It's a really interesting game that must have been groundbreaking at the time. Today, however, it still holds up pretty well. For slightly more optimized graphics, you should enable enhanced models in the content, but you can also leave it as default. The game is interesting and a lot of fun despite its age. For someone who doesn't feel nostalgia for the game, you could say that it's worth it and deserves a remake, although strictly speaking it doesn't need one.

How are you supposed to play Half-Life? Are you intended to sprint at full speed, lunging around corners and blasting the nearest freak with a concoction of 12 gauge and .357 magnum? Or are you supposed to hold the walk button the entire time, lay claymores to pick off unsuspecting soldiers, work to save every scientist, to uncover every hidden area, to see every sight? The answer is: you're not supposed to play Half-Life. You're supposed to live it. How you survive it's horrors can only be determined by how you survive your own.

I beat this for the first time in 2023. I thought it held up pretty well.
If you're going to play Black Mesa I recommend trying this first so you can appreciate (or not appreciate) the differences more.