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What are the best Valve Corporation games?

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Apr 6, 2021

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8 Games Considered

Best Valve Corporation games	Price	Steam Rating	Platforms
-- Half-Life 2 (and episodes)	-	Overwhelmingly Positive	Linux
-- Portal 2	$19.99	Overwhelmingly Positive	-
-- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	$14.99	Mostly Positive	-
-- Team Fortress 2	Free	Very Positive	Win / Mac / Linux
-- Left 4 Dead 2	$19.99	Overwhelmingly Positive	-

Half-Life 2 (and episodes)

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Top Pro

Great Sci-Fi story

Aliens, portals to other dimensions, oppressive regimes, oh my! This game brings a great flavor of dystopian sci-fi as you fight part of the rebel cause to deliver justice with your Gravity Gun to the many species afflicted by the evil Combine. Also Half Life ties in somehow with the Portal series which makes it even more awesome. See More

Top Con

Incomplete story

More than a decade has passed and Valve is yet to release the final episode. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Top Pro

Very moddable

Entire games have been made from Half Life (such as Counter Strike) and the tradition continues with it’s sequel! In fact there’s a game essentially about making your own things made from a modded Half Life 2 and that game is called Garry’s Mod. See More

Top Pro

Guns are varied and interesting

Almost every gun is fun to shoot and is distinct. The crossbow is super awesome for it’s power and the gravity gun offers variety in puzzles and what you can shoot with. Want to hit someone with an explosive barrel? Pick it up and throw it with the gravity gun! See More

Top Pro

Amazing character animation

When Half Life 2 came out it set the bar super high for character animation that still rivals some games today. See More

Top Pro

Commentaries

Hear from the creators about the making of Half Life 2 Ep1 and 2. Everything from level design to technical details are discussed. More developers need to use this. See More

Portal 2

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Top Pro

Witty and funny character driven story

Four major characters drive the single player campaign, and they are amazing. Three of which have explosive personalities, bring humor, suspense, sadness, and empathy. The other being Chell, who doesn’t speak but her interactions with the rest of the cast make her all the more mysterious and interesting. Most of the time you don’t even see or directly interact with the characters, but that just shows how great they are. See More

Top Con

Late game single player can be quite difficult

While the single player learning curve is quite gradual, late game the puzzles can become quite difficult, sometimes leading to the player being stuck for long stretches of time. While not impossible to solve, some creative thinking will need to be done in order to finish. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Top Pro

Versatile selection of co-op multiplayer

It’s possible to play a multiplayer game for free online using the Steam servers, as well as locally on your machine using split-screen (the second player must use a gamepad controller if playing locally). This keeps the multiplayer options versatile to any players needs. See More

Top Con

No replay value

Since its a puzzle game, once you know the solution, there is no reason to play again. See More

Top Pro

So large in scope that it takes multiple playthroughs to see everything

Portal 2 is larger in every way when compared to the first title, from the longer and more detailed story to the larger levels and new game mechanics. This makes for a title that will last 8-9 hours minimum, with many elements that are worth revisiting, not to mention the co-op section of the game, which is separate from the single player story. See More

Top Con

Steep co-op learning curve

Although the single-player campaign features a gradual learning curve, co-op offers no mercy. The puzzles start off hard and only get harder. It’s highly recommended that you play through single-player first if you are not familiar with Portal's mechanics. See More

Top Pro

Entertaining and well delivered voice acting

Voice acting for Wheatley the robot is done by Stephen Merchant (Extras, The Office UK, Life's Too Short) in humorous fashion. His delivery is well executed on all dialogue. On top of this specific experience, the rest of the voice acting of every other character in the game is performed just as well, in part due to the fact that the dialogue was written in a smart and entertaining fashion. This makes for a top quality listening experience that shows a lot of care was taken with the voice acting of the game. See More

Top Con

Main co-op campaign is short

The co-op campaign in Portal 2 is about 4 hours long for experienced players, meaning it could be beaten in a just a couple days. With almost zero replayability, this makes the game feel incredibly short. Luckily, hundreds of hours of user-generated content is available. See More

