Almost a year ago, on November 19th, 2023, the first part of Half-Life celebrated its 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 celebrates its 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 elements. Half-Life 2, all Episodes, and Lost Coast have now been combined into a single game and can be selected directly from the main menu. Developer commentary has been added, along with Workshop support. Game content has been updated, graphics settings improved, and performance on Steam Deck enhanced. Half-Life 2: Deathmatch has also received several quality-of-life fixes, and a complete list of changes is available on a dedicated anniversary website.
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 Episode Three — featuring archival footage such as the E3 Demo 2002, E3 Demo 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 improvements to the original maps will also be present when played. Content from Half-Life 2, both Episodes, and Lost Coast is now included after downloading Half-Life 2 on Steam. Some changes from this update may also appear in a future Garry’s Mod update.
A year ago, similar to Half-Life, Counter-Strike received an anniversary update that introduced numerous fixes and additions. It was expected that Counter-Strike: Source would receive attention as well, since it turned 20 years old on November 1, 2004; however, it did not receive any updates.
