What just occurred? Valve’s Half-Life 2 Celebrates 20th Anniversary: with an extensive update, a limited-time free giveaway of the complete game, and a bundle that includes the two episodic expansions along with new developer commentary. Furthermore, a two-hour YouTube documentary exposes details about the canceled third expansion, offering fresh insights for fans.
If you’re among the small group of Steam users who have yet to acquire Half-Life 2, this is your perfect opportunity to permanently add Valve’s legendary first-person shooter to your library – for free – until November 18. The bundle also encompasses both subsequent episodes, and the game has received a significant update in honor of its 20th anniversary.
The patch doesn’t overhaul the graphics to the extent of the upcoming RTX Remix mod; however, it introduces numerous bug fixes, minor enhancements, and new features.
The newly added Steam Workshop support simplifies the process for players to discover and install the myriad mods created for Half-Life 2 over the years. Players can now directly select the “Lost Coast” chapter from the main menu, and the developer commentary feature, previously available in the episodic expansions, is now integrated into the base game, featuring three and a half hours of fresh audio.
The update also enhances visual elements such as lighting, grass, HDR effects, and draw distances. Additionally, the menus and HUD have been updated to support various ultrawide aspect ratios and gamepad configurations. For those longing for nostalgia, players can toggle the lighting and effects back to the game’s original 2004 release settings.
Meanwhile, Valve has made hours of archival footage available on YouTube, documenting the development of Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Among the covered topics, the cancellation of Episode 3 is likely to capture fans’ intrigue the most. The documentary reveals the first official details regarding the expansion in years.
Through new footage and concept art, Valve shares that Episode 3 would have predominantly taken place in the Arctic and introduced an ice gun. The developers acknowledged that they could have easily released Episode 3 but ultimately decided against it due to a lack of innovative ideas that met the company’s quality standards. However, a group of fans is currently working on a free campaign inspired by a draft of Episode 3’s storyline, published by series writer Marc Laidlaw in 2017.
Other new videos include presentations from Siggraph 2000, E3 2002, and E3 2003. Valve has also announced a reprint of Raising the Bar, the book that chronicles Half-Life 2’s development, which has been out of print since 2004. The second edition features newly discovered concept art from all three episodes.
Alongside Valve’s celebrations, Nvidia has entered the fray by introducing a custom Half-Life 2-themed GeForce RTX 4080 Super graphics card. This GPU is specifically designed to demonstrate the forthcoming RTX Remix mod, which will incorporate real-time path tracing and updated textures for the game. Fans can participate in a contest on Nvidia’s website for a chance to win the card, with the upcoming mod now featuring its own Steam page.
