Half-Life 2 News

Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection coming from the team behind Half-Life 2: Update

With Valve's blessing, it seems the Half-Life 2 series is getting a full update from the team that made Half-Life 2: Update in the form of the Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/07/half-life-2-remastered-collection-coming-from-the-team-behind-half-life-2-update

Here's all of Half-Life 2 loaded at once in someone's browser

Ever wanted to see what Half-Life 2's levels look like stitched together as one, continuous path? Noclip.website creator Jasper has you covered, using the web-based map viewer to put together a full picture of City 17...
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Check out every Half-Life 2 level lined up together as one mega map

If you're not familiar with Noclip (the website, not the documentaries), I have a treat for you. Coded and maintained by creator "Jasper", Noclip.website contains versions of game levels that you can fly around in 3D to take a closer peek at. The site features a heck of a lot of Nintendo games (and some Dark Souls), but Jasper has also shared a bit of toying with Half-Life 2's levels. They've recently stitched together (almost) all of HL2's levels to do a bit of a flythrough showing off how they look all lined up in space together. Surprisingly decent, it turns out.

When visiting City 17, don't forget to check out the Citadel. You can't miss it: it's a massive black alien structure in the center of the city, looming over the remnants of the human race with Dr. Breen's cozy office occupying the top floor. Half-Life 2 begins at the foot of the Citadel and ends on its roof, with a slight detour to everywhere else in between...
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Half-Life 2 speedrunners beat the game backwards in 13 minutes

Speedrunners will routinely dazzle you with the technical mastery they have over their chosen games. Sometimes, though, you come across a run that flat out breaks your brain. One such is this speedrun of Half-Life 2 that sees players starting on the final level and working their way back to the first. That's easy enough to follow, but they spend parts of it bunny-hopping backwards to gain speed, and it makes me wonder if this is just a speedrun on rewind (it isn't).

The speedrun itself comes in at just over 13 minutes, though it is segmented. A group of 12 speedrunners spent 345 days mastering individual parts of the game that add up to the scored time. Doing it all from finish to start requires a mod, but actually achieving the time takes knowledge of heaps of exploits and the ability to execute them.

I recommend checking out this commentary video from two of the speedrunners involved. The pair explain how they manage to manipulate the map to pass through individual sections, and the various ways they can exploit save files to do things like regaining their health.

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