OH GOD I'M SUCH A FANBOY

Okay, so here's my take on Half Life. How does a mild mannered phD in quantum physics suddenly become able to take on hordes of monsters and trained military personnell, surviving time and time again agains impossible odds?

Answer: He doesn't. He's been killed hundreds of times, but he keeps coming back.

During the black mesa incident, Gordon Freeman was altered by the teleporter and his consciousness was cut loose from the dimension specific constraints that hold us all.
The game isn't only played from Gordon's perspective it is, in it's entirety, his perspective, Gordon dies time and time again, but his consciousness survives, finds an alternate reality where the events that lead to his death haven't happened yet and he gets another chance to get it right.

And he is fully aware of it. All the time.

Half life.

No wonder he doesn't talk much.

I have no idea whether this is actually what the script writers at valve have in mind, but I think it would be quite awesome if it was.

And I like it.