Half-Life Archives

AppWizard

May 11, 2025

The best FPS of 2024 simply cannot stop adding new maps, introducing 37 new arenas, 4 new weapons, and a ‘Horrible Smelly Head’ in its latest update

Straftat is a micro-first-person shooter developed by the Lemaitre brothers, featuring a fast-paced 1v1 duel format. The game includes dozens of unique weapons, 150 creatively designed maps, and a variety of hats, all available for free, with an optional £4.29 DLC that nearly doubles the map count and adds features. Continuous updates have introduced new maps, a training area inspired by their previous game Babbdi, an optional weapon randomizer, and exclusive DLC cosmetics. Future features teased by the developers include a 4-player free-for-all mode and a 2v2 Team Deathmatch, with some new maps designed for larger player counts.

AppWizard

April 30, 2025

PC gaming is the real next-gen and now’s the best time to switch

Cyberpunk 2077 offers an immersive gaming experience on high-end PCs, showcasing advanced technology such as real-time reflections and path tracing for enhanced visuals. The game runs seamlessly at maximum settings on an RTX 5070Ti, achieving over 120fps in 4K resolution. The current gaming landscape indicates that next-generation gaming is primarily driven by PC technology, which remains more viable due to stable hardware prices compared to rising console costs. Modern platforms like Steam and the Epic Games Store have simplified PC gaming, making it more accessible and often more economical. Recent advancements, including ray tracing, enhance even older titles like Half-Life 2. Major console games are increasingly launching on PC simultaneously, and PlayStation titles are appearing on Steam within a year of their console release. Speculation about future consoles suggests they may adopt PC-like features, but they are unlikely to match the performance of top-tier graphics cards.

BetaBeacon

April 27, 2025

What is Steam: The popular gaming platform explained

Steam is a platform and app for distributing video games online that also has social media features and community message boards.

AppWizard

April 24, 2025

PC Gamer magazine’s new issue is on sale now: Vampire: The Masquerade

PC Gamer features an exclusive look at The Chinese Room's RPG, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, including gameplay and developer interviews. The issue also covers Raccoon Logic Studios Inc.'s game, Revenge of the Savage Planet, showcasing new alien worlds and screenshots. Additional content includes a humorous piece on Surgeon Simulator, a group test of rapid trigger keyboards, a revisit of Crysis, a new diary series for Bloodlines, a guide for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II mods, an exploration of SCP: Secret Laboratory’s chat features, survival strategies for Atomfall, and a look at Half-Life 2 RTX. Issue 409 is available in stores and digitally.

AppWizard

April 17, 2025

You should buy our favorite co-op survival game of 2024 right now for $20—because the price goes up to $35 in May

The Game of the Year (GOTY) in the survival genre last year was awarded to the single-player driving survival game, Pacific Drive. A close contender was Abiotic Factor, which features players assembling weapons and gear from space science components while facing interdimensional creatures in a secret scientific complex. The game combines cooperative mechanics with survival elements, offering a unique experience that emphasizes creativity and excitement in the survival genre.

AppWizard

April 8, 2025

Half-Life 2’s 2003 beta reveals the mystery behind a City 17 river that once led players to the foot of the Citadel

Various unfinished iterations of Half-Life 2 have emerged over the years, showcasing the evolution of Valve's vision for the game. A recent video by YouTuber CMDR RileySV explores the 2003 beta, focusing on the "City 17 river," which was originally intended to play a significant role in the gameplay. In the beta, players would navigate through canals leading to the Citadel, promising a striking visual reveal. Although remnants of these elements exist in the final version, the canal section was repurposed, leading to mixed player reactions. A comment from user @FlintExp highlights that the city layout of City 17 draws inspiration from New York City, with specific coordinates matching real locations. The river was once a crucial aspect of the journey through City 17, guiding players toward the Citadel. The 2003 beta closely resembles the retail version, with notable differences reflecting Valve's editing process before release.

AppWizard

April 4, 2025

The Best PC Games to Play Right Now (Spring 2025)

PC gaming in 2025 features advanced GPUs enabling ray tracing and AI-enhanced upscaling, with tools like Unreal Engine 5 facilitating diverse game development. Platforms such as Steam and Epic Games Store host tens of thousands of titles, with over 13,000 new games launched on Steam in 2024. Notable games include Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, Cyberpunk 2077, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Warframe, and Apex Legends. Key trends include cross-platform compatibility, free-to-play models, and game subscription services. Optimal gaming setups typically require a mid-range processor, a GTX 1070 or better graphics card, and at least 16GB of RAM. Popular multiplayer games include Valorant and Apex Legends, while highly rated titles include Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and Disco Elysium. Classics worth playing today include The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Portal 2.

AppWizard

April 3, 2025

The BAFTAs declares Shenmue and a game that came out 2 months ago more influential than Tetris and expects us to all just go along with that

The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) invited the gaming community to vote for the most influential video game of all time. The results named Yu Suzuki's 1999 Dreamcast title, Shenmue, as the most influential game, praised for pioneering open-world gameplay and popularizing Quick Time Events (QTEs). The subsequent rankings included Doom in second place, Super Mario Bros in third, Half-Life in fourth, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Minecraft in fifth and sixth, respectively. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was ranked seventh, despite being a recent release. The voting process raised questions about the interpretation of "most influential," as some voters seemed to equate it with personal enjoyment, leading to unexpected results. The full list of the BAFTA's most influential games includes: 1. Shenmue 2. Doom 3. Super Mario Bros 4. Half-Life 5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 6. Minecraft 7. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 8. Super Mario 64 9. Half-Life 2 10. The Sims 11. Tetris 12. Tomb Raider 13. Pong 14. Metal Gear Solid 15. World of Warcraft 16. Baldur's Gate 3 17. Final Fantasy VII 18. Dark Souls 19. Grand Theft Auto 3 20. Skyrim 21. Grand Theft Auto

AppWizard

March 22, 2025

Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn’t own the rights to Half-Life—’It wasn’t an idle threat—we weren’t going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich’

Monica Harrington, a founding member and the first chief marketing officer of Valve, shared a pivotal moment from the company's early years during her presentation at the 2025 Game Developer's Conference. She realized she had not fully understood key aspects of the agreement with publisher Sierra regarding the distribution of Half-Life, which prompted her to initiate a legal fight for the Half-Life intellectual property rights to ensure Valve's long-term success.

AppWizard

March 18, 2025

Half-Life 2 RTX is the future of PC gaming, for better or worse

Nvidia has released a complimentary two-hour demo of Half-Life 2 RTX for owners of the original Half-Life 2, showcasing advanced features such as full path tracing and neural shaders. The game includes enhancements like improved meshes, materials, lighting, and the Neural Radiance Cache, which optimizes ray-traced indirect light. The demo demonstrates significant upgrades in asset quality and shadow rendering, but the game is resource-intensive, requiring DLSS for playable performance, particularly at 4K resolution. The demo evokes the original game's atmosphere and is seen as a significant step in Nvidia's remastering efforts. There is currently no release date for the full version, but the demo is available for free on Steam.