Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Ted Litchfield

A veteran developer found a beta build of Half-Life in his storage unit and has made it available for anyone to download

Gordon Freeman illustration from wallpaper released for Half-Life's 25th anniversary rerelease.

What's the coolest thing you've ever found while cleaning out your garage or a relative's storage unit? For former game developer Chad Jessup, it's probably the beta version of the original Half-Life he uncovered this month, now shared to the Internet Archive by videogame preservation enthusiast Reagan for all to enjoy.

Jessup's industry credits include Destiny 2's expansions and the Xbox 360 Shadowrun, and he mentions having been an external tester on the original Half-Life. Thanks to the more "from the hip" crediting of the '90s, some of Half-Life publisher Sierra's QA workers only seem to appear in the game's credits as a special thanks to "All our other hardworking beta testers," but Jessup's industry bona fides and the fact that he had the goods leave little room to doubt he was one of them.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.