Valve brings the original Half-Life 2 team back together to create a massive 20th anniversary update. The game is now available for free on Steam for the weekend.

Half-Life 2 is celebrating its 20th birthday on November 16, 2024. It's one of the most popular and enduring videogames ever. Valve released a 20th anniversary update for the game to celebrate the big birthday. The update adds Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and Episode 2 as well as all new commentary tracks featuring members of the original HL2 team.

Half-Life 2's episodic add-ons can be accessed directly from the main menu. But even better, the player will automatically advance to the next expansion after completing the last one. This makes them a continuous game. You ask, where is Episode 3? Sorry, we have no news on Episode 3.

There's more to this than a mash-up. The developer commentary is similar to the interactive commentary included with the Half-List 2 Lost Coast add-on. It brings the gang together "to record new commentary tracks for every game."

A new two-hour documentary on Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary will give you a detailed look at the development of the game, including the infamous hack and the birth of Steam.

Valve has re-released Raising the Bar to go even deeper. This new edition, originally released in 2004, has been updated with content from Episodes 1 and 2 "alongside ideas and experiments for a third episode that never materialized." This, I suppose, puts an end to any hopes of a surprise Episode 3. Sorry.) I have the original Raising the Bar and it's a must-read for any Half-Life fan.

There are also old videos from the early years of Half-Life 2. These include a demo that was intended for E3 in 2002 but never shown - Valve "decided last minute that we weren't prepared to show the game". Then there is the E3 2003 demo which finally revealed Half-Life 2 to everyone.

Valve has also released a number of updates for the game. "Every map in Half-Life 2 was reviewed by Valve level designers, who fixed long-standing bugs, restored content and features that had been lost over time, and improved the quality of some things like fog and lightmap resolution," Valve stated. The graphics settings have been improved and updated. Gamepad, input and Steam Deck updates were also implemented. If you enjoy videogame music, you can download the soundtracks of Half-Life 2 as well as both episodes for free. There are also a lot of wallpapers available for desktops and mobile devices.

This is a major update as befits the stature of Half-Life 2. It goes beyond simply making the game run better on modern hardware. Bringing the original development team together to record commentary tracks is a brilliant move. I'm looking forward to what they have to share 20 years later.

The Orange Box is on sale on Steam for 90% off, which brings it down to just $2. And Half-Life 2 too? You can get it for 100% off until November 18, 10 am ET/1 pm GMT. You won't regret buying.

Below are the detailed 20 ^th Anniversary Update patch notes.

Content

• Half-Life 2 developers have added 3.5 hours of Developer commentary.
• Half-Life 2 Episodes One and two are now available from the Half-Life 2 menu.
• Half-Life 2 Lost Coast is now available in the Extras section.
• Steam Workshop support has been added. You can now play entire campaigns, or replace weapons, enemy types, UI and more using content created by community members.
• Steam Game Recording now records custom gameplay phases and events.

Rendering and Graphics

• Fixes issues where props and entire maps would be either fully bright or completely dark depending on the settings.
• Lightmaps now have bicubic filters to produce smoother, more natural shadows. Shader Detail can be set to Very High.
• Fixes for missing grass detail sprites on many maps.
• The Classic Effects were originally available in Half-Life 2 and have been added to the settings. These effects can be enabled by using r_classic_blood and r_classic_fire.
• Support for radial fog has been added.
• Half-Life 2 has been updated to match the original release in terms of specular reflectivity.
• Updated models of the Crossbow and RPG weapon to support ultrawide display.
• Fixed camera clipping in vehicles with high FOV settings.
• Fixed lambda cache indicator and other decals disappearing when backtracking across map transitions.
• When you set Model Detail to High, the model will always display its highest level of detail and never switch to a lower one.
• Set Antialiasing 4x MSAA as default.
• Fixed teeth shader rendering completely white on some GPUs.

