Updated Oct 10, 2026 · 1 link from the Radiant Optimizer list
The Half-Life link opens a browser build of the engine on GitHub Pages. Load the game data from your own copy and the campaign runs in the tab.
The list also includes WebXash, a second engine that can run Half-Life and Counter-Strike 1.6. If one does not work on your machine, try the other.
Listed in the post as Half Life.
A browser build of the Half-Life engine on GitHub Pages. You load the game data from your own copy of Half-Life.
Open project ↗Opens a third-party site. Skip anything that asks you to install a launcher or extension.
Half-Life in browser runs through a web build of the engine hosted on GitHub Pages by Pixelsuft. Half-Life used Valve's GoldSrc engine, itself derived from Quake, and open-source reimplementations of GoldSrc can now be compiled to WebAssembly. The port provides that engine; you load the game data from your own copy of Half-Life, and the campaign runs locally in the tab.
Nothing is uploaded. The browser reads your files into local storage, which is also where your saves live.
Valve released Half-Life in 1998. Its story of Gordon Freeman, a physicist at the Black Mesa Research Facility caught in a disaster that opens a rift to the alien world Xen, was told entirely in first person without cutscenes. It changed how shooters handled narrative and spawned mods like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic and Day of Defeat.
Half-Life is regularly discounted on Steam, and Valve released a 25th anniversary update in 2023. Owning it is the simple, legitimate way to get the files this port needs.
The Radiant Optimizer list includes two GoldSrc-style engines. This Half-Life port focuses on the single-player campaign. WebXash runs the open-source Xash3D engine and can also run Counter-Strike 1.6. If one port fails to start on your machine, try the other with the same files. See CS 1.6 in browser for WebXash setup.
For more classic shooters that need no files at all, try Quake in browser or the Half-Life and Counter-Strike browser games overview.
The port keeps the original layout: WASD to move, Space to jump, Ctrl to crouch, E to use buttons and talk to scientists, and the mouse to aim and fire. Crouch-jumping, pressing jump and then crouch in quick succession, is needed to clear some gaps. Quick save and quick load work, but the saves live in browser storage.
Black Mesa is a full fan remake of Half-Life on the Source engine, released commercially in 2020. It looks far more modern but needs a regular PC install. Half-Life in browser runs the original 1998 game exactly as it was, which is what many players want for nostalgia, and it works on machines where installing software is not possible.
Gearbox Software made two official expansions: Opposing Force in 1999, which retells the incident from the view of a marine sent to cover it up, and Blue Shift in 2001, which follows security guard Barney Calhoun. Engine ports can sometimes run them when their folders are added next to the base game data, but support varies by port, so start with the main campaign.
Yes. The port only provides the engine.
The port is free, but the game data must come from a copy you own.
Engine ports can sometimes load mods placed alongside the game data, but support varies. Start with the base game.
Not from this list. Half-Life 2 uses the much heavier Source engine.
