Summary
A new progress update has been shared for the community-madeHalf-Life 2RTX project, which aims to breathe new life into the nearly 20-year old game with the addition of full ray tracing support and updated textures. While this project isn’t unlike Nvidia’sPortalRTX remaster which came out in 2022, this RTX overhaul forHalf-Life 2is the work of a fan studio known as Orbifold Studios, and has been made possible largely thanks to Nvidia’s modding tools and platform.
Half-Life 2’s graphics were vastly ahead of their time back when the game was released to critical acclaim in 2004, with the visuals made possible through Valve’s Source engine widely regarded to stand the test of time almost 20 years later. With modders having provided the backbone of the Valve community since the originalHalf-Lifegames, it’s not surprising that there have been countless community projects in the form of cinematic mods and graphical overhauls which have attempted to giveHalf-Life 2more of a next-gen look, but perhaps none as ambitious as theHalf-Life 2RTX projectthat was first revealed in August of last year.
While there’s still no official release date for the project, the initial glimpse of this ray-traced overhaul showed plenty of promise. The reveal trailer used Dr. Kleiner’s lab as a demo for the sharp new textures and simulated lighting that the mod will feature, complete with a look at Gordon’s visually-remastered H.E.V suit - but the project’s latest trailer, revealed via IGN, puts the spotlight onone ofHalf-Life 2’s most iconic chapters. It shows various environments in the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm with updated visuals, including side-by-side comparisons with the game’s original 20-year-old graphics.
Nvidia’s RTX Remix modding platform has provided a gateway for many developers to bring ray-traced lighting to older titles, with the capabilities of these tools initially being demonstrated in the popularPortalRTX overhaul released last year. Even with Nvidia out of the picture, though, fans have been able tobring ray tracing to the originalHalf-Lifeand its expansions via mods of their own.
TheHalf-Lifegames have been showing up in headlines surprisingly often lately given their age, with the originalHalf-Lifereceiving a surprise updatefor its 25th anniversary back in November. This update was no small one either, not only makingHalf-Life: Uplinkplayable via the Steam version of the game but also introducing new multiplayer content, updating UI to better accommodate higher monitor resolutions, fixing a load of incredibly old bugs, and more.
Half-Life 2
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- HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Valve’s debut title wins more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named “Best PC Game Ever” by PC Gamer, and launches a franchise with more than eight million retail units sold worldwide.NOW. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player’s presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him.
