
The players have access to a limited selection of Half-Life 's weaponry to assist them in the game.

An array of enemy characters from Half-Life populate the game, including alien lifeforms such as headcrabs and Vortigaunts, as well as human soldiers sent in to contain the alien threat. While Decay still features levels where this is the case, significant sections in Decay are dedicated to working with friendly non-player characters, usually escorting them to various objectives and protecting them in firefights. In Half-Life, players usually fight alone and only occasionally encounter friendly non-player characters who assist them, such as security guards and scientists. When not in use, a character has sufficient artificial intelligence to defend themselves, but otherwise does not move from where they have been left by the player. In this case, the player can only control one character at a time, and can switch between the two characters quickly. Although intended to be played by two people in split screen mode, Decay can still be played by a single player. This requires players to work together to progress through the game's levels and complete puzzles as they arise in-game. However, Decay differs from Half-Life and its first two expansion packs, Opposing Force and Blue Shift, in that it is designed for cooperative multiplayer gameplay. Like the original title it is based on, Decay requires players to engage in combat with hostile non-player characters and complete various puzzle solving tasks to advance through the game. A number of reviews stated that the game simply felt like little more than an extra add-on for the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life.ĭecay is played in a split screen mode, as seen here.Īs is the case with the other games in the Half-Life series, Decay is a first-person shooter. Many reviewers felt the game was best when played with other players, but that its more puzzle-oriented gameplay somewhat detracted from the overall experience.

Decay is a cooperative multiplayer game, designed to be played by two people working together to pass through the game's levels.ĭecay was not a critical success, but was received with some positivity by video game journalists. It is the third expansion pack for Half-Life, and like its predecessors, Decay returns to the setting and timeline of the original story, albeit portraying the story from the viewpoint of a different set of protagonists: two female scientists working in the Black Mesa Research Facility. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra On-Line, Decay was released as part of the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life in 2001. Half-Life: Decay is a multiplayer-only expansion pack for Valve's first-person shooter Half-Life.
