Half-Life 2 RTX is a new way to experience Valve’s classic, using cutting-edge rendering tech to bring the game to life in a way never before possible. At the same time remastering all of the game’s assets, to be made available to the community for free.
Personally, I am hyped. From the video it seems like they’re not overdoing it cough Cinematic Mod cough Portal RTX cough whilst staying quite true to the original with the necessary changes to really bring out the effects of RTX, think Quake 2 RTX meets Metro Last Light RTX.
Even if the game won’t run great on my 2-series, then at least we’ll get some high quality assets to play around with for free!
RTX is cool. Personally, I thought the trailer for Quake looked rily, rily good. But I am wary.
The lighting in HL2 was limited, sure. But a lot of thought went into it. I hope they retain the aesthetic, even if it means actually changing stuff to make it seem a bit unnatural. Unnatural, unrrealistic lighting, as we know it now, can be really good, and Half-Life 2 is proof of that. HL2 lighting is not realistic, even though we thought that at the time. There’s that bluish ambiance that is so pervasive throughout the game. Completely unrealistic. But perfect for HL2’s oppressive world.
It’s a small detail, but an important one. Hopefully the implementation carries over those minor aesthetic choices.
I was pretty enthused about it at first, though, to be fair, I thought it was an official effort by Valve (which is silly of me, considering Portal with RTX was also outsourced).
Not to throw any shade on the fans responsible for doing it, mind you; by all accounts it’s a supremely talented team that I was already following. I just wish it was more “official” than that.
