Half-Life 2 November 2024 anniversary update

Valve released the Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update for the game’s November 16, 2024 milestone. The free update combined the main story with its episodic continuations, added community-content support, and revisited maps, graphics options, controls, and presentation.

Episode One, Episode Two, and Lost Coast

Half-Life 2 now includes Episode One and Episode Two in the same package. Both expansions can be opened from the main menu, and the game can advance automatically from one chapter to the next. Lost Coast was added to the Extras menu.

Valve kept the older standalone episode applications available for compatibility with community projects. The pre-anniversary version of Half-Life 2 was also preserved in the public steam_legacy beta branch for mods or configurations that depend on the earlier build.

Commentary, Workshop, and documentary

Members of the original development team recorded about three and a half hours of new commentary for Half-Life 2. Steam Workshop integration lets players browse, install, and launch compatible campaigns and modifications from the game. Valve also released a feature-length documentary about the game’s development and published restored footage from early demonstrations.

Maps, graphics, and controls

Valve’s level designers reviewed every Half-Life 2 map to fix geometry, missing objects, lighting, fog, and other long-standing problems. The update added higher-resolution lightmaps, radial fog, classic blood and fire effects, revised aim assistance, improved gamepad controls, interface scaling, and Steam Deck menu changes.

The change notes also cover ultrawide weapon models, achievement migration for the episodes, Steam Game Recording markers, localization updates, Hammer editor limits, and security fixes.

Sources: Valve’s official anniversary overview and change notes, Steam announcement, and Valve’s documentary.