This Photorealistic 'Half-Life 2' Remake Is Spectacular

Regularly regarded as one of the greatest first-person shooters of all time, Valve’s Half-Life 2 of 2004 is one of those games where even if you’ve not played it, you know about it. (And if not, hand over your badge, gun, and gamer score right now.) But it’s also… how to put this… sort of janky looking, by modern standards? That doesn’t bother an old-timer like this guy who can still fire up an 8-bit banger on the Master System and have a great time; but I do understand that for younger eyes, spoiled by this era of HD crispness and 4K colours, games released before the dawn of the Xbox 360 can seem a bit… ugly.

Well, perhaps you’ll feel differently looking at this new footage of a would-be Half-Life 2 remake, built in the UNIGINE Engine 2 - the tech that powers such games as Dual Universe and Cradle. No, it’s not Unreal 5 or anything so high-profile as that - but there’s no denying that the engine produces some pretty stunning results, as seen in the video below.

As you can see, this is just based on the City 17 apartments area of Half-Life 2 - though we’d recognise that crowbar anywhere. Its maker, Ostap Gordon on YouTube, writes alongside the upload: “I think you're already familiar with a similar demo I made on Unity.” Well, I wasn’t, but if it’s as good as this, I guess I’d best go and look at it. 

As DSOG reports, this video is just portfolio work for its maker and not something you can download and play - but it really wouldn’t surprise me if at some point in the near future Valve does the right thing and gives Half-Life, its sequel and its own two expansions a new lick of paint, as they’re crying out for some modern love. The site notes that Ostap Gordon uses sound effects from the original Half-Life 2 as well as some 3D models from the VR-only Half-Life: Alyx. 

In related Valve news, we’re just weeks away now from the release of the Steam Deck (check our video, below). Valve’s handheld PC - like a Switch but bigger, and it’ll run Crysis (lol) - is out on February 25. Do you have one pre-ordered? I would, if… No, there’s no excuse, I just sorta forgot TBH. Oops. I mean that, and I’m not made of money. Have you seen inflation in the UK, right now? It’s pasta or a portable PC, for this guy.