The player also starts without items, slowly building up their arsenal over the course of the game. It has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems (though with less overall weapons) and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter (FPS) in which players control Gordon Freeman. Along the bottom of the screen, the player's health, suit charge level, and their ammunition is displayed. In 2020, after canceling Episode Three and several further Half-Life projects, Valve released a prequel, Half-Life: Alyx.Ī screenshot of the player engaging a group of antlions with a pulse rifle. Half-Life 2 was followed by the free extra level Lost Coast (2005) and the episodic sequels Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007). It won 39 Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the best games ever made. Half-Life 2 was released on Steam on November 16, 2004, and received universal acclaim. A year before release, an unfinished version was stolen by a hacker and leaked online, which damaged team morale and slowed development. It was delayed by over a year, triggering a backlash. Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003, with a release date for that September. They integrated the Havok physics engine, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the player's sense of presence and create new gameplay, and developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and realistic animation. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. Development lasted five years and cost $40 million.

Half-Life 2 was created using Valve's Source engine, which was developed at the same time. Players control Gordon Freeman as he joins a resistance movement to liberate the Earth from the control of an alien empire, the Combine. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay.

It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve.

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