Top Pro

Co-op does not punish when you want to goof off with or troll the other player

While Portal 2 requires focus and logic, it does not punish players for causing a bit of mischief. The instant respawn system means trolling your friend will affect almost nothing in the game, as there are no in-game setbacks when you die. Being able to stop at any point in the game to just goof around is great for releasing some steam, even when it is at the expense of your co-op partner. See More

Top Pro

Huge selection of user-generated content that should appeal to any use-case

The game has more than 60,000 co-op puzzles created by users through the Steam Workshop and through mods. Because it is user-generated content, the quality and size of these puzzles vary widely, including everything from simple, one-off chambers to full-fledged expansions with high-quality stories, voice-overs, and new gameplay elements (for example, Mel). By having such a selection of content, there should be something that appeals to just about anything someone is looking for. See More

Top Pro

Well implemented tools that improve teamwork

In a game that requires perfect timing and teamwork, Portal 2 features many tools to facilitate said teamwork. One of the most helpful tools is a 3-second countdown timer that players can use to coordinate their actions – e.g., to ensure that you launch a portal or jump at the perfect time. There is also a marker that you can place on certain objects for your teammate to see, as well as a setting that shows your partner's view superimposed on the corner of your screen. See More

Top Pro

Challenging puzzles that require creative thinking

The game challenges your brain to use portals, cubes and other mechanics in order to solve simple and complex puzzles in interesting ways. Trying to figure out the best placement of entrance and exit portals in order to gain access to (perceived) inaccessible places takes a lot of thought, especially in the later game. See More

Top Pro

Creates a sense of accomplishment through a high level of teamwork

Co-op multiplayer offers a completely different set of puzzles from the single-player campaign, which keeps things fresh for those that finished the single player campaign. Almost all co-op puzzles require a high level of teamwork, creating a great sense of accomplishment for the players working together. See More

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Top Pro

Will be familiar to CS 1.6 and CS: Source players

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive builds on the strengths of its predecessors, even though those predecessors have been constantly improving for over a decade now. Nonetheless, Counter-Strike veterans will feel right at home in Global Offensive, albeit with some minor differences. The MP5 is now the MP7, The TMP has left its place to the MP9 and you can't attach a suppressor to the M4. See More

Top Con

Hard to see if you are hitting someone

One of the things that were changed in CS:GO is firing feedback. When someone is shot in GO, they don't wince, there's only a small amount of blood and audio that conveys the information that you are actually hitting someone. But omitting wince animation from character models makes it harder to see if you are actually hitting another player, especially at distance. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Carefully-executed changes to existing maps

The updates and improvements made to existing maps have been pretty clever and useful. For example, cracked glass is more opaque, making it harder to go on a sniping rampage. Or the stairway which was added to the bottom of de_dust made the route more viable for the Terrorists, while keeping the original purpose of that area serving as a bottleneck. See More

Top Con

New maps and modes feel pretty mediocre

Even though old maps have been revisited and improved by a wide margin, new maps and modes released with CS:GO are pretty mediocre. Half of the maps available are locked under Arms Race (which is a re-imagining of the original community-created GunGame) and Demolition (GunGame without insta-respawn and bomb defusal) modes. These game modes feel pretty safe and unimaginative, especially for veterans who have played their predecessor. Some of the new maps are pretty compact and designed to act as instant-action meat-grinders akin to modern FPS (like Call of Duty) instead of requiring any tactics to win. See More

Top Pro

Runs well on most hardware and even on older hardware

It's a very optimized game and runs smoothly on even outdated hardware. See More

Top Con

Can have a bad community

As it is a large game, it should come as no surprise that the community just won't be up to par. You may be kicked for strange reasons (like bottom scoring or the all too common random hacking accusation) and many could give you a 7 day ban. It can be very frustrating as missions in the mission system require you to play certain things while crossing your fingers. See More

Top Pro

Driven by tactics and cooperation

Each round of CS feels more like a game driven more by careful tactics than a frivolous fast-paced and lethal paintball arena of which too many modern First-Person Shooters are guilty of. Positioning, timing and thinking are key ingredients of a successful game and cooperation is crucial if you want to win. See More

