Half-Life 2 RTX is real, beautiful, and coming soon

Half-Life 2 RTX is on the best way, and it’s already evoking the identical emotions of awe I had merely trying on the now-classic Valve FPS game nearly 20 years in the past. That includes ray tracing, modernized property, and extra, that is the closest we’ll possible ever get to a full Half-Life 2 remake.

Introduced by Nvidia at Gamescom 2023, Half-Life 2 RTX leverages the capabilities of crew inexperienced’s RTX Remix modding platform to offer the sport a very transformative visible overhaul. This is identical toolkit beforehand used to create Portal with RTX, and this Gordon Freeman glow up appears to be like as if it’ll suitably check the capabilities of the best graphics cards too.

Improvement on the challenge remains to be in its early days, however we’ve nonetheless obtained loads of screenshots and photographs of Physician Kleiner’s lab to gawp at within the meantime. Whereas the unique artwork design of Half-Life 2 nonetheless holds up fairly effectively in my eyes, there’s no denying the enhancements on show right here when in comparison with the RTX model.

The transformation you see within the footage above isn’t solely as a result of introduction of ray traced lighting. Look carefully, and it gained’t take you lengthy to identify the event crew’s efforts to construct solely new PBR supplies, in addition to enhance geometric and texture element throughout the board. Critically, how did anybody get any typing finished on that keyboard from 2004?

Alongside these enhancements, Half-Life 2 RTX can even assist the complete Nvidia DLSS 3 suite of applied sciences. Given how paramount ray tracing is to the challenge, it wouldn’t shock if the sport ended up with Ray Reconstruction nearer to launch.

In contrast to Portal with RTX, growth of Half-Life 2 RTX isn’t being dealt with by Lightspeed Studios. As a substitute, Nvidia and Valve have handed the baton to 4 of the sport’s high modding groups that at the moment are working beneath the banner of Orbifold Studios.

Whereas most of us might want to wait a while earlier than attending to grips with Half-Life 2 RTX, you may be concerned in its growth when you’ve got the abilities. Whether or not you’re a budding mod artist or simply need to study extra concerning the challenge, try Nvidia’s weblog here.

Operating Half-Life 2 RTX will take some severe pixel pushing energy, and if Portal with RTX is something to go by, you’ll want a GeForce GPU at your disposal. With this in thoughts, we suggest checking our Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 review as a place to begin on your potential improve.

Along with Half-Life 2 RTX, crew inexperienced has additionally made some bulletins concerning Nvidia GeForce Now PC Game Pass assist. We’ve additionally obtained the most recent on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 DLSS 3 and particulars on why precisely Nvidia DLSS 3.5 is an enormous deal.