Half-Life 2 RTX Video Celebrating 20th Anniversary Hits The Spot

Can you believe that the original Half-Life 2 was released two decades ago, on 16 November 2004? I'm feeling VERY old right now, so I watched the new tribute video from NVIDIA, which features the Half-Life 2 RTX mod from developers Orbifold Studios.

The tribute video focuses on the development team at Orbifold Studios, who are dedicated to bringing full Ray Tracing, Ray Reconstruction, and DLSS 3.5 to the 20-year-old game, alongside remastered assets.

It's incredible to see the change in graphics. Half-Life 2 RTX was first showcased at Gamescom 2023, and it looks like development is going well despite it being a "challenging journey" for the developers. Check out the video below.

You can read the official Half-Life 2 RTX description below:

The fight for freedom begins anew. Experience the award-winning game that has captivated millions of players worldwide with its immersive story, thrilling combat, and mind-bending physics, fully overhauled with full ray tracing, new hand-crafted, physically based textures, enhanced high-poly models, and updated lighting, all in stunning 4k. 

Half-Life 2 RTX is a free DLC for all Half-Life 2 owners developed by Orbifold Studios, a collective of passionate, community-assembled developers behind Half-Life 2: VR, Half-Life 2: Remade Assets, Project 17, and Raising the Bar: Redux.

The Half-Life 2 RTX DLC uses the latest version of RTX Remix to bring Half-Life 2 to life like never before. The thing is, it might be released soon.

Sure, there is no official release date, but I did get that quoted description from the Half-Life 2 RTX page on Steam, which went live on 14 November 2024. Are they gearing up for the game's 20th anniversary on 16 November 2024? I guess we'll just have to find out.

Wishlist Half-Life 2 RTX on Steam to get notified as soon as the DLC releases.