Valve: 6 Worst Worlds To Live In

Valve is one of the most recognized and acclaimed video game developers. For the better part of more than 20 years, they have been making constant headlines with their releases. Even when they don’t release any titles, Valve is still talked about, such as with their incredibly popular and ever-present PC gaming platform Steam.

Despite having slowed down in their releases of late, most of Valve’s games are often discussed as some of the greatest video games to ever exist. From Half-Life to Dota 2, Valve has gained a reputation for creating games with passion, with the worlds and stories they create being a perfect example of that. However, Valve has always favored more unappealing and grim locales for their games, with their worlds being locations no one would want to find themselves in.

6 Counter-Strike

Terrorists And Bombings Abound

While not exactly the worst world that Valve (technically Minh Le and Jess Cliffe) have built, especially compared to their other titles, it is nonetheless a world that is less than convenient, to put it lightly.

Simply put, the world of Counter-Strike is the same as Earth, but with more terrorism. The name of the Terrorist side when playing a match is the Phoenix Connexion and the Counter-Terrorists are known as the Coalition. There are other factions, such as the French Counter-Terrorist force GIGN, but in recent Operations, Valve has attempted to focus the story on the Phoenix Connexion and the Coalition. The destruction of areas via bombs and the kidnapping of hostages seem to take place somewhat frequently, as seen through the various maps, making for a less-than-desirable world to live in.

5 Team Fortress

A Weird Cartoon World With Robots And A Mischievous God

Definitely the most wacky and eccentric of Valve’s games, the Team Fortress universe features a comedic take on the FPS genre. Due to how odd the story and world are, it wouldn’t be the most normal place to live.

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Numerous different technologies can make it unpredictable to live here, such as the Robots created by Gray Mann as featured in the Mann Vs. Machine mode. Crazed individuals such as the Medic can also make life difficult. On top of the challenges to living on Earth, Heaven and Hell exist, both being unpredictable, such as when God threatened to destroy the world simply because every woman on the planet hadn’t slept with the Scout.

4 Alien Swarm

A World Once Ruled By Humans, Now Controlled By Aliens

One of Valve’s mostly-forgotten games, Alien Swarm follows its titular namesake with a human colony world that aliens have taken over.

Far more simple compared to other complex worlds that Valve has created, such as Half-Life, Alien Swarm is still horrifying to live in. The game features numerous parasites and tumors, along with the murderous aliens. Progressing through the game reveals these aliens have killed all the colonists, with the main objective being to detonate a nuclear bomb to stop the alien colony from advancing. So on top of being a hostile alien planet, it’s also about to become a nuclear wasteland. Not a great place to settle down.

3 Dota 2

Resist The Pull Of The Ancients And Fight An Endless War, Or Become A Creep

League of Legends might be the most recognized MOBA, but Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, was one of the first to breathe life into the genre and has become regarded as one of the best to do so. Despite this, the world is less than desirable to live in.

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Owing to its original name, players defend powerful beings known as Ancients. These entities, named Radiant and Dire, influence and control parts of the world. Some people will fall under the control of these beings and do their will, which is how the Creeps came into existence. Radiance’s areas mirror themes of purity, good, and light, whereas Dire’s areas change to resemble darkness and evil. However, some can resist turning into Creeps, which is where the numerous playable Heroes come in, fighting an endless war on behalf of the two Ancients. Neither option is ideal for a living situation.

2 Left 4 Dead

It’s A Zombie Apocalypse, The Antithesis Of Comfortable Living

Arguably Valve’s most well-known game, and one of their highest rated, Left 4 Dead’s zombie apocalypse setting makes it obvious why this is one of the worst worlds to live in. Featuring a horror aesthetic, Left 4 Dead isn’t as horrifying in a nuanced way as Half-Life is, but is still terrifying nonetheless.

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One of Left 4 Dead’s most notable factors is the variety of the undead, with the Special Infected truly making for a bleak world, with Tanks, Witches, Hunters, and so on creating a scenario no one would want to live through. Adding to this are the vast number of regular zombies, the Common Infected, combined with the eponymous Green Flu/Infection being airborne, which creates an incredibly grim world.

1 Half-Life/Portal

Earth Is Controlled By An Oppressive Inter-Dimensional Empire. Enough Said.

While both games never state explicitly that they take place in the same universe, as it isn’t the focus of their respective stories, Portal and Half-Life are indeed connected. The Portal series focuses more on its own smaller locations, the facilities belonging to Aperture Science, while Half-Life spans larger regions, across cities and landscapes.

Half-Life 2 is where the world becomes truly horrific, as Earth is under the oppression of the Combine, a multidimensional empire seeking to enslave all it comes across, with humanity as its latest acquisition. Spanning numerous worlds, the Combine’s regime is incredibly dystopian; depressing, bleak, and oppressive, with executions, “off-world relocations,” and mass starvation abound. Infamously, the Combine crushed all of Earth’s armies in the Seven-Hour War.

However, more terrifying is the G-Man and his “employers.” The G-Man himself is a godlike being capable of stopping time, yet is at the behest of employers, entities presumably more powerful than him. The series dives into cosmological horror, with humanity being nothing more than pawns to G-Man, his employers, and their plans.

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