- The voice behind Half-Life 2’s Vortigaunts has passed away - 1 April 2024
Louis Gossett Jr., who made history as the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and had a prolific, successful career across film, television and stage - as well as voicing the friendly Vortigaunt aliens in Half-Life 2 and its follow-up Episode One - has died. Read more
- Half-Life 2 VR Mod Episode One is out now on Steam, and it's a delight - 18 March 2023
If you need more Half-Life 2 VR, you're in luck. Following the incredible success of Valve's own Half-Life: Alyx and the fantastic community-made Half-Life 2 VR mod , the creators behind the latter are back with more virtual reality adventures for the classic FPS game , with support for all SteamVR headsets including the Meta Quest 2, HTC Vive, and Valve Index. Half-Life 2 VR Mod Episode One is out now on Steam, and it looks spectacular. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Half-Life 2 remade as classic Resident Evil-style horror game, out now Half-Life has better writing than Half-Life 2, for one simple reason Half-Life 2 Episode One VR gameplay makes the gravity gun fun
- Half-Life 2: Episode One VR fan mod is out today - 17 March 2023
Back in January, the makers behind the excellent Half-Life 2 VR mod announced they were moving on to making a virtual reality goggle version of Half-Life 2: Episode One - and we now know it will be arriving on Steam later today. What's more, we also have a release date for their VR mod of Episode Two. That will come next month on April 6th, according to its Steam page. Read more
- Half-Life 2 Episode One VR gameplay makes the gravity gun fun - 25 January 2023
The gravity gun in Half-Life 2 has always been a sticking point for me. One of the strongest gimmicks in the Valve and Steam FPS game , it adds an imaginative twist to Gordon Freeman's standard shooting and killing. But in the later levels especially, it feels a bit cumbersome. Without your full weapon arsenal, combat gets a little repetitive. Thank the benefactors, then, for the upcoming Half-Life 2 Episode One VR port, which judging by its new gameplay footage, makes the zero point energy field manipulator look more fun than ever. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Half-Life 2 free Steam add-on has you fight with no Freeman or crowbar Half-Life 2 remake, based on Valve's abandoned beta, gets new chapter Half-Life's most-hated spin-off Hunt Down the Freeman gets a 'sequel'
- Half-Life 2: Episode One - 18 February 2022
An update has been released for Half-Life 2: Episode One - UI and Input support for Steam Deck verification.
- Half-Life 2 and the episodes get a Beta with Vulkan (DXVK) and more - 19 October 2021
Valve has put up a Beta for Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two as they prepare more of their own games ready for the Steam Deck. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/10/half-life-2-and-the-episodes-get-a-beta-with-vulkan-dxvk-and-more
- Half-Life 2 Remastered Collection is fan-made but reportedly has Valve's "consent" - 1 August 2021
Valve has reportedly sanctioned the release of Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection, a passion-project mod that "completely overhauls" the seminal shooter. As noted by SteamDB (thanks, PCGN ), the collection comes from Filip Victor and is "not Valve related", but Tyler McVicker - who focuses on news about Valve and Steam - reports that the remaster has "Valve's consent". It's apparently the next iteration of the fantastic mod Half-Life 2: Update, a "completely free and extensive community-developed update for Half-Life 2 featuring beautiful lighting, countless bug fixes, and a brand new Community Commentary Mode". It's available to anyone who owns Half-Life 2 on PC and offers "countless" bug fixes in "one free standalone download". Read more
- Notorious Half-Life 2 achievement recalled as Gabe Newell fires garden gnome into space - 2 November 2020
Half-Life 2: Episode 2's Little Rocket Man achievement - still one of the finest achievements ever created , if you ask me - is poised to become reality, as Valve's Gabe Newell prepares to launch a garden gnome into space for charity. Little Rocket Man was a notoriously tricksy achievement to secure, forcing players to carry an entirely innocuous garden gnome - dubbed Gnome Chompski - from the start of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to a rocket ship toward the end of the game. It's the stuff of legend, in large part thanks to Chompski's casual disregard for the laws of physics - which would often, infuriatingly, result in the gnome's impromptu high-velocity launch from the back of your open-top vehicle whenever it reached speeds higher than single digits - and Newell will be commemorating it as part of a drive to raise money for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of children's hospital Starship…
- Five of the Best: Achievements or Trophies - 15 May 2020
Five of the Best is a weekly series about the small details we rush past when we're playing but which shape a game in our memory for years to come. Details like the way a character jumps or the title screen you load into, or the potions you use and maps you refer back to. We've talked about so many in our Five of the Best series so far . But there are always more. Five of the Best works like this. Various Eurogamer writers will share their memories in the article and then you - probably outraged we didn't include the thing you're thinking of - can share the thing you're thinking of in the comments below. Your collective memory has never failed to amaze us - don't let that stop now! Today's Five of the Best is... Read more
- We talk Half-Life: Alyx with Valve in the meanest interview ever - 26 March 2020
It’s taken 13 years, but we finally have a new Half-Life game. It may not be the long-awaited Half-Life 3, but as you’ve probably seen from our Half-Life: Alyx review , Valve’s first foray into virtual reality shows they’re a developer that are still very much at the top of their game. But Half-Life: Alyx isn’t just the work of a talented team of developers. It’s a game that’s ultimately been shaped by the people who have played it – the hundreds, if not thousands of playtesters who helped Valve turn their most famous FPS game into a VR sensation. To find out more about how Half-Life: Alyx came into being, I sat down with Valve’s Robin Walker and Jim Hughes a week before the game’s big release day. We talk about everything from revisiting the Half-Life series and the challenges of bringing it to virtual reality, to what this me…
- The whole Half-Life story is free to play on Steam right now - 22 January 2020
It has come to my attention that some people have not played the Half-Life games, to which I can only say: mate, I think you might really like it. Valve will soon return to the series after thirteen years with Half-Life: Alyx in March, and ahead of that they’re inviting everyone to catch up on the story so far. From now until the launch of Alyx, the Half-Life games are free for everyone to play in full on Steam. You know, some of these really are quite good. (more…)
- All previous Half-Life games are now free on Steam in the run-up to Alyx's release - 21 January 2020
It's been well over a decade since the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and with Half-Life: Alyx - the enormously long-awaited next instalment in Valve's seminal FPS series - mere months away , there are likely more than a few people in need of a story refresher. Luckily, Valve's on the case, and is making all previous series entries free on Steam for a limited time. Although Half-Life: Alyx unfolds prior to the events of Half-Life 2, many characters and story elements, as Valve explains in a new Steam post , are shared. As such, "The Half-Life: Alyx team believes that the best way to enjoy the new game is to play through the old ones, especially Half-Life 2 and the episodes, so we want to make that as easy as possible." To that end, all Steam users will be able to download and play Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2 for free until Half-Life Aly…
- Play Now For Free - Half-Life Series - 21 January 2020
Half-Life: Alyx is coming in March, and we are celebrating early by making all games in the Half-Life Series FREE to play for Steam users, from now until the day it launches! If you already have Steam installed, you can click the following links to start playing now! Half-Life Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode Two If you don't have Steam, you can download it here . Half-Life: Alyx is set before the events of Half-Life 2 and the episodes, but the games share characters and story elements. The Half-Life: Alyx team believes that the best way to enjoy the new game is to play through the old ones, especially Half-Life 2 and the episodes, so we want to make that as easy as possible.
