Half-Life: Blue Shift

meh game could easily be skipped no new guns boring story and levels

4/10

Played it for many years again and again. it's been a long time favorite.

> be me
> Calhoun
> 2-year community college dropout, majoring in “idk lol”
> get assigned to Black Mesa because I passed a CPR class once
> day one: scientists tell me my safety is a rounding error
> “guard these donuts and shut up”
> jokes on them, I got books on *aliens* and *gov conspiracies* in my closet
> then alien sphaghetti monsters show up and start eating brains
> scientists: "it's theoretical teleportation physics!"
> me: "bro i dropped out of chem 101"
> still end up pushing buttons and doing real-ass teleportation magic
> become interdimensional uber driver
> save everyone
> scientists become my ride-or-die bros
> we go on a cross-dimensional road trip
> 10/10 would get laughed at by PhDs again

👮‍♂️🚀🧠🛸

Good game, but incredibly short. Hopefully you got it for free or for a couple dollars in a Steam sale.

Blue Shift does a great job with giving characters a lot more personality than Half Life.

Its worst aspect is having a couple puzzles that are completely unsolvable without looking them up. It invents mechanics that aren't in Half Life or in the tutorial.

I adore the concept of setting a game's expansion within the perspective of someone who's a side character at best. It's almost kind of fun seeing things from the POV of a lowly guard who's way less equipped than Freeman and Shepard and has to scrounge about by looting from other dead guards, while Barney never even encounters anything really big like any Gonarchs or Gargantuas. It's a bit short but that's understandable from something made as a little extra bit of content for the cancelled Dreamcast port of the original game. Overall I'd say it's a nice little piece of side content, though I prefer Opposing Force for that.

Half-Life: Blue Shift adds another perspective to the Black Mesa disaster, but compared to the other expansions, it feels the least substantial. Playing as security guard Barney Calhoun is a nice change, but the game doesn’t expand the story or gameplay in any meaningful way.

Rather than introducing new weapons, enemies, or mechanics like Opposing Force, Blue Shift sticks to the familiar Half-Life formula. It’s more of a side story than a true expansion, offering a brief but enjoyable revisit to Black Mesa. While it’s a decent addition for fans, it doesn’t bring anything particularly fresh or memorable to the series.

I remember playing Blue Shift back in 2001, it's just more Half-Life really, but I was very disappointed at how short it was for a expansion pack that came in a big box as if it was it's own game. But still a must play for any Half-Life fans.

Compared to the Opposing Force and the main game is quite a let down downgrade but still it has it vibe

I had a great time playing! Took about 4.5 hours to complete and the story was neat; I also liked that the scientists did more than be keys on legs. Whereas half-life makes you feel like a delinquent vigilante, blue-shift makes you feel like you're actually cooperating with characters in the world.
it's also a good time to shift blues, and to blue the shifts. quite fulfilling. Careful not to get shifted though, or you may end up blue.

If you are ready to face the following issues and get the game on discount, I recommend it!
----
-> You may get stuck, and you may be subject to questions like "am I supposed to do something with this?" or "OK, what now?". Funny that the guard has to think more than Gordon Freeman to pass through, but such is life. Intent isn't always as clear in older games, so you'll have to follow a line of creative thinking to get through. There are no dumb questions.

-> it's short! I completed it in a single 4.5 hour session. Good for me because I won't be falling asleep at 6 am again, but some might expect more for their buck

Not as long as Opposing Force, but I'd argue that Blue Shift is a bit better because it has an actual objective the whole time; that being to escape. In Opposing force, you are also trying to escape but that's {spoilers} only at the start and is fucked once G-man stops you. After that you're just sort of wandering around. Decent expansion, would recommend.

it was my first time playing blueshift.
for the nostalgia of half life 1. i recommend it but its disappointing how small it is. in 2hours and half i managed to finished the game

8/10 i wish they could saying calhoun

A fun, short and sweet side story in the HL story. Beat in just under 2.5 hours, only had to look up one puzzle because it wasn't clear. Otherwise nothing to complain about. 8/10

The shortest of the standalone expansions provided for Half-Life where you play as Barney Calhoun (yup, the same guy that owes you a beer in Half-Life 2).

It doesn't introduce anything new like in Opposing Force (despite being released after), and the campaign is about 3 hours in length. Just feels like more of the same of what we got in the base game.
This can be considered underwhelming to some, or a fun little extra foray into OG Half-Life for others. It's only $6.50 CAD on Steam, so the price tag does reflect the amount of content you could reasonably expect.

I did enjoy what it had to offer, so I would expect other dedicated Half-Life fans will too!

4.6 hrs - the shortest and the weakest part of Half-Life 1 'trilogy' but still super worth playing to have a full experience. I would still love to have the 4th version where you get to play as Spec-Ops soldier/ Hell... It would be even better if you could play as one of the first aliens that get through the portals. There's still some room for more games ;p I have binged for a few days with Half-Life, Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Classics for a reason/ Still played it on the max. difficulty = HARD, but it was still very fair, fun and enjoyable = perfect setting/

Хорошее дополнение к халфе!
Играем мы за барни-охранника а Блек Мезе.

