Valve RANKED!
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Number Of Released Games: 28 (14 Considered)
1996-Present Based In Bellevue, Washington |
Ben Hughes
@potatoes351 |
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If you are a 21st century gamer I'm pretty sure you are familiar with the term 'Steam'. A PC digital delivery service for gamers that is not only highly sophisticated and ever evolving, but also created by one of the greatest development studios in videogame history; Valve.
After gaining worldwide fame in 1998 for revolutionary PC FPS Half-Life, Valve have since created many games based entirely around Half-Life mods, with not a single bad game released to date. So with the announcement of their new VR headset having just happened at GDC, here's Valve RANKED! To say this is a difficult list will be an understatement.
For the purpose of this list only main entries in the game series will count, it has to have been developed by Valve and remakes will also be discounted, so sorry to any Source engine remake, Black Mesa, HL Blue Shift, the Half-Life 2 Episodes & Counter Strike Condition Zero; but you don't meet the criteria.
After gaining worldwide fame in 1998 for revolutionary PC FPS Half-Life, Valve have since created many games based entirely around Half-Life mods, with not a single bad game released to date. So with the announcement of their new VR headset having just happened at GDC, here's Valve RANKED! To say this is a difficult list will be an understatement.
For the purpose of this list only main entries in the game series will count, it has to have been developed by Valve and remakes will also be discounted, so sorry to any Source engine remake, Black Mesa, HL Blue Shift, the Half-Life 2 Episodes & Counter Strike Condition Zero; but you don't meet the criteria.
Beginning life as a WWII mod for Half-Life, Day of Defeat was a multiplayer only FPS with a heavy emphasis on teamwork. Inspired by games such as Battlefield and the original Team Fortress & Counter Strike mods, Day of Defeat, though good, never quite elevated itself into a position where a sequel was made, despite having a source engine remake in 2004.
Alien Swarm is a top down shooter exclusively available on Steam. A remake of the 2004 Unreal Tournament mod, Alien swarm is one of Valve's less popular games, but one that occasionally rears its head on the Steam most played list thanks to its addicting and easy to pick up and play gameplay.
Another Half-Life multiplayer mod (we will be seeing a lot of these, trust me). Unlike many mods though, Ricochet was created by Valve itself and has since garnered a rather large cult following, crying out for a full sequel.
Similar to the Frisbee game in Tron, players must jump around an arena of suspended platforms and throw discs at each other to score points. Simple in design but addictive and fun to play in nature, you will whittle away countless hours playing this mod.
Similar to the Frisbee game in Tron, players must jump around an arena of suspended platforms and throw discs at each other to score points. Simple in design but addictive and fun to play in nature, you will whittle away countless hours playing this mod.
Originally a mod for Quake, Valve adapted the Team Fortress formula into a Half-Life mod in 1999. A class based shooter with heavy emphasis on teamwork in order to succeed, teams must strategically balance numbers of each class on their teams in order to dominate the other. A little rough around the edges, but it was popular enough to receive a full blown sequel 8 years later.
It saddens me that a game as great as Left4Dead is this low down on the list, but that just goes to show how high the quality of Valve games really are.
A co-op zombie shooter best played in multiplayer, L4D is fast, frantic and bloody good fun. Requiring military level communication between survivors, you must battle from point A to point B across numerous maps in order to reach a safe room. But between you and that are literally thousands of infected undead in several varieties. Whether its the easy to dispatch regular infected, or whether its a special infected with specific abilities that can completely change the playing field. Coordination and communication is key here folks, don't forget it.
A co-op zombie shooter best played in multiplayer, L4D is fast, frantic and bloody good fun. Requiring military level communication between survivors, you must battle from point A to point B across numerous maps in order to reach a safe room. But between you and that are literally thousands of infected undead in several varieties. Whether its the easy to dispatch regular infected, or whether its a special infected with specific abilities that can completely change the playing field. Coordination and communication is key here folks, don't forget it.
Another shocking low entry, Counter Strike was arguably the most popular and influential Half-Life multiplayer mod ever created, not only becoming one of professional gaming's most popular mainstays, but also helping revolutionise the industry to a modern military shooter approach.
With one team playing as terrorists and the other playing as counter terrorists, its a game of cat and mouse around claustrophobic maps, usually involving an objective such as bomb defusal or hostage rescue.
Counter Strike still tops the most played games on steam today, not bad for a multiplayer mod that came out 15 years ago.
With one team playing as terrorists and the other playing as counter terrorists, its a game of cat and mouse around claustrophobic maps, usually involving an objective such as bomb defusal or hostage rescue.
Counter Strike still tops the most played games on steam today, not bad for a multiplayer mod that came out 15 years ago.
If you know anything about PC gaming, you know what DOTA is. Sequel to Defence of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod, DOTA 2 is Valve's only foray into the world of MOBA's (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena's) and its a doozy at that.
Consistently topping the Steam most played charts as well as having one of the largest fanbases in the entire world, DOTA 2 is without a doubt one of the biggest games in the entire world right now. You only have to go to a convention to find countless DOTA cosplayers, you only have to fire up Twitch to see hundreds of dedicated DOTA channels and you only have to glance at eSports to realise just how a big a deal this game is...and its still not Valve's best.
Consistently topping the Steam most played charts as well as having one of the largest fanbases in the entire world, DOTA 2 is without a doubt one of the biggest games in the entire world right now. You only have to go to a convention to find countless DOTA cosplayers, you only have to fire up Twitch to see hundreds of dedicated DOTA channels and you only have to glance at eSports to realise just how a big a deal this game is...and its still not Valve's best.
CS:GO was one of the most hotly anticipated sequels for a long time. It had been 8 years since Counter Strike got its Source engine remake and players were dying for a full on sequel to the eSports giant.
Upon release CS:GO was reasonably disappointing, not a bad game, but it lacked much of was made Counter Strike...well Counter Strike, simply because of the lack of what professional players loved about the original game.
Thankfully after much dedication from Valve, CS:GO has grown to replace the original Counter Strike in eSports and is once again the most popular multiplayer mod for Half-Life. Now with a shiny new coat of paint and a few new game modes, CS:GO will keep the community happy for another 10 years or so.
Upon release CS:GO was reasonably disappointing, not a bad game, but it lacked much of was made Counter Strike...well Counter Strike, simply because of the lack of what professional players loved about the original game.
Thankfully after much dedication from Valve, CS:GO has grown to replace the original Counter Strike in eSports and is once again the most popular multiplayer mod for Half-Life. Now with a shiny new coat of paint and a few new game modes, CS:GO will keep the community happy for another 10 years or so.
I cant tell you how much it pains me to place this entry so low down on the list. Half-Life will live in videogame history forever as one of gaming's most revolutionary titles. Following the events of a Resonance Cascade at the Black Mesa research facility, Dr. Gordon Freeman must escape the exploding facility, the invading alien race known as Xen and the shoot on site military that have been deployed at Black Mesa to kill anything and anyone that is still alive.
Never leaving the first person perspective, Half-Life presents the story to you without cutscenes or leaving the gameplay. It also popularised silent protagonists, allowing the player to imprint themselves onto Gordon's character.
Hard to think its not the only game Valve have released that has changed the entire videogames industry, even harder to think that this was their first game.
Never leaving the first person perspective, Half-Life presents the story to you without cutscenes or leaving the gameplay. It also popularised silent protagonists, allowing the player to imprint themselves onto Gordon's character.
Hard to think its not the only game Valve have released that has changed the entire videogames industry, even harder to think that this was their first game.
2007 was a big year for Valve. With Portal, TF2 & HL2:Ep2 all releasing simultaneously with The Orange Box, nobody saw what that little orange coloured case held until it actually landed in their disc drives.
Portal was the surprise hit in the box, actually managing to steal the limelight away from the two main titles. Intended as an apology for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 taking so long to develop (cant wait to see the apology for Half-Life 3 taking so long), Portal was originally a mod for Half-Life 2. A First person puzzle game where you must traverse environment and complete physics puzzles using your portal gun. A device that allows you to fire to connected portals on almost any flat surface.
Introducing us to Chell, GLaDOS and Black Mesa rival Aperture Science, Portal was a black comedy that left the world wondering if the cake really was a lie.
Portal was the surprise hit in the box, actually managing to steal the limelight away from the two main titles. Intended as an apology for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 taking so long to develop (cant wait to see the apology for Half-Life 3 taking so long), Portal was originally a mod for Half-Life 2. A First person puzzle game where you must traverse environment and complete physics puzzles using your portal gun. A device that allows you to fire to connected portals on almost any flat surface.
Introducing us to Chell, GLaDOS and Black Mesa rival Aperture Science, Portal was a black comedy that left the world wondering if the cake really was a lie.
Roll on the unnecessary sequel to a game that released the year before right? Well kind of. If Valve had released this another year later as a re-worked L4D or something then I don't think there would have been many complaints. But upon release L4D2 was an underwhelming sequel that seemed to only be a cash in on the success of L4D1, especially when you consider that it came packaged with all of the L4D1 content but with a glossy new coat of paint on it.