UI and Options

• The UI scales now to support higher resolutions.
• Steam Big Picture mode launches the game using the gamepad-friendly interface previously available on Steam Deck. This mode can be launched with the "-gamepadui launch option".
• The High Dynamic Range option has been moved from the Video Settings page to the main Video settings.
• New Game Screen now has a Commentary mode.
• Fix the greyscale art for locked achievements icons to match their behavior on Steam.
• Improved legibility for gamepad buttons.
• Button hints now only display standard face buttons, trigger icons and button icons. This behavior can be disabled with the "sc_prefer_basic_origin_hints" convar.
• Replaced instances of Verdana and other system fonts throughout the UI by GorDIN.
• New font renderer added to provide more consistent rendering across platforms.
• Antialiasing enables the cutting off of the edges of certain fonts.
• Invert colors for the buttons and scrollbars to fix them.
• Removed the nonfunctional "Use 'bloom' effects when available" setting.
• Add Rich Presence information while playing Half-Life 2

Input

• Update the default Steam Input Configuration.
• A Gamepad Settings menu has been added.
• The gamepad can now be used to select the weapon selection style.
• Aim-Assist settings have been added for the mouse/keyboard mode and the gamepad mode. The new Aim-Assist Enhanced mode attempts to track enemy vehicles and snap-to-target.
• Pressing sprint after using toggle crouch will now make you stand.
• The Mouse settings menu no longer includes the legacy joystick settings.

Gameplay

• Reduced chance of birds getting stuck on the world.
• Fixed Combine crouching behavior during door assault scene.
• Fixed Combine not firing at times during the final.
• The game will now pause the music and sound effects while it is paused.
• Fix crash that occurs if player gets too close to helicopter in canals.
• Fix Dr. Breen's inability to look at the camera on certain broadcasts.
• Fix smooth friction sounds that are not playing.

General Map Updates

• Half-Life 2 & Half-Life 2 Deathmatch have HDR lighting on every map.
• Most maps now have a higher resolution lightmap.
• The game has been adjusted to render objects and details from a greater distance.
• Removed Far-Z clipplane from most maps.
• Increased window and Door Fade Distances
• Several map transitions have improved lighting and corrected world detail inconsistencies.
• For better blending of the horizon, fog and skyboxes have been tuned for each map with water.
• Replaced simple reflective water with fully-reflective water on nearly every map.
• Fixes for many floating props in the game.
• Sewn up holes, aligned texture, and fixed seams in many displacements.
• Swapped some distant trees out for higher detail models.
• Shadows are now available on many static props.
• Add glow sprites for all lights that lacked them.
• Lightmapping fixed for large static props.
• Add simple rooftop geometry to buildings in the background that are missing.
• Removed the clipping plane and added background displacement geometry in areas that are now exposed.

