Happy birthday, Half-Life 2! While a remaster was announced yesterday, the 20th anniversary celebrations for one of the benchmarks of PC gaming are evidently far from over. Hours ago, Valve revealed their birthday gift for Half-Life 2: the 20th Anniversary Update, which might just make the original the definitive version of the game. Sorry, remaster developers.
The laundry list of changes and new content is quite literally too long to repeat here, but there are a few headliners. For starters, all additional content – meaning the Episodes and the Lost Coast tech demo – are now included with and integrated into Half-Life 2 rather than having to be purchased as standalone experiences. Graphics updates have also been pushed to every part of Half-Life 2, although not to the level of the upcoming remaster. In addition, new developer commentary by the original team has been added, along with the feature most players will likely be the most excited about: Steam Workshop support.
This means that you can turn Gordon into Master Chief or Alyx into a cat, all without leaving the comfort of the game itself, or even embark on custom campaigns. Imagine the perilous journey down Highway 17 – but this time in a Lamborghini, bumping Migos. The world of City 17 just got a whole lot bigger and a whole lot stranger.
Previously:
• Half-Life 2 remaster drops; no word on Half-Life 3