Top Con

Less time spent playing a game

This is a feature that makes kills and hits (no health regeneration) more impactful, but also a lot less time is spent playing the game, especially if you die early to a sniper peek. Newbies will be playing a lot less of the game than more experienced players. See More

Top Con

Has a large skill gap

Since it's a pretty old game, most players are veterans at this point and have been playing for a long time. This may make it hard for newer players to jump in and play. See More

Team Fortress 2

Top Pro

Fun and humorous gameplay with graphics and sound that fit with this theme

This game has a history of over-the-top characters, visuals, voice-overs, and various other items, which altogether create an amusing world both within the game and outside of it as well. You get a feeling a lot of thought has gone into the development of the characters as well as the world they live in. For a genre that is often filled with drab characters in a drab world, it is refreshing to see something so well fleshed out. See More

Top Con

Free accounts are slightly limited

Free accounts do not get rare and cosmetic items nor as many storage slots for items. Items are relevant as free accounts can only hold 50, while the game has much more than 50 pieces of equipment (that affect gameplay), let alone 50 weapons. While a premium account player can react to almost all situations with a counter item, with only 50 slots a newbie probably won't have or even be able to access it. A full inventory also means a free player will have to miss out or delete exclusive event items and cosmetics just to play the game as full as they can. A free account is upgraded when any item is purchased with real money from the store. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Hero-based FPS

Co-Op:6 Player Online / 6 Player LAN

Controller Support:Partial

Top Pro

Offline LAN support is pretty easy to implement

As long as users have logged in to offline mode on Steam before trying a LAN connection, LAN will work. Which could be an area of confusion, but luckily is easy enough to do if you know you need to do it. See More

Top Con

Random critical hits add a significant luck element into the game and push certain types of players out

In most 'public' servers, an option called 'random crits' (short for 'random critical hits') exists by default. This allows a random percentage of your shots to multiply damage by 3 for a shot, and also remove the damage drop-off over range. This 'feature' gets increasingly more annoying as you get more experienced, as you will die more often than your opponent having x3 or more damage over you, actively making their experiences and wins less meaningful. Some classes are especially burnt by this. Medics don't use weapons often, Snipers only have secondary weapons and melees, and Spies only have their revolver (and most sidegrades of that revolver remove this ability entirely). Quickplay (a feature most newbies use to get a match) also disables these servers from appearing in the list, so there are very few 'nocrit' servers because many don't know they exist. See More

Top Pro

Completely free to download and play any existing section of the game

The game can be downloaded and played for free, allowing anyone to try it out. There are some items that can be purchased with money, but those are optional and only decorative. See More

Top Pro

Engaged, active, fun, and creative community give the game a welcoming feel, even for outsiders

The TF2 community is know for actively engaging in different TF2 related activities. They create shorts using the source filmmaker, sell items via the steam workshop, build real-life sculptures, etc. See More

Top Pro

Tons to do in the game with plenty of game modes and plenty of community mods

TF2 has more than 10 game modes, plus variations on those, as well as community mods that offer a wide range of objective-based play. Classic game modes include Capture the Flag, Control Point, King of the Hill and Payload. There's also Mann vs. Machine, a co-operative game mode where you play against waves of AI controlled enemies. See More

Top Pro

Hectic FPS gameplay that utilizes 9 distinct classes, each with lots of varied items

TF2 has 9 playable classes - Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper and Spy. This allows for a range of playstyles. For example, the Heavy, starting with 300 health (going up to 450), wielding a machine gun and usually assisted by a Medic, will be commonly found on the front-lines soaking up lots of damage and pulling the enemy team's focus; at the same time the Engineer will try and avoid direct battle as much as possible, providing infrastructure (teleports, sentry, dispensers). Add to this hundreds of weapons for each class providing different stats and you have an impressive amount of variety in gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Includes Mann vs. Machine, a ridiculously fun co-op mode

Mann vs. Machine is a co-op mode in Team Fortress 2 that is comprised of gameplay in which 6 players team up to stop AI robots from deploying a bomb. Though not the central gameplay of Team Fortress 2, it is a mode that allows for co-op play to be enjoyed with the characters of the game. Mann vs machine works quite well over LAN and is very fun to boot. See More