O jogo é curto e o final não é lá essas coisas, mas é divertidinho.

+ A couple of good puzzles
- Short, and not as memorable as HL1

It's £1 in the sale right now though. Worth it for a couple of hours of enjoyment.

lovely expansion to the original half life world, very fun running through as barney and seeing a different perspective on how things were going down

Blue Shift is a brief little 3 hour romp in the original Half Life engine. It's worth a single play through for fans, but don't expect anything new. No fresh enemies, weapons or tech appear, and the different perspective doesn't shed much light on the overall Half Life story. That said, since I somehow missed Blue Shift a quarter of a century ago, I completed this in 2025 and it was an enjoyable evening.

Fun Side Game to Half Life. It's pretty fun, if you played the main game, you might like this side story.

Cool POV of Barney. I just wished that it also (kind of) showed glimpses of how he's able to join the resistance too after the combine took over the world

I really don't have too much to say about this game. It's an expansion to Half Life 1, which you should play before this game if you want to understand anything at all. It doesn't differ significantly from the original game in terms of gameplay or level design. I probably wouldn't recommend it for the full price of 5 bucks, since it is only about 2-3 hours long, but it is fun and absolutely worth the 1.25€ it costs on sale. Some of the puzzles are hard and sometimes even counterintuitive due to the age of the game, but nothing that ruins the fun. There are also loads of walkthroughs online in case you do get stuck somewhere. The Linuix native version ran fine but had minor audio issues, Proton ran flawless with only 1 minor crash.

Really good side story to Half-Life. Though it is rather short (it took me 6 hours on hard for my first play through), it is a really good game and I highly recommend so you can see what Barney Calhoun was up to during Gordon Freeman's adventures through Black Mesa.

Blue Shift finishes the trifecta of three different perspectives on the same event in a short but well executed second expansion pack to the 1998 masterpiece Half-Life.

Finally after playing a glasses-wearing nerd and a trained killer we get the perspective of a regular blue collar everyman, Barney Calhoun, regular dude who's having a regular day at work at a regular trillion dollar research facility until things go real bad.

There's nothing majorly new about this in terms of enemies weapons or environments but its still very fun half-life gameplay, and seeing yet another angle on the events of May 16th 200-and-something is really cool.

The game isn't too long, maybe 4 hours on a first play through on medium difficulty if you are nothing special at shooters (im certainly not). I played it like 7 or 8 times and got my time down to i think 59 minutes. I just liked replaying it and improving my time because it was short and manageable, however in order to get much faster id have to learn to b-hop and that didn't interest me. This game was never expensive even when it came out so the length wasn't a huge criticism.

It might be the least talked about of the 7 half-life games but don't think that means you should overlook it.

When i think of Half-Life, i think of ADHD endusing action and shooting. Not, actual maps that make me look around and appriciate them instead of just bhopping thru it. Its really short, almost as short as Portal 1. But not that short. What makes HLBS so unforgiving is the horrible xen level design.

During the point where you align the huge orange meth crystal, you need to go to the cave where that one vort gets killed and GO UP that boulder. In no way does the game tell you to go up there, so in typical half life fashion. I grenade hopped up to the enterance bolder, got stuck, waited for 20 minutes, until i went up the boulder to complete the level. Overall, not the greatest half life game. But with this, my boy Barry would never make it to HL2.

quick and easy expansion, takes maybe three hours and is a cool introduction to Barry

beat the game alr, and i loved it. the trainyard combat scenes were perfection. 10/10 would play again.

Nice little expansion to Half Life from one of the security guard's point of view. If you liked Half Life then you should enjoy this expansion.

This expansion is awesome for people with no that much time, is enjoyable and I can recommend it if you previously enjoyed half life

Imo ta gra jest zbyt overhated. Powinno się w nią zagrać jak inne gry, tylko rosenberg jest zepsuty. Polecam, half life opposing force lepszy i tak

Despite the criticism many fans had for Blue Shift, I actually liked it quite a bit. It's much shorter than Half-Life or Opposing Force, but I consider this game as kind of a bonus campaign that I welcome with open hands. I'll be honest, if the main character wasn't Barney I don't think I would have cared that much, to see him again in Half-Life 2 and its episodes I felt a deeper connection because I played with him in Blue Shift.

This game is probably my least favourite game in the series, it doesnt hit hard as well as the other ones, if your looking for a half life game i'd recommend opposing force and not this

The best thing about this dlc is how short it is. It reuses assets from the original with none of the charm, there is nothing unique about the level design, and no new lore is revealed from playing it. One of the puzzles is so harebrained and frustrating that I had to look it up online, which was not the case for anything in the original. At least the UI is blue tho.

Great game. We basically look on the same story from original Half-Life, but form the eyes of a different character. A mustplay, if you love Half-Life!

short but sweet little expansion.
would play again 9.5/10
however there were some points where it took me way too long to figure out

Similarly to Half-Life 1, Blue Shift offers a classic yet quite dated experience. Unfortunately, Black Mesa: Blue Shift is not fully finished, so without a sprinkle of modernity, I enjoyed this one much less than Black Mesa, the remake of the original HL1.

