Valve’s seminal classic FPS Half-Life 2 is now 20 years old. And to celebrate, much like what Valve did with the original Half-Life for its 25th anniversary, they’ve not only released a brand-new two-hour documentary on the making of the game, but also have made the original Half-Life 2, along with the Episode One and Episode Two expansions, available to grab for free on Steam until November 18 at 10am PT.
The documentary created by the Secret Tape team (who also did the Half-Life documentary) delves into several topics, such as how Valve handled running out of money during Half-Life 2‘s development, the infamous hack that resulted in an early build of the game being leaked to the internet, the eventual creation of the Steam storefront and more.
Meanwhile, existing owners (and new ones, if you click that button on the game’s Steam page) can also enjoy a new update to the original game that adds additional content such as commentary by the original team to the game, as well as Steam Workshop support, the ability to record your gameplay, bug fixes, enhancements to the lighting and vfx, updated controller and Steam Deck support and more. You can head over to the official Half-Life website to see the details.
Still not enough? A new edition of “Raising the Bar“, the comprehensive book that delved into the creation of Half-Life 2, will be coming back into print in 2025, and will be expanded to include the Half-Life 2 Episodes, including never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for that fabled Episode Three that never saw the light of day.