It can be difficult to follow up the enormous success of something like Half-Life. But in 2004, Valve released the sequel to critical appraise. While the original is considered a genre-defining game in the FPS genre, Half-Life 2 took the concept and pretty much improved on it entirely. Not surprising then that Valve, as the developer of both games, would want to keep the ball rolling, and in this case, it looks as though it's made a few adjustments to the second game to make it better suited for its upcoming Steam Deck device.
According to a recent report from PCGamesN, Half-Life 2 has had some tweaks just in time for the launch of Steam Deck. The alterations specifically relate to the user interface, and interactive images as part of the report show that the HUD and the game's menu have been increased in size, presumably to make the game more compatible with a touchscreen. Comparing and contrasting the two versions shows the difference between the game as it exists in its standard state, and what the menu and heads-up display will look like on the handheld PC.
There's even talk of Valve making similar adjustments to its other IPs, including Portal, Team Fortress 2 and both Episode 1 and Episode 2 of Half-Life 2. In fact, Half-Life 2 received an update last October, which increased the FOV and squashed some game bugs. While it wasn't spoken about much at the time, it’s believed that these tweaks were also in connection with the Steam Deck. It seems as though Valve has been very interested in getting some of its own releases ready for the device by making them more suitable.
While many have been waiting patiently for it to drop, it was recently announced that the Steam Deck will be officially arriving on February 25, after some delays. It was originally scheduled for a Christmas launch, but was pushed back a few more weeks, which seems to have done a few favors by allowing the company, and its partners, to work a bit more on device compatibility.
On top of that, it looks like Half-Life 2 will be getting remastered. While it's not being done by Valve itself, and instead will be a fan-made project, it will be interesting to see how the game, which is now 18 years old at this point not including the subsequent episodes, will look with a modern lick of paint. As for the Deck itself, it remains to be seen how successful it will be, but it looks as though many are excited about it finally dropping soon.
The Steam Deck is launching on February 25.
Source: PCGamesN