Half-Life 2

Speaking of which, Half-Life 2 may be one of the most beloved first-person shooters ever made, but its launch coincided with Valve’s launch of Steam—a new digital distribution platform that doubles as DRM.

When the game first launched, Steam wasn’t quite up to snuff, and when players tried to validate the game—a mandatory first-step in playing it on the new platform—the servers were overloaded and tons of people were left with a temporarily hamstrung single-player game, thanks not even to an always-online requirement, but just a one-time validation.

Of course, years later the game (and Steam itself) have become pillars of PC gaming, so maybe there’s hope for these lousy launches after all. Maybe a legacy can escaped untarnished despite a bad launch.

Certainly the next game on the list would suggest this to be true.

Download : HL2
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