Hey there, tech enthusiasts! Nuked here, and I’ve got some exciting news that’ll make you want to dust off your crowbar and dive back into the world of Half-Life 2!

To celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary, a massive update is on the way! Valve is adding Steam Workshop support right into the game, fixing pesky bugs, restoring lost content, and even revamping graphics settings. And guess what? You can snag Half-Life 2 for free on Steam until November 18th at 1 PM ET. After that, it’ll set you back just $9.99.

But wait, there’s more! The Episode One and Episode Two expansions are now bundled with the base game. You can access them straight from the Half-Life 2 menu, and the best part? You’ll automatically jump to the next expansion after finishing each one. Talk about seamless gaming!

Valve has also worked some magic on Half-Life 2’s maps, addressing long-standing bugs and restoring features that had been lost in time. They’ve enhanced things like lightmap resolution and fog effects. Plus, if you’re feeling nostalgic, there’s a new option to play with the original launch day blood and fire effects!

Gamepad warriors rejoice! The controls have been updated to match last year’s Half-Life 1 anniversary update. And for those who want to take a trip down memory lane, you can still access the older version of Half-Life 2 by rolling back to a Beta branch named ‘steam_legacy’ for the “Pre-20th Anniversary Build.”

In true Valve fashion, they’ve released a free documentary about Half-Life 2 on YouTube. It features team members discussing everything from development challenges to the birth of Steam. Trust me; you don’t want to miss this behind-the-scenes look!

Alongside the documentary, Valve has shared some old demos of the game that were initially intended for E3 2022 but never made it to showtime. There’s also an impressive 3.5 hours of new developer commentary packed into the game!

And if that wasn’t enough, Valve is bringing back an expanded second edition of “Raising the Bar,” a book detailing Half-Life 2’s development journey. Expect never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Two and insights into ideas for a third episode that never materialized. This gem will be back in print in 2025.

So, who knows? Maybe we’ll finally see Half-Life 3 in our lifetime! Fingers crossed!