Having heard about the greatness of Half-Life 2 for decades, so far Valve's masterpiece is living up to the hype on its own handheld device.
After 20 years hearing about how Valve’s FPS sequel is one of the greatest games of all time, its handheld PC device has allowed me to finally understand the hype.
Believe it or not, even when you’re in the business of discussing and writing about games for your job, there’s still plenty of high-profile titles that pass you by. For the longest time Half-Life 2 was one of those games for me; mainly because I was only the ripe old age of 10 when it first came out, coupled with the fact that I didn’t grow up playing on PC – I was a console kid, and proud! I’d heard about Half-Life 2, of course. I’d even played the PS2 version of Gordon Freeman’s original alien-slaying venture over a mate’s house, but for whatever reason its much-beloved sequel continued to pass me by over the years. That is until roughly one week ago, where the PC version’s new 20th anniversary update encouraged me to finally try it out on Steam Deck.
Prior to starting my playthrough, I knew precisely two things about Half-Life 2: it took place in an entire city as opposed to just one facility, and one of its most iconic weapons was named something cool sounding like the Gravity Gun. With this in mind I was pretty shocked to find that Valve’s sequel isn’t much of a first-person shooter at all in its opening hours, instead giving me ample opportunity to explore its dystopian-esque setting at my own pace. Compared to a lot of single-player shooters of today it’s refreshing, and made soaking in the vibes set by the likes of City 17, Ravenholm, and Nova Pospekt – places each with their own atmosphere and stories to tell about the state of the world since the Combine empire invaded – a true joy.
My experience has no doubt been made better by the game’s recent 20th anniversary update, which makes all kinds of changes to the likes of lighting, improved physics, and higher-resolution character models. For all intents and purposes this update transforms the existing version of Half-Life 2 into a high-end remaster, and it was all available for free last weekend. How could I not jump in? Because of this I’ve been chipping away at it slowly between other big releases on the Steam Deck, which I feel confident saying is probably the best way to play. It looks great on a handheld, controls wonderfully, and better yet, on a Steam Deck OLED model you get close to 10 hours of playtime at full battery while running it.
Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman
To long-time PC devotees and Half-Life 2 superfans this might be sacrilegious to say. Yet although it took me 20 years to dive into this game-changing masterpiece, I’m glad I waited because it couldn’t have been more serendipitous that I got to play arguably Valve’s best game on a portable device of its own creation. I’ve since fired it up on PC where it also looks great. However, this is still a game that was first developed over two decades ago, and as a result (despite the remaster treatment) it can sometimes show its age when played on a full-screen model – not least due to the lack of detail and environments. I found myself noticing these ever so slight drawbacks much less on Steam Deck.
So far the section of Half-Life 2 I’ve enjoyed the most is the chapter ‘We don’t go to Ravenholm’, which very much serves as a tonal switch of sorts that sees the overt sci-fi temporarily take a back seat in favour of a vibe more in line with survival horror. Set in an all but forgotten rundown mining town, the titular location absolutely littered with crabhead enemies that made getting from A to B always tense. A far cry from the patrolling guards and soldiers you face elsewhere in Half-Life 2, Ravenholm pits you in several scenarios where you’re back is up against the wall in a confined space and you’re low on ammo. Luckily, you have the Gravity Gun by this point, and there’s always one or two saw blades lying around.
It was during this chapter that the genius of Half-Life 2 finally clicked for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’d loved zooming through an aqueduct in pursuit of a helicopter on an airboat and jumping over rooftops to try and get away from corporate forces. However, the absence of the Gravity Gun and prolonged chase sequences began to grow a little long in tooth. Hence why I was happy to see the pace slow down again in what I would easily deem one of the creepiest missions in any game that isn’t explicitly survival horror. With the ever-helpful Father Grigori helping me out by taking up sniping duties, We don’t go to Ravenholm solidified to me what a great bit of tone setting and game design when Half-Life 2 is firing on all cylinders, gearing me up for the exciting bouts ahead.
After all this time, it’s now clear to me that without Half-Life 2’s mix of memorable characters, blockbuster set pieces, and physics-driven gameplay, there’s a real chance we’d be living in a world where the FPS games that followed wouldn’t play host to great single-player stories and experiences. With Timesplitters: Future Perfect, the original Bioshock, Resistance 3 by Insomniac Games being some of my favourite games of all time, that’s a world I simply wouldn’t want to live in.
Turns out I probably have Valve to thank for this, given all the ingenious risks it took some 20 years ago. And true, while it would have been nice to experience this brilliance sooner, in a roundabout way, I’m happy I waited to play such an out and out masterpiece in its best possible form on the Steam Deck.