Map updates specific to each map

• The introduction sequence was adjusted to match the original sequence. This includes fixing specular highlights in the G-Man’s eyes.
• Fixing texture seams to train station walls
• All fences now cast proper shadows.
• Issues with fog values being set incorrectly by level transitions have been fixed.
• Removed emissive values from the base of a lighting prop that was glowing in strange locations.
• Eli's idle animations were causing a bug during the teleport sequence.
• Lightmapping fixed for train cars in Red Letter Day & Route Kanal
• Fixed a rendering problem in Route Kanal, where world geometry would appear and disappear when looking down the track.
• Aligned pipe textures and canal wall textures are used in a few places to reduce seams in Route Kanal.
• Where level geometry was missing, we added and adjusted brushes for the canal walls.
• Adjust the brightness and falloff in darker sections of canals.
• Add small grates to the canals as ambient light sources.
• Fixed an issue with the splash of Manhack Matt's jump in the water being out of sync.
• Fixed a bug in Water Hazard where the large brick smokestacks would pop in and out based on the player's location.
• Add missing cables to utility poles on various canal maps.
• Fixed lighting and shadows outside Black Mesa East on the dock and electrical tower.
• Add displacements and waterplane to 3D skybox at the dam entrance in place of simple brush cliff faces.
• Fix the lighting on the rocks, props and graveyard in Ravenholm.
• Fixed players could trap themselves in graveyards by closing the gate when Gregori opened it.
• All coast maps in Highway 17 Chapter now show radial fog.
• Removed area portals on many smaller structures along Highway 17.
• Fixed a crash which would occur if the buggy was parked in certain areas prior to entering the bridge level.
• Fixed a bug that caused Vortigaunts to fall through the world.
• Sandtraps now has a simple 3D skybox that shows the next map as seen from the top of lighthouse.
• Fix lighting issues during the basement flare sequence in Nova Prospekt.
• Nova Prospekt now casts more detailed shadows by adding additional geometry to windows in the various levels.
• Fixes a bug where the teleport sequence of Entanglement ended too early, leaving Gordon and Alyx waiting while the teleporter arrived at its destination.
• Fix the catwalk explosion that detonated at the wrong time.
• Follow Freeman: Fixed the building dome that had no polygons on its outside.
• Fix the ship flying through the dome of the building in Follow Freeman.
• Fixes Barney being left in the dust during a level change or bugging the player to "roll a bomb" too early in Follow Freeman.
• Improved resolution of portal rendering texture during finale.
• All menu background maps now have soundscapes
• Text legibility is improved by darkening the skyboxes behind the Half-Life 2 logo.
• Menu background maps now include geometry for Ultrawide support.
• Smoke added to Ravenholm and Follow Freeman backgrounds.
• Fixed a bug that caused the player's bones to break in the Citadel background map.

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Fixes

• Select the player model in the options menu.
• Fixed slam cannot be detonated when you are too close to a brick wall
• Fixed view bob equipped with SMG
• Fixed using the Gravity Gun with yo-yo grenades. This could cause the server to crash or disconnect.
• Gravity Gun now has sound effects.
• Fixed characters that were missing an animation when changing weapons while moving and jumping.
• Fix the weapon that is invisible when you give another weapon of the class.

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Maps

• Many maps now have a higher player spawn point number.
• Fixing prop placement on maps would allow players to escape from the world.
• Fixed floating props for dm_runoff.
• The area portal was fixed on the blast doors in dm_runoff. This caused the world to not render when the doors were closed.
• Geometry was added to many maps so that the player can no longer see beyond bounds.
• Fixed several areas that allowed the player to see the outside world.
• You can use the Gravity Gun to move the blue barrels that you could grab with dm_resistance through the chainlink door.

Other

• The Valve intro video is now of higher quality when you launch the game.
• Fix the playback of the post-credits film at the end Episode One and the introduction movie at Episode Two's start.
• Half-Life 2 now includes the achievements for Episodes One and Two. The game will try to read data from standalone Episodes installed to re-grant duplicated achievements when it launches.
• Hammer: Shows detail sprite previews on non-displacement surface.
• Hammer: Fixed bug that orphaned entities would add additional data to the map on each load.
• Hammer: Fixed the cubemap rendering.
• Hammer: Many BSP data limits have been increased. Models 1024 -> 2048, Brushes 8192 -> 16384, TexInfo 12288 -> 16384, TexData 2048 -> 8096, DispInfo 2048 -> 8096.
• Added save_transition_music convar that allows streaming music to continue to play in between level transitions.
• Localization files updated.
• Miscellaneous security fixes

Notes

• The previous version of Steam Legacy has been archived in a public Beta branch called "steam_legacy" with the description "Pre-20th anniversary build." You may need to run the archived build if a mod or feature behaves in an unexpected manner until the issue has been resolved in the default version.
• We'll be reducing visibility of standalone versions in the Steam Store, as the Episodes and Lost Coast are now included within Half-Life 2. The old standalone applications are still available to ensure that community projects that depend on them continue to function properly, but they now appear in the Tools menu of your Steam Library.