- A new Half-Life would have to be VR - 19 November 2019
Like Doc Brown, I once hit my head and saw the future. I didn't come round in the bathroom having the idea for the Flux Capacitor, but I did bonk my noggin pretty hard in the office games room and sit back, dazed but delighted with what had just happened. I was playing the Budget Cuts demo on Valve's room-scale VR. Budget Cuts is a game about infiltrating an office that's patrolled with deadly robots. Because of the room-scale VR, you're really there: your actual body is your in-game body. This means that the robots are the same size as you - which is terrifying - and it also means that when you have to duck your head through a missing panel in the floor to look into the room below, you really have to do it. Except that while the game floor might be missing a panel, the real floor isn't. Bonk. I did it. Chris Bratt, who had also played the demo, had done it. A day later, so moved by wha…
- Rumours swirl of a Half-Life VR announcement from Valve - 18 November 2019
UPDATE 19/11/19: After 12 long years of waiting, and enough "3"-based memes to fill an entire internet, it's finally official - there's a new Half-Life game on the way. As previously rumoured, it's called Half-Life: Alyx and Valve describes it as the company's "flagship VR game". Half-Life: Alyx will be given the full reveal treatment this Thursday, 21st November, at 6pm in the UK/10am Pacific Time. Valve hasn't said where yet, but it seems reasonable to assume it'll pop up on Twitter and will be plastered all over the front page of Steam. ORIGINAL STORY 18/11/19: A formal announcement of Valve's long-in-development Half-Life VR project looks finally on the horizon. Read more
- Valve has fixed NPCs not blinking in Half-Life 2 - 27 September 2019
Valve has fixed NPCs not blinking in Half-Life 2, its 15-year-old shooter that may never see a sequel. That's not all. Valve has also fixed missing sounds on Combine soldiers, fixed a hitch when saving games, and fixed SteamVR running when entering the settings menu. The update is for Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, and Half-Life: Source. So, all the Half-Life 2s! Read more
- Half-Life 2's downtrodden NPCs have been unable to blink for five years, until now - 27 September 2019
Oof, imagine not blinking for half a decade. My eyes shiver at the thought. But this is what the NPCs of Half-Life 2 have been suffering. The dry eye epidemic was first reported to Valve’s GitHub repo back in 2014 and since then it turns out only a select few have felt the joy of smashing their eyelids shut. But after almost five long years, City 17’s tortured citizens can finally blink again, thanks to a small official update . (more…)
- Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, and Half-Life: Source Updates Released - 26 September 2019
Updates to Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, and Half-Life: Source have been released. The changes include: * Fixed a hitch when saving games; * Fixed SteamVR running when entering the settings menu; * Fixed missing sounds on combine soldiers; * Fixed NPCs not blinking;
- Modder Superior: A fresh lease of Half-Life 2 - 10 June 2019
Every other Monday, Dominic gives you a reason to dust off one of your old games and dive into its mods with Modder Superior. Half-Life 2 is nearly fifteen years old now, and despite Valve’s sequel plans seemingly fizzling out, it doesn’t look a day over ten thanks to the efforts of modders. Chances are that Half-Life 2 and its expansions have been gathering dust on your Steam account for years now, so here’s a quick refresher — mostly focused on the past five years — on what’s available, single player-wise. Want to turbo-charge the original game, or send Gordon Freeman on a whole new adventure? We’ve got you covered both ways, plus a trio of Silent Hill-inspired spookfests. Below, a hand-picked basket of goodies, and a crowbar to open it. (more…)
- Erik Wolpaw is working with Valve again, because he never really stopped - 4 January 2019
Hooting echoed across the virtual valleys and mesas of the Internet this week after those who pan the digital stream in search of anything ending with “3” got an inkling that former Valve writer Erik Wolpaw had returned to the Half-Life mob after leaving in 2017 . And yep, Wolpaw has confirmed to me that he is doing work for Valve these days – because he never really stopped. Apparently he’s been contracting for them all along, working on this and that as needed, on top of working for his niece’s juice shop (which was not a joke). Looks like the digipanners found Fool’s Three. (more…)
