I’m not a tech-head by any stretch when it comes to graphics and visuals in games, but I do love Half-Life 2 a lot. I believe it to be the greatest singleplayer first-person shooter ever made, so this new Half-Life 2 RTX remaster that’s being worked on has my attention – and after seeing this new trailer, I’m not convinced.

Make no mistake, it looks good, but it also seems to be missing the point. The most egregious change is that the shots of Ravensholm are way too bright. Ravensholm is supposed to be dark and creepy, not lit up. It ruins the mood and atmosphere of the scariest section of the game. I understand they want to show off the new tech, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the overall experience.

Also, the texture changes look minimal. Yeah, it’s an improvement, but Half-Life 2’s visuals have held up well on their own for being over two decades old. I noted this when I reviewed it a few years ago. Running at 4K/60 FPS, Half-Life 2 still looks good.

The DLSS frame-generator tech running on a game as old as Half-Life 2 at 240 FPS isn’t that impressive either, especially with the RTX lighting cranked up way too high.

Then again, graphical tech and game engines is not my speciality, so feel free to tell me if I’m wrong. There’s a playable Half-Life 2 RTX demo coming to Steam on March 18th, and you can check out the new trailer below:

Ravenholm and Nova Proskpekt demo coming March 18th.

The fight for freedom begins anew. Experience the award-winning game that has captivated millions of players worldwide with its immersive story, thrilling combat, and mind-bending physics, fully overhauled with full ray tracing, new hand-crafted, physically based textures, enhanced high-poly models, and updated lighting, all in stunning 4K.

Half-Life 2 RTX is a free DLC for all Half-Life 2 owners developed by Orbifold Studios, a collective of passionate, community-assembled developers behind Half-Life 2: VR, Half-Life 2: Remade Assets, Project 17, and Raising the Bar: Redux.

Half-Life 2 RTX uses the latest version of RTX Remix leveraging new RTX Neural Rendering technologies, cutting-edge full ray tracing, accelerated by NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex to bring one of the greatest video games of all time to life in a whole new light.

[Steam]