The year Half Life series takes place in (back from the dead)

Half-Life Series
#1

before the [color=red][b][u]Purging of the Threads[/b][/u][/size], i made a thread regarding the lore behind the “year” half life is set in, now its back and will be expanded upon

The general reference point is half life 1, which is set in [COLOR=‘Orange’]2003 (according to this: https://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100213053821/half-life/en/images/1/14/Rtb_laidlaw_note.jpg), although many simply call it [COLOR=‘Orange’]“200x or 200-,” but i like the idea of half life being set in [COLOR=‘Orange’]2003 (especially when it was released in 1998 ) because it reflects on the environment in half life (like how the scientists utilyze 90’s/2000’s-ish technology like VHS tapes, windows 95/98/2000 computers, tape mainframes etc.)

The information listed below is relative to half life’s presumed [COLOR=‘Orange’]2003 setting:

-Gordon is 27 years old, and is born [COLOR=‘Orange’]“between 1973 and 1982” according to valve; 2003-27= [COLOR=‘Orange’]1976; [COLOR=‘Orange’]1976 falls perfectly between [COLOR=‘Orange’]1973 and 1982
so assuming half life is set in [COLOR=‘Orange’]2003, Gordon is born in [COLOR=‘Orange’]1976!

-Adrian Shepard is 22 years old and is born [COLOR=‘Orange’]“between 1978 and 1987”; 2003-22= [COLOR=‘Orange’]1981, which once again falls within the estimated years

-it is of note that the years these characters are born have a difference of 9 ([COLOR=‘Orange’]1982-1973= 9 for gordon; [COLOR=‘Orange’]1987-1978= 9 for shepard; 200x which signifies years between 2000-200[COLOR=‘Orange’]9, same applies for hl2’s estimated timeline of 202x, which would be between 2020-202[color=orange]9) the same pattern applies for the estimated birth dates of Gina cross and Collette green (which are not listed)

so if half life really is set in [COLOR=‘Orange’]2003, then that means half life 2 takes place in march/may [COLOR=‘Orange’]2023 (the months have had rectons so its hard to distinguish between march or may)

*post-blackmesa reflection
BMS really does portray the early 2000’s pretty well in my opinion, the flatscreens around the facility make a keen reference to SONY (which was probally the most common type of TV, electronic etc. brand at the timeperiod IRL), under the name of FONY
BMS also (coincidentally?) portrays the computers as old windows 95’s

the Questionable Ethics chapter was the best part of such portral imo, the offices felt silent, it just reminds me so much of going to work when noone is in the office, so silent where all you hear are computers, printers and air conditioning…

#2

Good to see this up again, and I wish to state, again, that Blue Shift (and now even BMS) has a calendar in the two different lobbys who says december, so according to your theories, we can say 2003, december.

#3

That means gordon is 40+ in Hl2?

#4

No, because Gordon was put in slow-time-warp by G-Man between HL and HL2.

#5

Oh I didn’t know that

#6

I’ve compared both the BMS and the Blue Shift calendars to different calendars of 200-2009, and the BMS is from 2000, and Blue shift doesn’t make any sence, both becausde two saturdays/sundays are missing and because there is no 31th December, but if you add that, it’s most similar to the one from either 2003 or 2004, so your theories could be correct.

#7

the december calenders were just the result of the scientist’s laziness

half life is set in May (originally march, but was rectonned)

#8

Source??

#9

https://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Half-Life_universe

look around the 2000’s time period

#10

the commonly accepted date is may 16th, 2003, which is basically what the wiki supports. This means the seven hour war occured, probably, that summer, and then about 20 years of shit goes by, including the events of Portal, and somewhere in the range of 2020 - 2025, Half-Life 2 kicks off.

I can’t confirm this, I haven’t been a Half-Life geek for the past few years, but I do recall that, during Half-Life 2, they had originally intended for it to be 10 years after. It wasn’t until the episodes established a 20 year time period, (due to no opposition from vanilla hl2) that the 20 year gap was made official. Again, no source on that one.

#11

i decided to dig ol thread back up;

@dinnsfire5
7 hour war occurs about the same time as portal 1 (which imo, would be around 2010’s)

hl2, right when the game starts is at 2023
the game perspective spans over 3 days (it is technically 1 week if you take into account the “slow teleport” part)

but even with the week interval, hl2 and its episodes would most likely revolve around the month of may/june (assuming gordon was in stasis EXACTLY 20 years after hl1)

also edited the OP

#12

I thought it was 2 weeks, regardless, I don’t think it takes place in may/june since there are no leaves on the trees. It would seem to me like it’s autumn, possibly October since you can see fallen leaves on the ground when you first exit the train station.

#13

take into account half life 2 takes place in east europe (my bet is either russia or urkraine, or some country near and/or influenced by russia)
there are alot of russian signs throughout half life 2 and cold war bases (white forest is good example)

i dont think fall would occur over there like in the US

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.