Valve is honoring the twentieth anniversary of Half-Life 2 with a celebration that features a brand-new two-hour documentary, a developer commentary replace, and extra.
The studio up to date followers on the festivities on its website at present, revealing a present basket filled with goodies for followers new and previous. While it’s not fairly the Half-Life 3 announcement followers have waited twenty years for, it’s nonetheless greater than sufficient to assist with the wait.
Topping the record of bulletins is a two-hour making-of video from the Secret Tape group behind the Half-Life 1 documentary. Valve says die-hard followers can start watching the Half-Life 2 documentary today for a behind-the-scenes take a look at how the studio dealt with operating out of cash, getting hacked, constructing its PC storefront Steam, and extra. It’s an in-depth peek backstage at a pivotal second in gaming historical past, however the festivities don’t cease there.
Half-Life 2 homeowners can even now get pleasure from a brand new replace that provides every thing from further content material to ironed out wrinkles. This consists of entry to the unique Episode One and Episode Two expansions, which have been bundled into to the bottom expertise at no further price. Valve provides that it reassembled the unique Half-Life 2 group to offer commentary tracks for your complete recreation.
Steam Workshop help and Steam recreation recording are simply two extra bonuses which were added to assist have a good time Half-Life 2’s twentieth anniversary, with much more included within the type of basic touch-ups and fixes. Some of the replace’s modifications embody rebalanced lighting, cleaner horizons, new graphics settings for issues like blood and fireplace results, and an overhaul for aim-assist.
“Every map in Half-Life 2 has been seemed over by Valve stage designers to repair longstanding bugs, restore content material and options misplaced to time, and enhance the standard of some issues like lightmap decision and fog,” the studio explains.
If you’re interested by Half-Life 2 and wish to try the twentieth anniversary replace, you’re in luck; Valve has made the sport free to personal till November 18. That means you get your complete sequel expertise, together with its two expansions, for gratis in any respect – so long as you click that download button within the subsequent few days.
Half-Life 2 has lengthy been hailed as one in all Valve’s finest tasks and probably the most vital video video games ever made. In our unique overview, we known as it a “superb” and gave it a 9.7/10. Fans have combed over each element of the first-person sequel since its launch on November 16, 2004, and as soon as the twentieth anniversary replace is dwell, there might be much more to uncover. While it’s true that Half-Life 3 nonetheless hasn’t been confirmed to be within the works, the goodies revealed at present ought to assist with the wait till a sequel is definitely, actually revealed. There’s additionally the VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which we gave a ten/10.
For extra on the world of Half-Life, you’ll be able to examine Nvidia’s upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX remaster. The firm launched a trailer for the venture simply yesterday to assist have a good time the twentieth anniversary, revealing how its group is creating one thing that stays true to the unique imaginative and prescient whereas giving it a recent coat of paint.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He began writing within the business in 2017 and is finest recognized for his work at shops reminiscent of The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be certain to offer him a observe on Twitter @MikeCripe.
