Half-Life 2 is getting a major update in celebration of the basic title’s Twentieth anniversary. Along with Steam Workshop help immediately throughout the sport, Valve has fastened bugs and restored some content material, added new graphics settings, up to date gamepad controls, and a complete lot extra. You’ll additionally be capable to get the sport without spending a dime on Steam by November 18th at 1PM ET. After that, it would value $9.99.
Valve can be now together with the Episode One and Episode Two expansions with the bottom sport. They’ll be accessible from the Half-Life 2 menu, and Valve says that “you’ll routinely advance to the following enlargement after finishing each.” You’ll additionally be capable to entry the Steam Workshop throughout the Extras menu, which implies you’ll now not have to go away the sport to allow mods.
Valve says it additionally made large updates to Half-Life 2’s maps, which can repair “longstanding bugs, restore content material and options misplaced to time, and enhance the standard of some issues like lightmap decision and fog.” There’s a brand new choice to play with the unique launch day blood and hearth results as nicely, and Valve has up to date Half-Life 2’s gamepad controls to “match” last year’s Half-Life 1 anniversary update.
If you wish to entry the older model of Half-Life 2, that’s nonetheless an choice: you’ll simply should roll again to “a publicly seen Beta department named ‘steam_legacy’” and seize the “Pre-Twentieth Anniversary Construct,” Valve says.
Like with the twenty fifth anniversary celebration for the unique Half-Life, Valve has additionally launched a free documentary about Half-Life 2 you can watch for free on YouTube. Right here’s what you may count on, in line with the documentary’s YouTube description: “we’ve gotten members of the HL2 crew again to speak concerning the sport’s improvement, how we virtually ran out of cash, what it was like once we have been hacked, what occurred once we have been sued by our writer, the birthplace of Steam, and way more.”
Along with the documentary, Valve has shared movies of old demos of the sport — together with one which it deliberate to convey to E3 2022 however determined to not present on the final minute. Valve added 3.5 hours of recent developer commentary throughout the sport, too.
And the corporate is printing an expanded second version of the Elevating the Bar ebook concerning the sport’s improvement, which incorporates “the Half-Life 2 improvement story, with never-before-seen idea artwork from Episode One and Episode Two, together with concepts and experiments for the third episode that by no means got here to be.” The ebook will return to print in 2025.
Possibly quickly we’ll get Half-Life 3? Possibly?