Canonicity of games in the Half-Life series.

This is the first in hopefully a series of articles, where each time we take a look at all the games in a particular series and talk about what the developer, the community & our own opinion is on whether its story and events in them are considered canonical within the series.

This time we tackle the Half-Life series.

Half-Life	Platform: PC, PS2 & Dreamcast(cancelled). Why it should be canon: Its where Gordon’s story starts, and its events are referenced in the later games. Why it shouldn’t: Many of the characters and elements have been retconned in the later games. Community opinion: Canon. My opinion: Canon but with some things retconned later.
Half Life: UpLink	Platform: PC. Why it should be canon: It was made by Valve & it’s made of official levels that got cut from the game. Why it shouldn’t: The levels were taken out of the game and no longer fit into the original Half-Life time line. Community opinion: Not canon. My opinion: Not canon. Its just a demo made from unused levels.
Half-life: Opposing Force	Platform: PC. Why it should be canon: It was an official expansion for the original Half-Life. Why it shouldn’t: It introduces Race X, and other aliens, which never seen or heard of in any other game. Community opinion: Mixed. Some consider it to be canon, others say its completely non-canon, and some say parts of it are canon, and the rest isn’t. My opinion: Canon until disproved by a Valve game.
Half-Life: Blue shift	Platform: PC & Dreamcast (cancelled). Why it should be canon: It was an official expansion for the original Half-Life and Barney Calhoun reappears in the later games. Why it shouldn’t: All character other than Barney in Blue Shift are never seen outside of the Gearbox expansions. Community opinion: Mixed. Some consider it to be canon, others say its completely non-canon, and some say parts of it are canon, and the rest isn’t. My opinion: Canon until disproved by a Valve game.
Half-life: Decay	Platform: PS2. Why it should be canon: It was included in the official port Half-life for the PS2. Why it shouldn’t: All characters in Decay are never seen outside of the Gearbox expansions. Community opinion: Mixed. Some consider it to be canon, others say its completely non-canon, and some say parts of it are canon, and the rest isn’t. My opinion: Canon until disproved by a Valve game.
Absolute Redemption	Platform: PC. Why it should be canon: It was bundled with Counter-Strike in the Half-Life: Generations box-set and continues the story of Gordon Freeman after the original half-life. Why it shouldn’t: It was nothing but a user made mod thrown in as an extra. Community opinion: Not canon. My opinion: Not canon. Its just a user-made mod, not an officially licensed half-life game.
Half-Life 2	Platform: PC, Xbox, Xbox 360 & PS3. Why it should be canon: Its the official continuation of the Half-Life series. Why it shouldn’t: None. Community opinion: Canon. My opinion: Obviously canon.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast	Platform: PC. Why it should be canon: It was made of official levels that got cut from the game. Why it shouldn’t: The levels were taken out of the game and no longer fit into Half-Life 2’s timeline. Community opinion: Not canon. My opinion: Not canon. Its just a demo made from unused levels.
Codename: Gordon	Platform: PC. Why it should be canon: The game set within the half life universe and was at one point distributed on Steam Why it shouldn’t: Its a fan made flash game. Community opinion: Not canon. My opinion: Not canon.
Half-Life 2: Survivor	Platform: Arcade. Why it should be canon: Its an officially licensed Half-Life game. Why it shouldn’t: Doesn’t include any of the story elements of Hal-Life 2 and was just meant as an arcade machine. Community opinion: Not canon. My opinion: Not canon.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1	Platform: PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 Why it should be canon: Its the official continuation of the Half-Life series. Why it shouldn’t: None. Community opinion: Canon. My opinion: Obviously canon.
Half-Life 2: Episode 2	Platform: PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 Why it should be canon: Its the official continuation of the Half-Life Series Why it shouldn’t: None. Community opinion: Canon. My opinion: Obviously canon.
Portal	Platform: PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 Why it should be canon: It was developed by Valve, it was bundled in the orange box with half life 2 & its episodes, and Black Mesa and Aperture Science are mentioned in both series. Why it shouldn’t: Just because both companies are in both games universes, doesn’t mean that both games are set within the same universe. Community opinion: Canon. My opinion: Canon.

Its fairly obvious that for most of these games if they are considered canon, or not, and because we have seen every second of Gordon’s conscious life from the when he was on the tram in Black Mesa to the end of Episode 2, any game where you play as Gordon Freeman that doesn’t fit into that journey can instantly be declared non-canon. It’s also fairly obvious that Portal is meant to be set within the same universe, and if Valve changed their mind on that, it would just confuse people.

That leaves the Gearbox expansions, Opposing: Force, Blue Shift, & Decay. I heard a lot of rumours about Valve said this, and Gabe said that, so I contacted Valve to ask for their stance on the canonicity of the Gearbox expansions, and Marc Laidlaw, the writer of Half-life told me that.

We don’t get involved in issues of canonicity. You might say that canon itself is non-canon. So, no official stance, there’s just the games.

The way I like to think of it is it’s like a long running TV show, over the years events in episodes might contradict each other, but that doesn’t mean that an entire episode instantly becomes non-canon. Until a Valve game makes it clear if they happened or not its up to the user to decided.