Almost a year ago, on November 19th, 2023, the first part of Half-Life celebrated it’s 25th anniversary. In honor of this, Valve created a special online page, released a global update for the game, and published a documentary. On November 16th, 2024, Half-Life 2 will celebrate it’s 20th anniversary, and Valve is following a similar celebration plan.
A global update has been released for Half-Life 2, changing a large number of things. Now, Half-Life 2, all episodes, and Lost Coast have been combined into one game and can be selected from the main menu. Developer commentary has been added, along with support for the Workshop. The game content has been updated, graphics settings improved, and performance on the Steam Deck enhanced. Half-Life 2: Deathmatch has also received some “Quality of life” fixes, and a complete list of changes is available on a special website dedicated to this event.
A new, expanded print edition of Half-Life 2: Raising The Bar has been announced. A documentary covering the entire development cycle from the creation of Half-Life 2 to the third episode, featuring archival footage such as the E3 Demo 2002, 2003, and the Free TV demo, has been released on the official YouTube channel. The official soundtrack is now available on Steam and other platforms.
For Garry’s Mod, this means that when playing on the original maps, these improvements will also be present. Content from all three games, as well as Lost Coast, is now added after downloading Half-Life 2 on Steam. Some changes from this update may be included in a future update.
A year ago, like Half-Life, Counter-Strike received an update that fixed and added many features. It was expected that Counter-Strike: Source would also receive some attention, as it also turned 20 years old on November 1, 2004; however, it has not received any updates.
