Fans of Valve’s iconic Half-Life series were excited to spot the sudden appearance of Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection on Steam this week. While sadly not an official Valve product, it is in fact the next version of the excellent Half-Life 2: Update mod from the same team – which will presumably include all the Episode DLC too.
Half-Life 2: Update initially launched in 2015 from community member and modder Filip Victor, and was good enough to get its own Steam page and support from Valve. It featured a complete overhaul of the game’s lighting system, new particle and fog effects, many bug fixes, and even a fun Community Commentary Mode – all without sacrificing Half-Life 2’s visual look.
Filip Victor’s next project is this new Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection, which was spotted on SteamDB and sounds like it was originally meant to just be a major patch for Half-Life 2: Update that incorporated Valve’s two episodic expansions. Presumably, the creator has decided the update is big enough to justify its own standalone release.
According to Valve/Source reporter Tyler McVicker, the project has Valve’s blessing – presumably because the publisher has given permission to give the Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection its own Steam page with that title intact. There’s currently no release date for this project and the page isn’t up yet, so fans looking to try it out will have to be patient – something they should be used to, by now.
I have been able to confirm this projects legitimacy, being made by the former Half-Life 2: Update team.
Report incoming. pic.twitter.com/W0r9cnKhie
— Tyler McVicker (@Tyler_McV) July 29, 2021
Valve almost certainly has no plans to update its own games with remasters, as it would rather work on new games like Half-Life: Alyx and shockingly exciting portable PCs – leaving the community to create awesome remasters like this and Black Mesa, which took so long it’s a remaster that’s getting its own remaster.
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