Top Pro

Fair free to play model

This game is mostly pay-to-gain, as in to get more weapons. You can randomly get things, though. You can use the things you randomly get to be also used in crafting recipes to make other things. See More

Top Pro

Pretty good VR support and options

To enable VR support, type -vr in console. TF2 has 8 modes in which to control the game. They can be changed with the command vr_moveaim_mode in console. They offer choice in what combination of aiming and steering should be coupled to the rift and mouse and introduce the concept of dead zones - an area of the screen that controls differently when aiming or steering within its bounds than outside them. Typing vr_calibration in console gives access to adjusting interpupillary distance (distance between eyes). You can get that information from an optician or use the calibration tool to help figure it out and set it there. Calibration will help set accurate render point (camera position) and reduce nausea. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

The game runs on Windows, OS X and Linux machines. See More

Left 4 Dead 2

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Top Pro

Melee weapons have the best visceral experience

Left 4 Dead 2 includes melee weapons for the player to use during the game. These allow for not only more graphic violence, but also a more personal and visceral experience. See More

Top Con

There is no variation of gameplay

Making it very boring after a few hours of playing. Slaying zombies is fun and all, but it gets exceptionally dull once the "wow" effect of blowing zombie's brains out wears off. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op:1 Player Online / 100 Player Couch / 400 Player LAN

Top Pro

AI teammates work great in single player gameplay

For those that prefer to play with AI, this is one of the best co-op games for offline bot play. See More

Top Con

Very difficult without team engagement

For those looking for a casual co-op experience, Left 4 Dead 2 probably isn't the best option. Without a good sense of teamwork and focus, this game can get very challenging. See More

Top Pro

Turn the gameplay upside down by hunting the hunters in a unique co-op mode where you play as the zombies

Left 4 Dead 2 features a co-op versus mode that pits two teams against one another. One takes on the role of survivors, which is very similar to the normal campaign. The other team, however, plays as the infected, opening up a whole new play style and set of strategies. See More

Top Pro

Invigorating cooperation based survival dynamic

Left 4 Dead 2 requires players on the same team to cooperate to survive. This makes for an interesting dynamic for teammates, as it will be increasingly difficult to make it through a level if any one player decides to go off on their own. See More

Counter-Strike 1.6

Top Pro

Easily find matches thanks to the hugely active community

Despite the games age, it is extremely popular. This means there is no issue with finding online matches to play, no matter the time of day. See More

Top Con

Dated game that shows its age

Released in the early 2000's, the graphical fidelity of the game shows its age quite a bit. This is to be expected of a game of this age, but may detract from the experience if graphics are an important part of a game to the player. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:FPS / Action

Controller Support:No

Top Pro

Very affordable

You can usually pick it up for just a few dollars on sale. See More

Top Con

Requires too much dedication and time

In order to be competitive in this game, dedication and practice are necessary, something that many players will simply not have the time for. See More

Top Pro

Huge map selection with 18 maps available to the player

There are 18 maps available to play on, with three being the only ones selectable until the others are unlocked through progressive gameplay. See More

Top Pro

No need to worry about what OS is installed on your PC

Counter-Strike 1.6 can be installed and run on Windows, Linux and macOS, making it extremely flexible. This is great for those that run multiple OS's in their house, as they can still play the game on any of their machines. See More

Top Pro

Great for those looking for deep gameplay that requires dedication

For those looking for a deep first person shooter that requires a lot of dedication and skill, Counter Strike is a very popular option. While not for everyone, those that want to spend their time really learning all of the mechanics, maps and weapons in order to excel at a game, Counter Strike should fill that void. See More

Top Pro

Anyone can run the game as it easily runs on low end systems

Being an older game, it is able to be run on aging or underpowered systems without issue, meaning just about anyone can boot the game up and play it. See More

Dota 2

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Top Pro

A very diverse MOBA

This game has a steep learning curve, but it's well worth it. The games that came after Dota like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, Smite, and other lookalikes don't even compare to the complexity of Dota 2. Every hero is unique and valuable in one team composition or another. The amount of versatility of each hero is amazing as well. The mechanics by far destroy any other Dota style game (MOBA) and that's what makes this game top tier in it's genre. This game is the highest grossing E-Sport game in the world and will probably continue to be for a long time. See More

