Valve is honoring the 20th 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 as we speak, revealing a reward basket filled with goodies for followers new and previous. Whereas it’s not fairly the Half-Life 3 announcement followers have waited 20 years for, it’s nonetheless greater than sufficient to assist with the wait.
Topping the checklist of bulletins is a two-hour making-of video from the Secret Tape crew 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 have a look at how the studio dealt with working 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 house owners also can now take pleasure in a new replace that provides the whole lot from extra 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 extra price. Valve provides that it reassembled the unique Half-Life 2 crew to supply commentary tracks for the complete sport.
Steam Workshop assist and Steam sport recording are simply two extra bonuses which have been added to assist have a good time Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, with much more included within the type of basic touch-ups and fixes. A number 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.
“Each map in Half-Life 2 has been appeared over by Valve stage designers to repair longstanding bugs, restore content material and options misplaced to time, and enhance the standard of a few issues like lightmap decision and fog,” the studio explains.
Should you’re eager about Half-Life 2 and need to take a look at the 20th anniversary replace, you’re in luck; Valve has made the sport free to personal till November 18. Meaning you get the complete sequel expertise, together with its two expansions, without charge in anyway – so long as you click that download button within the subsequent few days.
Half-Life 2 has lengthy been hailed as considered one of Valve’s finest tasks and one of the crucial vital video video games ever made. In our unique evaluation, we known as it a “wonderful” and gave it a 9.7/10. Followers have combed over each element of the first-person sequel since its launch on November 16, 2004, and as soon as the 20th anniversary replace is stay, there can be much more to uncover. Whereas it’s true that Half-Life 3 nonetheless hasn’t been confirmed to be within the works, the goodies revealed as we speak 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 10/10.
For extra on the world of Half-Life, you’ll be able to examine Nvidia’s upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX remaster. The corporate launched a trailer for the challenge simply yesterday to assist have a good time the 20th anniversary, revealing how its crew is creating one thing that stays true to the unique imaginative and prescient whereas giving it a contemporary coat of paint.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He began writing within the business in 2017 and is finest recognized for his work at shops similar to The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Make sure to give him a observe on Twitter @MikeCripe.