All the Half-Life games are free for the near future

For those that don't already own them, it's now possible to play every game in the Half-Life series entirely for free. 

To highlight the upcoming release of VR-based game, Half-Life: Alyx, Valve has made all the games in the Half-Life series free to Steam users for the next 2 months. The deal includes Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two. 

News arrived in a somewhat subdued fashion overnight. Steam users began to receive notifications stating that the Half-Life Collection would be free-to-play for the next 2 months. The issue? Well, for one thing, there isn't any title out there called the Half-Life Collection. Instead, there's a Half-Life Complete package and that costs £27.04, but currently offers links to the individual games for free in the synopsis. 

Still, the games are all available. It's possible to still buy the games with a separate link located within each product page for playing them entirely free for the next couple of months. Make sure you click on the free link rather than end up inadvertently purchasing any of the titles.

Valve's thinking behind it is explained in a more logical announcement than its earlier notifications: "Half-Life: Alyx is set before the events of Half-Life 2 and the episodes, but the games share characters and story elements. The Half-Life: Alyx team believes that the best way to enjoy the new game is to play through the old ones, especially Half-Life 2 and the episodes, so we want to make that as easy as possible." 

Consider this Valve's warning that you really need to know about the Half-Life series before you dive straight into Half-Life: Alyx. 

It's likely that you already own at least a couple of the titles, but if you've been meaning to try one of the Half-Life games that have passed you by, or you've somehow never played one before, this is the perfect opportunity. 

The offer is set to last until the day that Half-Life: Alyx launches which is sometime in March 2020. You can pre-order it now for £41.84 instead of the standard price of £46.49.