Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi has confirmed that Half-Life 2: Episode 1 will not require a Half-Life 2 install to play.

Speaking to Eurogamer Lombardi has confirmed that despite being an expansion pack of sorts, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 will not require the player to have bought Half-Life 2. The game will be available over Steam priced at $19.99 and will also give players access to Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Half-Life Deathmatch. Valve is planning on offering the recently announced Episode 2 for the same price.

As has already been stated on many an occasion, Episode 1 should provide around four to six hours of single player gaming, but Lombardi says that "one of the benefits of developing an episodic game is that the team is able to produce more iterations of each aspect and flesh out each scene far more than in the production of non-episodic games. The result: Episode 1's complexion and density is markedly richer than Half-Life 2."

Half Life 2: Episode 1 is scheduled for release on April 24.