Valve Surprise Drops Biggest Half-Life 2 Update In Years

Valve’s iconic Half-Life 2 turns 17 years old in a couple of weeks, and it’s been hit with its biggest update in years to go along with it.

What is the new Half-Life update?

It wasn’t announced on the store page, so the patch note information comes courtesy of a YouTuber, Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network, who specialises in covering Valve news. The update apparently includes a number of fixes for bugs that were sat dormant for years, an increased FOV cap of 110 (the previous was only 90), and some adjustments that allow the UI to interface with ultrawide resolutions. 

The most important part of the update keys us into why Valve have made these changes all these years later. The Vulkan rendering API is now officially supported, which appears to work smoother with Linux, the operating system that the SteamOS is based on. 

The patch isn’t fully available yet and won’t automatically update your version of Half-Life 2 yet. The current beta-build can be downloaded by right-clicking HL2 on Steam and selecting properties > Beta, but do bear in mind that there are stuttering issues currently that will likely be fixed by the time the full-patch goes live.

Why is Valve updating it now?

The prevailing theory is due to the upcoming release of the Steam Deck. Valve’s new handheld PC is set to reach consumers soon, and they want their landmarks titles to run as smooth as possible on launch. The Vulkan API was brought to Portal 2 earlier in the year, and McVicker thinks with Half-Life 2 now updated, the other titles in Valve’s catalogue will be updated for the Steam Deck soon.

Valve have been working to make sure all the games on Steam will work as well as possible by the time the Steam Deck is released. They have recently started hiring people dedicated to testing games on the handheld. Many games on Steam still don’t work on any other OS apart from Windows, but Valve is working on a Proton compatibility later to ensure as many work from the get-go.