Browser games are far better than they used to be. Forget about crappy Mario clones in Flash, you can now play the original Half-Life FPS in your browser.
This is made possible thanks to Unkle Mike’s Xash3D FWGS game engine, a now-abandoned GitHub project fork of the Xash3D Engine, with compatibility with Half-Life in mind.
Xash3D is a game engine, aimed to provide compatibility with Half-Life Engine, as well as to give game developers well known workflow and extend it.
The project has been continued elsewhere, however, and you can now play the game thanks to the work of PixelSuft.
When launching Half-Life in a browser, ignore most of the options but take a second to select the Uplink option, as the default HLDL won’t work in single player mode. When you’re ready, just click Launch Xash3D! to start playing.
Note that you can also download the files to run from your computer (but in the browser). Also, if you’re not using a game controller, you may need to adjust some of the keyboard controls (such as CTRL to duck) as in-browser this causes some command conflicts. For example, CTRL+W to crawl will attempt to close the browser window in Mozilla Firefox.
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Current features of Xash3D FWGS include:
- HLSDK 2.4 support.
- Crossplatform: supported x86 and ARM on Windows/Linux/BSD/Android.
- Modern compilers support: say no more to MSVC6.
- Better multiplayer support: multiple master servers, headless dedicated server.
- Mobility API: allows better game integration on mobile devices(vibration, touch controls)
- Different input methods: touch, gamepad and classic mouse & keyboard.
- TrueType font rendering, as a part of mainui_cpp.
- Multiple renderers support: OpenGL, GLESv1, GLESv2, Software
- A set of small improvements, without broken compatibility.
Future aims of the project are ambitious, and include virtual reality support. You can learn more about Xash3D on ModDB. The Half-Life browser version is definitely worth playing, although you might prefer to play the Black Mesa remake, or the original game with the ray-tracing mod.
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Christian Cawley is the founder and editor of GamingRetro.co.uk, a website dedicated to classic and retro gaming. With over 20 years of experience writing for technology and gaming publications, he brings considerable expertise and a lifelong passion for interactive entertainment, particularly games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
Christian has written for leading outlets including TechRadar, Computer Weekly, Linux Format, and MakeUseOf, where he also served as Deputy Editor.
When he’s not exploring vintage consoles or retro PCs, Christian enjoys building with LEGO, playing cigar box guitar, and experimenting in the kitchen.
