Half-Life 2 is officially 20 years old, and we’re using this milestone as an opportunity to celebrate the community of players who have been enjoying it (or discovering it, or even re-discovering it) since November 16, 2004.
Yes, there’s even a documentary! Our Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary went so well that we invited Secret Tape back to make another one—this time focusing on Half-Life 2. And it’s about a lot more than just the making of a game. Running out of money. Getting hacked, and an early version being leaked online. Being sued by our publisher. Trying to build Steam. It’s all in there! As supplementary material to go along with the documentary, we’ve unearthed a handful of old presentations from across Half-Life 2’s development. Find videos from E3 2003, E3 2002, and Siggraph 2000 on the 20th Anniversary Update website.
We’re also (Re) Raising the Bar: Nearly two decades since it first went out of print, Raising the Bar is set to return in 2025 with an expanded second edition—offering a comprehensive look into the creation of the Half-Life 2, along with never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, and ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.
1998. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Valve’s debut title wins more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named “Best PC Game Ever” by PC Gamer, and launches a franchise with more than eight million retail units sold worldwide.
NOW. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player’s presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.
The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him.
Game Features
- Episodes One and Two are in the box. Half-Life 2 now includes the complete Episode One and Episode Two expansions along with the base game. They’re accessible from the main menu, and you will automatically advance to the next expansion after completing each one.
- Developers Commentary for Half-Life 2. While the Episodes have always had commentary tracks, the base game never did… until now. We got the team back to record three and a half hours of new behind-the-scenes commentary for Half-Life 2.
- Integrated Steam Workshop support. Browse, install, and play user-created content for Half-Life 2 without ever leaving the game. Look for it in the Extras menu!
- Bug fixes and new graphics options. Visual pops, missing sprites, and mismatched lighting introduced in updates over the years have been scrubbed away. And we’ve added some settings to push the visual fidelity of Half-Life 2 farther than was allowed in the original release.
- Characters: Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial “muscles,” human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence.
- Physics: From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy.
- Graphics: Source’s shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story and Monster’s, Inc., creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game.
- AI: Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand.