This week, Valve decided to make the entirety of the Half-Life series of games available to play for free through Steam.

In March, we are finally getting a third entry in the Half-Life series, but it's not Half-Life 3 and you won't be able to play it unless you own a compatible virtual reality headset. Half-Life: Alyx is set before the events of Half-Life 2 and its subsequent Episodes, and Valve is keen to remind us of those and previous events in the series before we play it.

Right now, and until until the day Half-Life: Alyx launches, anyone with a Steam account can download, install, and play any of the existing Half-Life games for free. That includes Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, which should be just enough content to get you to March while having the world, story, and characters fresh in your mind for experiencing Alyx.

Although dated in terms of graphics, none of the previous Half-Life games have lost anything in terms of experience or gameplay mechanics. In fact, the simplicity might be quite refreshing compared to the constant barrage of stats, microtransactions, and DLC packs so common in games today.

I doubt there's many gamers left who haven't experienced Half-Life in one form or another, and even if you have, Valve is also offering some steep discounts on owning the Half-Life Complete bundle, Half-Life 1 Anthology, and even the Valve Complete Pack, which you may want to take advantage of.