The year half life series takes place in

Half-Life Series
#1

Although valve intentionally keeps the date of half life series vague, many beleive, in the wake of portal series, half life is set in 1998 (the same year the game was released)

Other debates include half life being set in 2003, due to a page in Raising the bar showing Marc Laidlaw’s draft despicting half life to take place in “March 31 2003”
although many rectons were made (where instead of march 7, gordon’s journey starts at May 7) Its probable half life 1 takes place in 2003 (5 years “in the future” from the game’s original release)

taking into account that hl1 is set in 2003, that would made hl2 take place in May 2023 (assuming gordon was in stasis for exactly 20 years time)

what do you guys think of the setting of half life?
is 2003 believeable?

would it be cool if the mod acknowledged the year setting in some easter egg or scientist diologue?

#2

in my mind Half-Life takes place between 2000 and 2009 with a very strong inclination toward 2000 to 2002. 2003 is when stage 1 of the modern era started and Half-Life just feels way too vintage and early two-thousandsey for anything past 2002. That’s my opinion.

Black Mesa’s art direction has it looking more like it takes place around 2004 or 2008. I welcome this with cuddling arms.

HL2 is 202X for all I care

#3

This, though I’ve always gone with the assumption it was 2008-2009 ever since Black Mesa. I doubt HL2 will ever be given an official date so yeah, just whenever in the 2020’s.

#4

officially VALVe said it was 200-, and hl2 is 20ish years after that, so HL2 is in the year 202-

#5

If you play Blueshift, there is a calendar in the beginning saying December, so I’m leaning towards that. I prefer to think 2000 and 2020. I also heard Portal is set in 2010.

#6

That is if you consider Blue Shift canon of course.

#7

Isn’t that same calendar in Half-Life somewhere? I know I remember it having the days not line up properly with the days of the week, in any case. I don’t feel like hunting it down in HL1.

#8

I think I remember that calendar, it says 199X if I remember right.

#9

The calendar didn’t have a year on it, it said December & only had 30 days.

#10

Even thought it’s most likely wrong, HL is in 1998 in my headcanon. HL2 is ~20 years after that, but not any exact number since Gordon was purposely taken out of stasis on the day Kleiner manages to get his intradimensional teleport working, which most likely isn’t an anniversary of the Black Mesa Incident.

#11

In the manual for Half Life for PS2, there are some letters, dated “May 5, 200-”. Here are some beautiful scans, unrotated for your annoyance:

I mean… er… I found these in Freeman’s quarters when i was escaping with by bullsquid friend… or… something.

#12

Are there any LCD monitors in Half-Life. I mean its tempting for research facilities to buy the best equipment money can buy, but they are also on a budget. It was very hard for Valve in 1998 to know how big LCD monitors would be as they were practically non-existent back then, so I would probably say the game was set in a transitional stage of 2004-05, also if I remember correctly, there are a lot more CRT monitors present in HL2 than LCD, though that may be because CRTs are more robust and have lasted longer in the hostile environment.

#13

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

#14

Blank page.
Very interesting.

#15

Blank page was all the rage never meant to hurt anyone!
Eh now’s not the time to shit post lyrics.

On topic i’ve always seen the game as happening just after 2000. What with the old timey computers and all.

#16

I think early 2000’s like Ramirezoid says. The presence of CRT monitors is a dead giveaway that it doesn’t take place in the late 2000’s. Even the crappiest PC screen you can buy is at least a flatscreen.

Or Breen is just rubbing himself with money all the time, which wouldn’t surprise that much.

EDIT: …Then again, why are there tape based computers peppered across Black Mesa?

holy shit breen caused the resonance cascade to avoid taxes

#17

I asked myself the same about Aperture in Portal 2 when I first noticed them in the room where you (don’t) meet your parents.

#18

Anyone else find this funny? This guy can’t be bothered to remember what year it is, so he rounds it off to the decade, as if it doesn’t really matter. :retard:

#19

There is way more evidence supporting 2003, so I kinda have to believe that’s when it happens. I much prefer to think 1998 though. The feel of the facility just supports it more. Using the old trams systems for On A Rail, Old monitors, manual use of pushing a cart. In 2003 that whole test chamber would probably have been automated. Stuff like that.

Maybe BM will change my perspective.

#20

well this is the only evidence that half life could be set in 2003

https://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb57887/half-life/en/images/1/14/Rtb_laidlaw_note.jpg

i mean 2003 could be possible,

Black mesa looks rather 90’s-ish, yet at the same time there are technologies within that could be considered “futureastic” (ie. the giant robots, the various experimental weapons like the gluon, tau, and displacer cannon, and teleporters)

I mean like Llewen says, the computers seen throughout black mesa look like to come from the early 2000’s

black mesa most likely is visualized at a 90’s/early 2000’s reference point so that players can relate to real life office complexes (the game did come out in '98 )

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.