Valve has released a surprising new update for Half-Life 2, arriving on Steam over two decades after the game's initial release. The new Half-Life 2 update is mainly focused on a few small bug fixes, but it's still a pleasant surprise to see the game receive some level of support after all these years.
Half-Life 2 is generally considered to be among the best first-person shooters ever made. The 2004 title delivered a stunning sequel on all fronts, living up to the mammoth task of improving on the already stellar Half-Life. Valve's focus on physics and how it can be used to solve in-game physics was a total game-changer, allowing Half-Life 2 to feel years ahead of its time. Importantly, the core gameplay still feels fun to play today, with projects like Half-Life 2 RTX helping to bring the graphics closer to modern standards.
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In a set of patch notes released on Steam, Valve confirmed it has released a new Half-Life 2 update. The list of changes is small, with two issues resolved in the Entanglement chapter and the speed of the train near the end of Highway 17 changed "to better match the original shipped difficulty." While it's not a massive change log, it's still cool to see Valve supporting the nearly 21-year-old title when most consider it to be complete already.
It's not exactly unprecedented, though. Valve celebrated Half-Life 2's 20th birthday with a massive update last year, which included developer commentary, restored content and features, improved graphics options, and more. Despite Half-Life 2's age, Valve has shown numerous times that it may never quite be done tinkering with its 2004 masterpiece, and it's not out of the question that even more updates will be released in the future.
Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl about the potential of Half-Life 3 in the near future. The game's mere existence has been a meme for decades at this point, but Valve has remained typically tight-lipped about the project. It feels as though momentum has built behind the scenes over the last year or so, with a recent rumor suggesting that Half-Life 3's announcement could arrive at any time. Nothing is set in stone, of course - Half-Life 3 might not even be real. But if it is announced, it's sure to be one of the most anticipated video games of all time.
Half-Life 2 July 23, 2025 Update Patch Notes
- Restored speed of the train near the end of Highway 17 to better match the original shipped difficulty.
- Fixed missing collision that was allowing NPCs to shoot through some walls in Entanglement.
- Fixed issue where Alyx could obstruct the player's path when boarding the teleporter near the end of Entanglement.
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