If you were gaming on PC during the last half of the 90s then you probably remember deathmatch games. These were not battle royales like Fortnite or whatever Call of Duty is doing this year, no, these were focused events. Often the area was quite small and full of circular paths to help escape/hunting as you played. Now, fans can take on those memories with Half-Life Arena, coming to Steam before Christmas 2025.
Bringing Back Those Classic Gaming Vibes
Look, if you grew up with Fortnite or similar I will be honest, a deathmatch game like what Half-Life Arena is shaping up to be, may not be for you. It is just not the same. There is no emoting, there are no supply drops, you will die often, immediately, and sometimes before you could even move from spawning. It is part of the game style.
Oh yeah, and characters explode. They will not fade out or be beamed out like in Fortnite. Pieces of your enemy will fly everywhere when hit with heavy artillery, they will bleed when hit with smaller weapons. Weapons have weight in their damage, unlike games like Fortnite.
Levels are built for movement so there is very little camping on most arena maps. Camp and you are just sitting on an egg timer for your elimination.
Smaller, Focused, Gameplay Means Less Dead Time
Anyone that has played a Battle Royale style game knows about the dead zones. Often minutes long stretches of nothing but you hunting for enemies or trying to stock up on supplies. That stuff is gone in Deathmatch style games and Half-Life Arena seems to be holding true to that aspect.
Your time in a Deathmatch style game is usually from start to finish just pumping and jumping, shooting and scooting. There is no time to aim, no one cares about how many shots you fired as long as you came out of the encounter on top.
Half-Life Arena is also bringing back something we have missed, and could easily be utilized in Battle Royale games.
Offline bots.
Not everyone has time to wait for a lobby to fill, they just want to get in and blast, they don’t care if it is people or bots. They just want to have fun. Half-Life Arena will cater to that market.
Personally, I am excited for this because with games like Fortnite, it can take over 5 minutes from start to being in a match. I only have so much time a week to play so focused action is ideal for me. I don’t care if I am taking down someone half way across the country or not, I just want to have fun.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Deathmatch style games? Are you excited for Half-Life Arena? Let me know in the comments below.
I used to rock Unreal Tournament myself then I got Quake III on Sega Dreamcast – one of the first cross platform titles ever released.
Go wish list Half-Life Arena on Steam, it releases on December 12th, 2025.