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Half-Life is enough of an old-school game that it recently got a 25th Anniversary Update. But while this update includes graphics updates and Steam Deck support, it left most of the classic game's mechanics alone.
This includes the three Half-Life difficulty settings, which players can choose between at the start of a new game. Unlike more modern games, players can't switch between difficulty levels in the middle of the single-player campaign. However, there are some alternative ways to adjust the difficulty if players are willing and able to use the console and config files.
The Console Commands
Like other old-school FPS titles, Half-Life has a console players can activate in-game. On PC, the button to start the console is `, or the button to the left of the 1.
With the console up, players can type in the command "skill," followed by 1, 2, or 3. 1 is for Easy, 2 is for Medium, and 3 is for Hard, so no other numbers will work.
However, players have reported having trouble noticing any changes after changing the difficulty during the game. Partly this is because the changes are minor: the difficulty determines how much damage each enemy does, how much damage they can take, and how much health and energy each pickup and wall charger restores. The number of enemies, their behavior, and the location of ammo drops are always the same.
If players are having trouble getting a difficulty change to stick, they should enter a new area so enemies and items have a chance to load or reload. Some objects and enemies may never change after using the console command, so the best time to change the difficulty is at the start of a new game.
If players want to make the game much easier, there are other console commands that can help. First, type in "sv_cheats 1" without the quotes. This will allow several cheat codes to work:
- god: Gordon Freeman will no longer take health damage.
- noclip: Gordon can move in any direction, including through walls and other obstacles.
- impulse 101: Gordon gets one of every weapon and full ammo.
The Config File
To find this file, players should locate the Steam library on their computer and go to steamapps/common/Half-Life/valve. One of the files in this folder is skill.cfg. Open this file with a text reader like Notepad. The document starts with the warning "DON'T MESS WITH THIS," so players may want to create a backup of this file before changing any of the values.
Players who want an extra challenge can modify the health and damage of each enemy type, and these changes will take effect as soon as they restart the game. Be sure to pay attention to the number on each line, which is the same 1, 2, and 3 used by the Skill command to refer to each difficulty level.
Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update is available now on Linux, macOS, PC, and PS2.
