- Half-Life 2: Episode Two's community-made VR mod arrives on Steam today - 6 April 2023
The Source VR Mod Team have been faithfully modding the Half-Life games into virtual reality - an excellent way to relive Valve's classic shooters. The team modded Half-Life 2 last year and followed it up with a mod for Half-Life 2: Episode One a couple of weeks ago. They’re now back with Half-Life 2: VR Mod - Episode Two, coming to Steam later today. Read more
- Half-Life 2: Episode Two - Update - 18 February 2022
An update has been released for Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 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
- Gabe Newell has blasted Gnome Chompski into space - 20 November 2020
It is done. Gnome Chompski has shot off to where gnome man has gone before. The little red-hatted fella started life as a bit of a joke in Half-Life 2: Episode Two . Players who carried the garden gnome all the way to the end of the game would be awarded with the achievement “Little Rocket Man” – a title old Chompski truly lived up to last night. Gabe Newell partnered up with Weta Workshop and Rocket Lab to send a real-life Chompski into space, raising money for charity and even inspiring a couple of new Steam achievements in the process. (more…)
- Half-Life 2: E2 has a new achievement as Gaben launched a gnome into space - 20 November 2020
Just over 13 years after release, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 has got a new achievement that you won't have to expend any effort in unlocking. Why? Because Valve chief Gabe Newell has successfully punted the old PC game's beloved Gnome Chompski into space . The achievement is called " Gnome Along ", and reads: "If you are reading this achievement, Gabe Newell has successfully launched Gnome Chompski into space". It's an enduring finale to Newell's recent charity drive where he pledged to donate $1 to The Starship Foundation - a children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand - for every person who tuned in to see the garden ornament get launched into space via Rocket Lab's livestream or Twitch channel . The event itself was a collaboration between The Heart of Racing, Rocket Lab, and Lord of the Rings special effects, props, and sets maker Weta Workshop. As you can imagine, it was a success, an…
- Gabe Newell is launching a real Gnome Chompski into space for science & charity - 2 November 2020
Gabe Newell is still in New Zealand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s apparently been very happy with the country for allowing him to stay as the viral pandemic took hold and was beaten back to near zero new cases in the country, but there is a reason Newell was there in the first place, and now we know. It was to send Gnome Chompski into space, but for real this time. In partnership with Weta Workshop and Valve, Rocket Lab announced that it will be including a special passenger on its Flight 16 mission , which will take place no sooner than November 15, 2020. That special passenger is a replica of Valve’s favorite garden gnome, Gnome Chompski, as manufactured by Weta Workshop . The gnome appears as a prop in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, wherein if players can actually carry Gnome Chompski to the end of the game, place him in a rocket, and launch him into space, the achievement “Littl…
- Gabe Newell is shooting a real Gnome Chompski into space for charity - 2 November 2020
Do you suppose Gabe Newell himself has earned the Half-Life 2: Episode 2 achievement for carrying a garden gnome to the end of the game? He’s planning to snag a real-life achievement, apparently, and has partnered up with Rocket Lab to blast a real Gnome Chompski into space. Not for nothing, Newell is planning to donate to Starship Children’s Hospital based on the number of folks to tune in to watch the launch. (more…)
- The 9 best road trips in PC games - 8 May 2020
One Off The List is our weekly list feature. Is there something you think doesn’t deserve to be on this list? Comment with your reasons why, and next week it may be struck off. Kick the tires, whistle at the paint job, spin the keys on your finger like a revolver and then shoot the car with the little laser of unlocking. It’s time to get back on the road. What’s that? Entire country in a state of unprecedented lockdown? I see. Well, lucky for you, we concern ourselves here only with pretend cars, the indoor joy of fictional journeys on virtual roads. Here, my housebound friends, are the 9 best road trips in PC games. Seatbelts on, please. (more…)
- 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…)
- 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.
