world and a "nightmare" world, in a style akin to the Silent Hill series, and players can either progress solo or in co-op. The single-player option features 19-year-old Simon, immediately after he is hit by a car. While the co-op campaign instead has you, and up to four of your friends, take the roles of police officers who are wrapped up in the hellscape.

7. Natural Selection 2

The last entry on the list is Natural Selection 2 — an improved version and standalone sequel of the original mod, Natural Selection. While the first Natural Selection obviously needed Half-Life to run, this sequel was built from scratch using a dedicated engine at Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

Natural Selection 2 is a hybrid FPS and RTS title that pitches the Kharaa aliens against the Frontiersmen marines. Both teams tackle objectives using varied abilities. Although the marines primarily utilise guns, the aliens otherwise prefer to just clobber their enemies and couple their brute force approach with wall-crawling, flying, and teleport-dash abilities.

As it stands, there is only a team deathmatch game mode, which is self-explanatory.

There we have it, seven Half-Life mods that became full-fledged games in their own right. For those wondering where Team Fortress Classic is — that game was actually developed as a mod for Quake until Valve rebuilt it for the GoldSrc engine and then released it as an independent title. Team Fortress Classic's story is very similar to that of countless other games where people incorrectly label them as Half-Life mods turned full games.

If you know of any more games that started life as original Half-Life mods, then let me know down in the comments.