Is it a good add-on? It was for its time. But that time is now gone, and if we set nostalgia aside, there are hundreds of better games to play. If you're really into retro games or just want to re-experience games from your childhood, I'd recommend it. For all the others, probably not.

If you do decide to give Blue Shift a go, note that it doesn’t have any subtitles available, so you better be fluent in English. And it has a cap of 72 fps. In order to remove it, you need to:
- open "Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\bshift"
- create a new file called "userconfig.cfg"
- add in the following lines:
     fps_max ""
     fps_override 1

Gives another point of view on the events of half-life. Kinda short and none of the cool guns or new enemies of opposing force but still worthwhile to play if you get it on a sale.

Unlike the opposing Force, the Blue Shift campaign gives a feeling that is too short, but it's fun and you playing like Barney, Black Mesa security and Gordon Freeman's right -hand man!
What is negative unfortunately ... is nothing new and the online is not even present in the game

But if you are a person who just wants to play and zero ... Enjoy and recommend Blue Shift

This game... is amazing. I restart the game numerous times just to live a security guard. I LOVE IT!

I'm surprised by how this game is actually good!
I was going into it with the mentality of that this game was just more HL, but it wasn't, people put that in my head and now I just feel dumb for not playing it sooner.
The story is quite nice and the pace of the game, alongside with the puzzles makes it a fresh experience. This paired with having played HL: Decay recently made me see again how much the Half-Life universe is rich and engaging, how passion was put into making this, even tho it was made by Gearbox.
But, yeah man, Half-Life Blue Shift, very good game, recommend, looking forward now into playing Opposing Force and other fan made projects, like the recent Delta Particles.

Half-Life: Blue Shift – A Nostalgic Expansion Worth Playing

Half-Life: Blue Shift is a must-play for fans of the original Half-Life, offering a fresh perspective on the Black Mesa disaster through the eyes of Barney Calhoun, the facility’s security guard. While shorter than the base game, this expansion delivers a tightly-paced, action-packed experience that expands the Half-Life universe in meaningful ways.

What Makes It Great?
✅ A New Perspective – Unlike Gordon Freeman’s scientist-driven story, Blue Shift puts you in the boots of a more grounded, everyday character. This shift in perspective adds depth to Black Mesa’s world, making familiar locations feel fresh.

✅ Classic Half-Life Gameplay – The expansion retains the tight gunplay, engaging combat, and environmental storytelling that made Half-Life iconic. Expect intense shootouts, satisfying puzzle-solving, and a sense of urgency throughout.

✅ Compact and Engaging – With a campaign of about 3-4 hours, Blue Shift is a digestible yet rewarding experience. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, making it perfect for a quick but satisfying return to Black Mesa.

Any Downsides?
❌ Lack of New Weapons or Enemies – Unlike Opposing Force, Blue Shift doesn’t introduce new weapons or alien creatures, sticking closely to the original Half-Life formula.

❌ Short Playtime – While its brevity makes it easy to pick up and finish, some players may find it lacking in depth compared to other expansions.

Final Verdict
If you’re a Half-Life fan looking for more Black Mesa adventures, Blue Shift is well worth playing. While it doesn’t innovate as much as Opposing Force, it delivers a solid and immersive side story with classic gameplay and a unique perspective. Recommended for anyone who enjoys Half-Life and wants another excuse to revisit its iconic world.

Rating: 8/10

just completed it short but pretty good game nice expansion

Yeah, I liked this more than the base game. It doesn't drag itself for too long, and has some nice puzzles, but still remains what first half-life mechanically is.

Play as famous side guy Barnty Cowhoon! You are now security. Help Professor Frozenburg leave the spooky scioence building. No new enemies this time though. Fight through the hordes of zombies and bullchickens without of the help of the famous orange HIV suit, all you got now is a vest and a hat. In the exiting conlusion ride away in a van!

Also good game but not better than Opposing Force.

compared to the other expansion, opposing force, this game is much, much easier, but it also doesn't add anything. It was a short and sweet and charming half life game tho, very fun and not deserving of the hate that it gets, i mean it is very short, it literally doesn't even have a final boss 😭😭i barely died in this game, compared to half life 1? I died every 4 seconds and half life opposing force I spent more time dead than alive 😭 but it's still very fun!

A much buggier experience than half-life and with an even more anti-climactic ending without so much as a final boss i can't in good faith recommend this over the original however it is still more half-life with a thrilling core gameplay loop and eerie atmosphere that even made me jump at times 7/10 very obvious it was made for the sega dreamcast

When compared to the base game, It's basically more of the same, with no interesting new or unique elements that make it a must play after finishing Half-Life.

7/10 a very fun way to make a half life spin off, very bite sized, but ultimately nothing too special in its own right.

I just finished playing Half-Life and for being an old game it still is a master piece, but after that I wanted to try the dlc's and how much do I regret that. Don't get me wrong, opposing force is amazing but this game Is just a crappy cash grab. 3/10 (PUZZLES MADE NO SENSE AND GAMPLAY WAS LACKING)