Half-Life 2’s 20th Anniversary
By Samuel Socorro
Staff Writer
November 16th 2024 marks 20 years since Half-Life 2 on PC. To celebrate, Valve released an update and made the game completely free on Steam. The update added episodes 1 and 2 to the base game as well as developer commentary, integrated workshop support, and new graphics options.
Besides being a unit of measurement in the field of radiology, Half-Life is a critically acclaimed first person shooter series by Valve, the first installment, Half-Life, released in 1998 to great success, winning more than 50 pc game awards, even being named “best PC Game Ever” by PC Gamer in 1999. So when a sequel was announced, the excitement was so strong, some even went as far as to hack into valve’s offices and leak a beta build of the game, delaying its release.
Half-Life 2 picks up right where Half-Life 1 left off. The main character, Gordon Freeman is still in Chrono stasis, induced by the mysterious G-Man. The G-Man summons him 20 years after the events of the first game, with no clear instructions other than “the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference”, and “wake up and smell the ashes”.
Compared to the first game, Half Life 2’s new physics engine, Source, was a vast improvement. The developers utilized its realism very well, making the gameplay very intuitive. For example, a locked door can be opened by shooting at or hitting the lock with a crowbar.
It is very evident that Valve put tremendous amounts of passion and effort for their games. Half-Life’s success can be attributed to its perfect balance of intriguing story, fun gameplay, revolutionary game engine and graphics. In 2020, after years of inactivity, Valve returned with Half-Life Alyx, a VR game with a story set 5 years before the second Half Life. It seems that the door has been opened for a long awaited Half-Life 3, with many rumors of a project named “HLX”. But hey, we all know Valve can’t count to 3.