20 years of Half-Life 2 — improved game and all episodes for free on Steam and Episode 3 gameplay in the documentary

In honor of the twentieth anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve is giving away the main game along with both episodes for free in Steam. The campaign runs until November 18.

Valve also offers huge discounts on Half-Life 2 The Orange Box (41 UAH) and Half-Life Complete (245 UAH). The Valve Complete Pack has a 33% discount and costs 1918 UAH. Valve has also posted a two-hour documentary about Half-Life 2 with early demos of the game from 2002-2003 and gameplay of the canceled Episode 3. The soundtracks to Half-Life 2 and both episodes are also available for free on Steam.

Changes in Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update

The Anniversary Edition contains a significant update to Half-Life 2. The changes make the gameplay more convenient and improve the graphics. In particular, every map in the game has been revised by Valve’s level designers to fix old bugs and restore content. Additional gameplay settings have been added.

Half-Life 2 has a new radial fog. The patch adds higher resolution light maps. The developers have added a new high quality mode with improved 3D models. The game now has smoother shadows with high shader detail thanks to the new bicubic filtering of the lighting map. The update fixes visual issues such as objects popping out of nowhere or disappearing, holes in the game world, missing grass, and darkened models. Players can choose between original blood and fire effects or effects created for episodes.

Both Half-Life 2 DLCs are available directly from the game’s main menu. Moreover, players will automatically move on to the next expansion after completing the previous one — it’s basically one big continuous game. The new edition of Half-Life 2 has received the same developer comments as the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast expansion pack. The original development team was brought together to record the new comments.

A documentary about the development of Half-Life 2

The video, which lasts more than two hours, provides a detailed look at the development of Half-Life 2. The viewer can learn more about Valve’s stay on the verge of bankruptcy, the birth of Steam, and the unfinished Episode 3.

The documentary also includes old videos from the early days of Half-Life 2, including a demo intended for E3 2002 that no one has seen before. According to the story, Valve decided at the last minute that it was not ready to show the game. There’s also the E3 2003 demo that first introduced Half-Life 2 to the world.

Valve is reportedly reissuing the book Raising the Bar, which offers a «complete look at the making of Half-Life 2». Originally released in 2004, the book has been updated to include content from Episodes 1 and 2, «along with ideas and experiments for the third Episode, which never came to fruition».

Half-Life 2 Episode 3

According to the timecode in link In the video above, you can see Half-Life 2 Episode 3 art and gameplay with a narration about it. Valve didn’t finish the expansion because Gabe Newell and the developers didn’t just want to complete the story of Half-Life 2, but also do something big and innovative with the game’s design.

Gabe Newell says that in the end, «couldn’t figure out why they wanted to make Episode 3». However, engineer David Speirer disagrees: «We could definitely go back and spend two years making Episode 3».

Sources: DSOG, PC Gamer