Half-Life Gets An Update 19 Years After It Launched

Reviving old games seems to be a trend now. And, no, we're not just talking about a case of "retro" fever. This is about old titles having their dust brushed off, shaken, and updated for the modern age. Blizzard did that with the original StarCraft, not the Remastered edition mind, and now Valve is apparently doing likewise for its debut game. Half-Life just got its first ever update in like forever, nearly two decades after it first took PC gaming by storm. At least back in 1998.

Before Valve became the game distribution giant it is known for today, it was known for launching Half-Life. The game stood out from the sea of first person shooters of that decade with its unconventional free control of the main character, Gordon Freeman, a narrative unusual for the genre, and the versatility of its engine. The rest, as they say, is history.

19 years later, Valve releases an update that is, to be blunt, less than ordinary. It fixes a few crashes that can be caused by illegal strings or contents in save files. That's basically all there is to it. Or is it? The update does show that Valve is still paying close attention to, even working on, the game, which some might see as a prelude to an even bigger revival.

Fans, however, seem to be more interested in moving forward rather than reliving the past. The comments on the update seem to indicate that there is still a great deal of interest in a Half-Life 3. Or, at the very least, a Half-Life 2: Episode Three. The sequel to the original Half-Life was released back in 2004, more than a decade ago. Ever since then, there have been speculation as well as doubt as to whether Valve actually still has what it takes to keep Half-Life from becoming more than just a historical artifact.

SOURCE: Steam