Top Con

You love and hate the game

While infuriating at times the addictiveness of the game keeps the players coming back. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Very active professional scene

Dota 2 has one of the most most active professional scenes in eSports today. If it's not the most active, it's certainly got the largest prize pools, coming in at over $20 million in 2016. See More

Top Con

Rude, toxic community

Many players feel free to flame and insult, especially in the lower ranks and from non-english speaking countries. See More

Top Pro

Regularly updated

Dota 2 is regularly patched and changed with new characters being introduced and balance changes made. This can prevent the game from becoming too stale as the tactics utilized by players changes often. See More

Top Con

Matches are too long

The game is great but even just a single match can take a lot of time. And when you get to mid game and realize you already lost, you have no option but to keep dying and literally wait for the game to end. See More

Top Pro

Incredibly deep gameplay

For players who put the time into Dota 2 to get past the early beginner phase, Dota 2 can become an extremely satisfying game. There's a reason it's one of the most popular eSports titles in the world. The amount of strategy, skill and variables involved make it a very deep game where anything could happen. See More

Top Con

It's got a huge learning curve

Dota 2 has 111 heroes, all of which are unique from each other. It will take time and effort to learn which heroes you like to play, and become skilled with them. See More

Top Pro

It's very well-balanced

Gameplay is balanced in the sense that while other MOBAs would have only around 30-60 viable picks for the competitive scene, Dota 2 has heroes and strategies in the game that are more varied, which enables more heroes to be picked in the competitive scene. Number of Heroes Picked in Dota 2's Recent Major Tournament in the past 4 months (as of July 2016) is 86/111 heroes picked and 100 out of 111 heroes picked. To compare between Dota 2 and LoL pick diversity, LoL has 64 out of 131 champions picked for LCS. There are also factors such as the ban/pick phase difference and the more rigid positions in LoL that may limit the viability for different playstyles and hero picks (typically it is 2 (AD, Support Bot) -1 (AP mid) -1 (Tank Off) - 1 (Jungler), with a possibility of double junglers in LoL). On the other hand in Dota 2, there are a lot more different positions compared to Lol/Smite such as Duo Mid (1-2-2), Traditional (2-1-2), One Jungler (1-2-1-1, most similar to league), One Roamer (1-2-1-1 as well with the difference being the hero roams the map for kills to create space for the mid and safelane rather than farm the jungle which can weaken a lane), Duo Roamer (1-1-1-2, all lanes are weaker in lane presence with the tradeoff being they get solo experience with two aggressive supports roaming), Trilane (1-1-3, Aggresive or Passive Trilane) and Abandoned Offlane (0-1-3-1 where the offlane is completely left empty due to a strong duo or trilane on the opposing team). More heroes are viable and balanced in Dota 2 partly due to the greater flexibility in laning. This can be attributed the mechanics such as creep pulling and creep stacking which allows the team doing trilane to make up for the shared experience between three heroes. Besides that, the existence of teleport scrolls that allow you to defend your towers or punish a tower dive also allows you to react and assist other lanes. In pub games, any hero/lane/lineup can work, and it is more about your individual mechanical skills (understanding of hero, combo execution, map awareness, last hitting, timings, item builds, flow) over the lack of coordination and teamwork (on both teams). See More

Top Pro

Fair free-to-play business model

Microtransactions involve only cosmetic items such as custom weapon designs or clothing colors and tickets to view live events. See More

Top Pro

Start with all heroes

You don't need to unlock or purchase characters. See More

Garry's Mod

Top Pro

The games mechanics and mods allow for ridiculously funny gameplay

You can do some really crazy things in this game thanks to all of the community mods available as well as the built in, in game tools. Pretty much any scenario can play out in the game, if you so desire. Of course the winning combination of funny tends to be when players are just goofing around. See More

Top Con

Previously free to download

Garry's Mod used to be a free download but it is now a paid game on the Steam store. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Controller Support:No

Top Pro

Tons of community made add-ons allows the game to continually grow

Garry's Mod has a wide variety of community made add-ons, which deeply extends the games content and versatility. Pretty much, if you can think of it, someone has probably already made it. See More

Metro 2033 Redux

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