Half-Life 2 is widely considered one of the greatest video games of all time, and developer Valve is celebrating 20 years of the classic this weekend. Most of its celebrations are focused on PC with an anniversary patch for the original game, but everyone can enjoy a new two-hour documentary that explores the development of the Gordon Freeman adventure.
Produced by NoClip, the video touches on "the game's development, how we almost ran out of money, what it was like when we were hacked, what happened when we were sued by our publisher, the birthplace of Steam, and much more" across 34 interviews with current and former Valve employees.
While the original Half-Life was released for the PS2, fans who chose PS3 over the PC platform had to wait until The Orange Box came along, bundling Half-Life 2 with its two follow-up episodes, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. One of the best deals in gaming of all time, we're still waiting for a third mainline entry.
Will you set aside a few hours this weekend to check out the new Half-Life 2 documentary? Reminisce about one of the best games ever in the comments below.
Comments 41
Christ, that’s a loose link to Playstation. Forgot it was even on PS3.
@nessisonett You having a poor memory ≠ a loose link to PlayStation.
@MrPeanutbutterz Come on, that’s like having articles about the anniversary of Command and Conquer on here. Nobody thinks of the PlayStation version when it comes to these sorts of PC releases.
played this on day 1 back in the day as hl 1 is probably still my most fav game.. hl2 is another level and unbeatable sequel upgrade as well.. too good
Any excuse to talk about HL2 is fine by me 😉 I'm still not over the fact that Sony didn't strike a deal to get Alyx on the PSVR2... we would be living in a very different world right now.
@nessisonett Gaben not putting anything on the PlayStation since Portal 2 irks me more than letting TF2 go to the dogs and letting Overwatch take its crown. Switch got the Portal collection ffs!
He clearly still has beef with PlayStation bosses
Twenty years with no Half-Life 3…
Why did Valve make a sequel to the scientific term "half life"? Are they stupid?
@BusyOlf It’s crazy to me that Switch gets Portal and PS doesn’t. They’re brilliant games and I do actually own the PS3 version of Portal 2!
Do find it a rather hilarious turn of events to witness over the years. I remember the release of Half Life, Gary’s Mod being so popular, along with Counter Strike and so on. I switched from PC gaming after those releases, then mainly played on consoles since.
Then came my utter disappointment to read year after year, Gabe repeatedly bashing seemingly any console, well, Xbox far less but still.
Now out crops the Steam Deck, that’s even marketed in their own terms as providing a ‘console like experience’.
Yet what they could actually do is provide a full console experience with their games in modern times instead/as well.
Ah, if it weren’t for a billionaire wanting to reign over profits of his games for the sake of being angry other billionaires may also profit over his games.
To be fair years ago he also claimed the difficulty in porting various games, but even that has come full circle.
Seeing as he’s now spent considerable funds helping to emulate Windows on a Linux based platform, whilst claiming repeatedly the Unix based PlayStation platform was too much.
Admire the guy, and his achievements, and of course love their work, but boy do I remember reading old interviews of him in PC Mags of late where he bashed the very products he’s now trying to emulate.
He loves cross device play, as long as it’s a device with his walled garden, shame he had a lot of insults back in the day for the companies that gave him the very idea that made him a billionaire.
Also Half Life 3 would sell hotcakes on PlayStation and arguably even Xbox, he’s missing a trick, but then when you own shares in a company valued more than a small island, it’s probably not a needed venture.
Who am I kidding, I still love Lord Gaben and want HL 3. I’d even by a Steam Deck to make sure I get the best ‘console like experience’. 😉
@nessisonett they’re a weird weird company imo. No one bat an eyelid when they brought out a near £1500 vr headset yet Sony sold theirs for £550 and is criticised by all. A 1tb Steam deck on Amazon at the moment costs £665 but because it’s Valve/Gaben it gets a pass.
Half life 2 is free now to keep on steam. Get it before 19 Nov
Half-Life 2 is still an absolutely fantastic game. Even the PS3 version of the games is a fun time. I was just playing a bit of Episode 1 on PC tonight and it's still so good.
By the way it seems that the game is free to add in your library for Steam at the time of writing.
With absolutely 0 clue about PC's back in the day i built my very first just for this game. I had a few mates that were PC gamers but i was always consoles. My bud showed me HL2 and told me it was going to be awsome when it released in a weeks time so we sat up all night buying components from ebuyer for my first PC. Couldnt believe how easy to build it was when they all arrived. Good memories and a great game.
I built my first custom PC for this and now I feel exceptionally old. What a game!
This game will forever be in my top 10 of all time. Hell, top 3. It's still far far above the likes of modern games and never ages. I'm currently replaying it on XBX and it's still wonderful. There's a 'cinematic mod' for it on PC too, which is well worth checking out
@KingPev just get this game for free on steam deck. Wow. Even though it’s a classic but man the quality is there. Im hooked and really enjoyed it
What a dream, getting my Deck on Monday and this was to be my first purchase!
And now I feel old 😭 20 years ago!!
One great port on PS2 and one miserable port collection on PS3, and lots of wishful thinking about a psvr2 port make this anniversary barely playstation adjacent.
But hey, considering how much I hated this weird thing called steam that was forced upon me when installing half life 2 the pc world sure has changed a lot.
@amatmulisha yeah I've had it on PC since it's release in 2004. Never ages. I've played this so many times and yeah it runs amazingly on Steam Deck
Recently played through HL2 again on PC with some basic mods to bring it more into the modern age but not mess with the source material (pun intended). Had a blast. Game still holds up very well today
@kyleforrester87 you can get the game for free till 19 nov. I guess valve doing some charity. Just played it on my deck and really enjoyed it
@KingPev i never played on pc while back then. Having this on my wishlist for a while and get notifications it’s 100% sales(FREE). Dream come true lol 😂 but yeah this is oldies but goodies. I love it.
@amatmulisha yep I have added it to my library so I can download anytime. They did the same with Half Life 1 recently, but I forgot to add that one 🥺
@nessisonett Bar the stacks of people that have only played it on checks notes PlayStation.
Looking forward to Half-Life 3!
What I don't understand is, if half life is so good why haven't they made many more games? 🤔
I actually purchased a gaming PC just to play Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Far Cry and F.E.A.R. Those four games were well worth the purchase.
edit: almost forgot Painkiller
I still have yet to play thru the Half Life series, even though I own all of them including Alyx
Interesting, but haven’t ever played half-life 1 or 2. Never got released on PS or never made it to plus.
HL2 was, no, IS, a fantastic game.
I never got bored during its long campaign and always looked forward to the next, level/biome, getting ever closer to the tower.
Think I played it first on a 17" laptop, then the orange box on PS3.
Just played some Half-Life 2 on my Steam Deck. The game holds up beautifully and plays well.
@B0udoir Possibly just you, we all have different tastes but an awful lot of people are going back to it, me included, and being astounded at just how good it really is and how well it holds up!
@BusyOlf your hatred blinds you. Valve themselves don’t sell Steam Decks on Amazon… the 1TB is actually £570, or you can get the 512GB for £460. Not all that unreasonable given its capabilities. People selling them on Amazon are adding their own profit on top.
@HotGoomba the Last of us 2
XD
@B0udoir yup, I think you are.
@BusyOlf You're not wrong there. I really like HL2 and HL2, and I respect Valve - very clever and efficient company.
But you're right, there is a bit of hero worship with Valve, whereby they can seemingly do no wrong
@amatmulisha Hal Life 2 is always free on Steam, amazes me how many people still hasn't got when they praise Steam so much these days.
I'm so grateful I can play Half-Life 2 on Xbox.
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