A Plague Tale: Innocence vs Half-Life 2
A Plague Tale: Innocence is an action-adventure horror game from Asobo Studio (2019) while Half-Life 2 is an FPS horror game (2004).
Quick answer: Half-Life 2 rates higher, 9.0 to 7.9 on the GamingPickz Score, and Half-Life 2 is the cheaper at $9.99.
What each one is
A Plague Tale: Innocence is filed under Action-Adventure and Horror. In contrast, Half-Life 2 under FPS and Horror.
Follow the grim tale of young Amicia and her little brother Hugo, in a heartrending journey through the darkest hours of history.
Reawakened from stasis in the occupied metropolis of City 17, Gordon Freeman is joined by Alyx Vance as he leads a desperate human resistance. Experience the landmark first-person shooter packed with immersive world-building, boundary-pushing physics, and exhilarating combat.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
In November 1348, Amicia de Rune is a 15-year-old French noble living in Aquitaine during the Hundred Years' War between England and France . Her five-year-old brother, Hugo, has been ill since birth; their mother, Beatrice, an alchemist, has sheltered him in their estate while trying to devise a cure. While hunting with her father Robert in the forest, Amicia encounters an unusual substance on the ground, and her dog Lion is gruesomely consumed by an… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception A Plague Tale: Innocence received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Sales In the United Kingdom, the game was the ninth-best-selling retail game in its week of release. In July 2020, Focus Home Interactive announced that it had sold over one million units. (Wikipedia)
Plot
Michael Shapiro (2007) and Merle Dandridge (2019) provided their voices to the characters of G-Man and Alyx Vance respectively After the alien invasion at the Black Mesa Research Facility , a multidimensional alien empire known as the Combine has conquered Earth. Approximately twenty years after being placed in stasis, Gordon Freeman is inserted into a train bound for City 17 by the G-Man ( Michael Shapiro ). Helped by the undercover Resistance member… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Half-Life 2 received widespread acclaim upon release. On Metacritic , it received an aggregate score of 96 out of 100 for the PC version, based on 81 reviews, while the Xbox version received 90 out of 100 based on 35 reviews. 1UP , GameSpy , The Cincinnati Enquirer , The New York Times and VideoGamer. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| A Plague Tale: Innocence | Half-Life 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.9/10 | 9.0/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (93%, 71,473) | Overwhelmingly Positive (98%, 278,618) |
| Critic aggregate | 81/100 | 96/100 |
| Price | $39.99 | $9.99 |
| Install size | 50 GB | 6.35 GB |
| Steam Deck | playable | verified |
| Released | 2019 | 2004 |
| Developer | Asobo Studio | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
A Plague Tale: Innocence vs Half-Life 2, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
A Plague Tale: InnocenceAction-adventure horror gameHalf-Life 2FPS horror gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
A Plague Tale: InnocenceStory Rich, Adventure, StealthHalf-Life 2FPS, Action, Sci-fiThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
A Plague Tale: InnocenceScore 7.9 · 93% on Steam · 81 criticHalf-Life 2 ✓Score 9.0 · 98% on Steam · 96 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
A Plague Tale: Innocence71,473 reviews · 1 add-on · 50 GBHalf-Life 2278,618 reviews · 1 add-on · 6.35 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
A Plague Tale: Innocence$39.99Half-Life 2 ✓$9.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
A Plague Tale: InnocencePlayableHalf-Life 2 ✓VerifiedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Half-Life 2 takes 3 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueA Plague Tale: Innocence and Half-Life 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Mobile
- Multi-platform
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Half-Life 2 (GamingPickz Score 9.0)
- The cheaper right now: Half-Life 2 ($9.99)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Half-Life 2 (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Half-Life 2 (6.35 GB)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Half-Life 2 (278,618 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Story RichAdventureAtmosphericSingleplayerActionHorrorGreat SoundtrackPuzzle
Where they differ
StealthFemale ProtagonistMedievalThird PersonDarkHistorical
FPSSci-fiClassicShooterFirst-PersonDystopian
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, A Plague Tale: Innocence is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Half-Life 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| A Plague Tale: Innocence | Half-Life 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | 2 GB | DirectX 8.1 level Graphics Card (requires support for SSE) |
| Minimum CPU | Intel Core i3-2120 (3.3 GHz)/AMD FX-4100 X4 (3.6 GHz) | 1.7 Ghz |
| Minimum RAM | 8 GB | 0.5 GB |
| Install size | 50 GB | 6.35 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: A Plague Tale: Innocence · Half-Life 2.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for A Plague Tale: Innocence and 9 for Half-Life 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are A Plague Tale: Innocence and Half-Life 2 in scope?
A Plague Tale: Innocence has drawn 71,473 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 50 GB. Half-Life 2 has drawn 278,618 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 6.35 GB.
Is A Plague Tale: Innocence or Half-Life 2 better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Half-Life 2 rates higher (9.0 to 7.9). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, A Plague Tale: Innocence or Half-Life 2?
Half-Life 2 is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $39.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get A Plague Tale: Innocence or Half-Life 2?
Half-Life 2 rates higher, 9.0 to 7.9 on the GamingPickz Score, and Half-Life 2 is the cheaper at $9.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.