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Is Half-Life multiplayer or co-op?

Yes — PvP. Half-Life is a sci-fi shooter game released in 1998, 97% positive on Steam (148,221 reviews), with 634 playing right now. $9.99 on Steam.

PvPSingle-player tooShooter · Sci-fi shooter

How to play Half-Life with a friend: Sven Co-op

Twenty-five years old and still updated: the whole Half-Life campaign and hundreds of custom maps in co-op (the game itself only ships deathmatch). The game is multiplayer on its own; this is the community layer people use on top of it.

Players
servers (up to 32)
Modes
co-op
Status
Maintained — works with the current game version and gets updates
You need
Free on Steam; needs Half-Life
Price
Free

Get Sven Co-op All 77 games with multiplayer mods →

Named Game of the Year by over 50 publications, Valve's debut title blends action and adventure with award-winning technology to create a frighteningly…

How Half-Life plays with friends, according to Steam

Online co-op
Not listed on Steam
Local / split-screen co-op
Not listed on Steam
Online PvP
Yes
LAN play
Not listed on Steam
Single-player mode
Yes
Controller
Full controller support

Steam's own category list for the game, as of 2026-09-09. "Not listed" means the store page does not claim that mode; community mods or Remote Play can still add it.

Steam tags: FPS, Classic, 1990's, Singleplayer, Sci-fi, Multiplayer, Shooter, Action

Do you and a friend both own Half-Life?

Ready Up compares two Steam libraries and shows every multiplayer game you both have — including whether Half-Life is one of them — then helps you pick tonight's game with a weighted roll or a bracket.

Do you and a friend both own Half-Life?Free, no login — uses public Steam profiles.

Or open the Steam store page.

Games like Half-Life you can play together

STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II
Sci-fi shooter · 88% positive on Steam (71,208 reviews) · 9,213 playing right now
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Sci-fi shooter · 92% positive on Steam (242,067 reviews) · 3,362 playing right now
Halo Infinite
Sci-fi shooter · 70% positive on Steam (177,041 reviews) · 2,275 playing right now
Half-Life 2
Sci-fi shooter · 98% positive on Steam (245,627 reviews) · 1,555 playing right now
Black Mesa
Sci-fi shooter · 95% positive on Steam (127,693 reviews) · 907 playing right now
STAR WARS™ Battlefront II (Classic, 2005)
Sci-fi shooter · 95% positive on Steam (53,287 reviews) · 323 playing right now

Tired of Half-Life? The Swap tab finds the closest unowned games of the same type that are newer or rated higher.

Quick answers

Is Half-Life co-op?
Half-Life does not list co-op on Steam; it has PvP, Single-player too.
Does Half-Life have PvP?
Yes, Half-Life has player-versus-player modes.
Do we both need to own Half-Life to play together?
Yes. Half-Life is played online, so each player needs their own copy on their own Steam account (or PC Game Pass where it is offered). Steam Families can share a library, but two people cannot play the same shared game at the same time.
How many people play Half-Life?
About 634 players were in-game when this page's data was last refreshed (2026-09-09).

Ready Up is a free tool: enter two Steam usernames and it lists the multiplayer games you both own, runs a bracket to pick one, and suggests new co-op games that fit how you both play. Ratings, tags and player counts from Steam and SteamSpy; page updated 2026-09-23. Powered by Steam — not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation or Microsoft. Ready Up is a Somebody Decide program. How the data works · Legal & privacy · All types · Game Pass