A year before release, an unfinished version was stolen by a hacker and leaked online, which damaged team morale and slowed development.

It was delayed by over a year, triggering a backlash. Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003, with a release date for that September. They integrated the Havok physics engine, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the player's sense of presence and create new gameplay, and developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and realistic animation. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. Development lasted five years and cost $40 million. Half-Life 2 was created using Valve's Source engine, which was developed at the same time.

Players control Gordon Freeman as he joins a resistance movement to liberate the Earth from the control of an alien empire, the Combine. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. It was first published by Valve for Windows through its distribution service Steam. Back in 2020, to the delight of many fans, Valve returned to the Half-Life franchise with Half-Life Alyx - a VR installment in the series set five years before the events of Half-Life 2.Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve. Exact sales numbers haven't been shared, but we do know that the game sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The shooter was later released on other platforms as well. Down below you'll find a video of this mod in action:Īs said, Half-Life 2 was released for PC back in 2004. Please note that you'll need to own Half-Life 2 Episode One in order to be able to install and play this VR adaption ( you don't need to have the original game installed on your system). Those interested in giving this new Half-Life 2 VR Mod spin can download it from Steam here. Can you manage to escape City 17 with Alyx?' 'Operate the gravity gun to deadly effect, battle gunships and striders and survive the darkness. 'Return as Gordon Freeman to City 17 and deal with the consequences of your actions', the description of the mod reads. Fast forward sixteen years, and we now have an interesting VR adaption of Episode One in the same vein as the Half-Life 2 VR mod, courtesy of the Source VR Mod team. This mod works with any SteamVR-compatible VR headset, and packs support for bHaptics vests for additional immersion.

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