Half-Life 2 just turned 20 years venerable, and to celebrate the occasion, Valve has released an update to its classic first-person shooter. In tiny: they recorded developer commentary; added support for Steam Workshop; Episodes one and two are now part of the package; there are also some bug fixes and novel graphics options.
Get it before the end of the weekend (November 18 at 18:00 GMT) and you can also keep it on Steam for free.
Episodes 1 and 2 already had developer commentary, as did several other Valve games, but Half-Life 2 never did. This update adds three and a half hours of commentary from Half-Life 2 team members trying to remember what the hell happened during development of the game.
If you don’t know the story behind the development of Half-Life 2, the answer is that a lot happened. Valve also partnered with Secret Tape to produce a two-hour documentary on the topic:
Half-Life 2 had a lively modding community in its time, just like its predecessor, and it’s great that Steam Workshop support was added, even if it was delayed. (The Steam Workshop itself was only created in 2011.) Yes I’m already filling up with work.
Full list fixes and rendering options it’s too long for me to post it here. Made changes to support for ultra-wide monitors and high FOV settings, increased spawn points on multiplayer maps to thwart players who don’t feel like using the bathroom, and removed some restrictions on BSP files, allowing modders to include more brushes and models on their own levels.
Valve rolled out a similar set of fixes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Half-Life last year. Next year is the 20th anniversary of Day Of Defeat: Source, so I’m looking forward to a three-hour documentary on the subject.
