Half-Life could well have been called ‘Fallout’ at one point

What’s in a name? There are a lot of video game titles that just evoke memories or conjure up the idea of quality. Half-Life is just one example. However, Valve’s first-ever game could easily have been called something else.

In a recent YouTube video from Valve level designer Dario Casali, it turns out Half-Life nearly wasn’t called Half-Life at all. Casali begins his developer commentary – as part of the game’s 25th anniversary celebrations – by showing a list of names that were suggested.

Of the most popular ones, titles like “Dirt,” “Lead,” “Pressure Chamber,” “Screwed,” and even “Bent” were bandied around. Perhaps most interestingly, in a runners-up list, the word “Fallout” can be seen, along with “Adrenaline,” “Unstable Element,” and even just “Death.”

Would have been a bit confusing

What’s also intriguing is that Half-Life is on this lower list, suggesting that it wasn’t even a popular name being suggested. As a side note, Casali believes the team should have called it Screwed, adding that “it would have been amazing.”

It also would have been interesting if the studio had gone with Fallout. Considering the actual Fallout game came out a year before HL, there’s a good chance there would have been some issues. Or at least some confusion.

The rest of this opening chapter of Casali’s playthrough is pretty good as well. He gives a bit of insight into what the purpose of the iconic monorail opening was, aside from setting the scene. We take it for granted these days, but Valve really wanted to show off new technologies, such as light shafts, scripted sequences, and new skeletal models, and this intro was a way to show these things off.