Today, Orbital Studios has released a new Half-Life 2 RTX trailer to celebrate the coming twentieth anniversary since Valve launched the masterpiece sci-fi first-person shooter sequel.
As you probably already know if you’ve read our previous coverage of Half-Life 2 RTX, this is a remastering project that leverages the technologies of NVIDIA’s RTX Remix and has the blessing of the original developer, Valve. Orbital Studios, a team of experienced modders, was founded specifically to bring this project to fruition.
In this video, Project Lead Wormslayer says:
Half-Life 2 is my favorite game. It’s something I’ve been playing for over 20 years now. It was unlike any other game I’d played before. the whole game is packed with memorable experiences: stepping off the train for the first time and walking up that platform and seeing Dr Breen appear on the giant screen above you. The gameplay and the storytelling still stand up incredibly well, but we just wanted to recapture that sense of awe that we all had 20 years ago playing it for the first time. RTX remix is the core of our remastering process. The original engine has very hard limits.
In Half-Life 2 RTX, we have fully ray traced reflections and refractions on water and glass and volumetric fog with cool lighting and shadows. We actually have full 3D detail in there, and it’s all self-shadowing and reflecting, and it looks pretty stunning.
Unfortunately, the video isn’t meant to share any kind of estimate on when we’ll actually be able to play the remaster. As the developers point out, there are lots of assets to remaster, and despite the presence of over a hundred contributors, the team is still recruiting. If you think you can help bring Half-Life 2 RTX to life, fill out the form available on the official website.
