Valve has released a major update for Half life 2 new in honor of the game’s 20th anniversary, and also made the game temporarily free for all players. You can add Half-Life 2 to your Steam account until November 18th. The 4 GB Anniversary Update includes the following innovations:
Episode One and Episode Two add-ons included
Now Half-Life 2 also includes two additions. They are available in the main menu, and after completing the first expansion you move on to the second.
Developer ideas for half life 2
Released a year after the main game, the Lost Coast demo included an interactive developer commentary mode where interested players could learn a lot about the technology that inspired the demo. After that, every game from the Half-Life and Portal series had such a mode, but Half-Life 2 never got any comments… which we fixed by gathering the original game development team for this purpose.
Steam Workshop Support
Find, install, and play user-generated content for Half-Life 2 without leaving the game. You will find all the downloaded works in the additional materials menu.
Recording games
Capture your precious City 17 memories with Steam! On the game recording timeline in the overlay, you’ll find highlights with important and unexpected moments of your play.
Download the game content
Valve’s level designers have studied all Half-Life 2 maps and fixed long-ago bugs, restored details and features lost in time, and improved map quality smoke and light to develop.
- Fixed holes in map geometry and sudden appearance and disappearance of objects.
- Half-Life 2’s lighting has been modified to work better with HDR while maintaining the original feel.
- Thanks to the update to the radial fog, the skyline is much smoother and cleaner.
- Added higher resolution lightmaps to every corner of the game!
- Remove the green glow and the glow that appeared in G-man’s eyes at the beginning of the game returns – just like in the original version.
- Fixed grass sprites and some models.
Updated the graphics settings
- When playing Half-Life 2, you can choose between original or custom blood and fire effects!
- Play with the highest quality models by choosing the appropriate setting!
- Enjoy new anti-aliased bicubic shadows when you select very high shadow detail!
Updates to work with Steam Deck, gamepads and other input devices
- Gamepad settings have been changed in a similar manner to the Half-Life 1 Anniversary Update.
- Auto-aim has been redesigned and improved, and received new settings as well. Now you can configure auto-aim for gamepads and mice with keyboards. Auto target strength can now be adjusted and is no longer tied to difficulty level. Do you want to play on hard difficulty with automatic goal? Want to turn it off on easy difficulty? As you wish!
- The main game menu for Steam Deck includes the latest updates – add-ons, workshop and control settings. You’ll see the same menu as the Steam Deck when you play Half-Life 2 on a computer in Big Picture mode.
More information and interesting facts about the development of Half-Life 2 can be found on a specific device websitewhich Valve opened in honor of the game’s anniversary. The site is available in Russian. You can also download wallpapers and soundtracks there.
