Hacker News Reader

HL1 is a very different experience compared to HL2. If you haven't played through HL2 I would still give that a shot. I love both games, but the second one was a lot more polished.

>I tried HL1 after that, but couldn't really get into it.

Try Black Mesa. It's a modern remake but very true to the original.

Half-Life 1 was groundbreaking but still very much of its era. Half-Life 2 feels like a modern game, though.

Try Black Mesa instead of HL1, it's HL1 rebuild in source engine by fans.