- Half-Life: Alyx is a VR prequel to HL2, coming in March 2020 - 21 November 2019
Valve today formally announced Half-Life: Alyx , a “full-length” game exclusively for VR. Half-Life is returning after 12 years, though Gordon Freeman seemingly is not and this isn’t Half-Life 3. Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, this one stars future sidekick Alyx Vance in the years before Gordo’s return when she and her dad were building the resistance. And yes, this really is only for VR. Come watch the announcement trailer. (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…)
- The Last Eight Years Of Gordon Freeman s Unpublished Diaries RPS Exclusive - 22 October 2015
An envelope arrived in the post this morning. Thick, stuffed with books. Diaries, in fact. Someone has sent me Gordon Freeman’s diaries from the last eight years. I don’t really know what to do about this. I mean, this is obviously big news, but this is also someone’s private life. But what if it was Gordon himself who sent them? What if he wants the… the misery therein to be exposed? I’ve decided on a compromise. I’m going to publish some extracts, picked almost at random from the lot. If Freeman wants them taken down, he can get in touch and we’ll honour that right away. …
- The Long-Lost Characters Of Half-Life 2 - 12 February 2015
The leaked Half-Life 2 beta is an old, old story – and how it happened, and what happened next was documented masterfully by RPS chum Simon Parking a few years back – but a recent fan compilation of all the characters in it who never turned up in the finished article is fascinating. This is the Half-Life 2 that never was, and yet, to some extent, it does exist after all. …
- Mod of the Week: Steam, Tracks, Trouble and Riddles for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - 28 September 2014
There have been a lot of visions of the post-apocalypse, but if you've been waiting for one in which a sleepy-voiced robot guides you through a series train-based environmental puzzles in the year 2525, then you're in luck. Also, you're a little strange. Also, this mod is a little strange, even in name. It's called Steam, Tracks, Trouble & Riddles and it's for Half-Life 2: Episode 2. First, some back-story, which is presented nicely through a series of hand-drawn images. It seems the Cuban Missile Crisis didn't end so agreeably in this reality. The nukes were launched, humans were essentially wiped out, and... well, frankly, how that leads to solving train puzzles in Berlin in the distant future, I'm not entirely sure. The important thing is, there's a bunch of train puzzles and a friendly robot to help you solve them. At least he's on our side. I'm so used to fighting robots in the fut…
- Half-Life 2 review November 2004, UK edition - 7 July 2014
Every week, we publish a classic PC Gamer review from the '90s or early 2000s. This week, Ben Griffin provides context and commentary followed by the full, original text of our Half-Life 2 review, published in the November 2004 issue of PC Gamer UK. More classic reviews here. What more can be said about Half-Life 2? Jim Rossignol's words below still do a fine job of summing up just why the world got worked up over a singleplayer shooter. November 2004 was a standout month for PC gaming, and indeed PC Gamer: a 96% for Valve's opus, 95% for Rome: Total War to a 95%, an 89% FIFA 2005, and Shade: Wrath of Angels with a, er, 59%. But the game we called 'messianic' was all that mattered that month, and indeed, that year. Not only did it kick off Valve's (eventually) world-conquering Steam service, but it courted criminals too. After FBI involvement and a concerted effort from Valve's communit…
- Mod of the Week: The Citizen Returns, for Half-Life 2, Episode 2 - 29 June 2014
The Citizen Returns, a mod for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, is a sequel to a 2008 mod called The Citizen. They're both about, as you may have guessed, a citizen. He's trying to escape City 17 at the same time Gordon Freeman is fighting the Combine elsewhere, and he's teaming up with rebel forces along the way. In addition to urban combat with enemy soldiers, zombies, and gunships, there's a fun rescue mission in which you can choose the style of your attack, either at long range as a sniper, up-close in disguise, or just plain loud, with explosives. It's like a little taste of GTA V's heists crept into the Half-Life universe. I'm no doctor but I think I know how to save that patient. The mod begins with a couple of rebels scraping you off the ground and getting you patched up after, apparently, you were hit by a train. After a lengthy (slightly too lengthy?) intro, the action kicks off with…