However, the new additions to L4D2 as well as all the new missions easily make this a better version of the L4D formula, not to mention its one of the most played and most popular Steam games ever...just saying.
However, the new additions to L4D2 as well as all the new missions easily make this a better version of the L4D formula, not to mention its one of the most played and most popular Steam games ever...just saying.
The last multiplayer game on our list and by far the biggest Valve have ever created. Team Fortress 2 seems to have become one of those games that has become its own genre, because nobody dares challenge it for its crown.
Refining the Team Fortress Classic formula to near perfection as well as bringing us a cartoonishly violent visual style, was just the start of TF2's world domination plan.
User generated content and a Free to Play model are what has made this game the most popular multiplayer game on Steam for the past 8 years, with new content added every day and no two players having the same weapon loadout or character style (got to love hats), TF2 probably has the power to overthrow the stock market with the sophistication of its player trading and in-game store systems.
With a ton of modes to play and far too many maps to even count there is something for everyone in TF2, whether you are a player, creator or simply a salesman looking to make real world money, you can do it all in TF2.
Refining the Team Fortress Classic formula to near perfection as well as bringing us a cartoonishly violent visual style, was just the start of TF2's world domination plan.
User generated content and a Free to Play model are what has made this game the most popular multiplayer game on Steam for the past 8 years, with new content added every day and no two players having the same weapon loadout or character style (got to love hats), TF2 probably has the power to overthrow the stock market with the sophistication of its player trading and in-game store systems.
With a ton of modes to play and far too many maps to even count there is something for everyone in TF2, whether you are a player, creator or simply a salesman looking to make real world money, you can do it all in TF2.
After much outcry from fans, Portal 2 arrived just 4 years after the original game. Now whilst some criticise its long length as overstaying its welcome, I argue that the brilliantly written black comedy narrative is worth sticking through 12 hours of portal puzzling for.
After killing GLaDOS at the end of Portal, Chell awakes back in Aperture Science with a quirky personality sphere by the name of Wheatley. With the promise to help her escape, Chell and Wheatley venture through a dilapidated and nearly destroyed Aperture Science in hope of finding the outside world. However after a series of unintentional mistakes, what they find is that GLaDOS is far from dead and she is very very pissed at you for killing her.
Thus begins the journey through Aperture's history, learning more about its creations, who GLaDOS is and most importantly, who Chell is. All I can say is, its pretty out of this world.
After killing GLaDOS at the end of Portal, Chell awakes back in Aperture Science with a quirky personality sphere by the name of Wheatley. With the promise to help her escape, Chell and Wheatley venture through a dilapidated and nearly destroyed Aperture Science in hope of finding the outside world. However after a series of unintentional mistakes, what they find is that GLaDOS is far from dead and she is very very pissed at you for killing her.
Thus begins the journey through Aperture's history, learning more about its creations, who GLaDOS is and most importantly, who Chell is. All I can say is, its pretty out of this world.
Raise your hand if you didn't see this coming. If you raised your hand, please leave you have disappointed your entire family.
Half-Life 2 is arguably one of the most revolutionary, critically acclaimed and simply jaw dropping games ever created.
Set several years after the Black Mesa incident in Half-Life, Gordon Freeman has been taken out of suspended sleep by the G-Man and set on a mission to save City 17 from a force known as 'The Combine'. An advanced alien race that take the form of a security force, rather than the animalistic Xen in the original Half-Life.
Its a city oppressed into fear and only a small few are determined enough to rise up against the Combine and take back not only their city, but their entire planet. As the fabled Freeman, you must team up with survivors of the Black Mesa incident and journey across Eastern Europe battling the Combine forces.
Utilising technology that was almost 10 years ahead of its time, even modern games have struggled to match the standards that Half-Life 2 set 11 years ago.
It leaves us asking only one question...where the hell is Half-Life 3!!!!!!
Half-Life 2 is arguably one of the most revolutionary, critically acclaimed and simply jaw dropping games ever created.
Set several years after the Black Mesa incident in Half-Life, Gordon Freeman has been taken out of suspended sleep by the G-Man and set on a mission to save City 17 from a force known as 'The Combine'. An advanced alien race that take the form of a security force, rather than the animalistic Xen in the original Half-Life.
Its a city oppressed into fear and only a small few are determined enough to rise up against the Combine and take back not only their city, but their entire planet. As the fabled Freeman, you must team up with survivors of the Black Mesa incident and journey across Eastern Europe battling the Combine forces.
Utilising technology that was almost 10 years ahead of its time, even modern games have struggled to match the standards that Half-Life 2 set 11 years ago.
It leaves us asking only one question...where the hell is Half-Life 3!!!!!!
