Original Half-Life 2 vs RTX: A Comparison

Digital Foundry’s YouTube channel has recently unveiled an extensive hour-long video that dives into a detailed comparison between the original Half-Life 2 from 2004 and the upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX remaster, developed with NVIDIA’s advanced tools. This ambitious project is spearheaded by Orbifold Studios, a team renowned for their modding expertise, who are set to revolutionize the game with stunning visual enhancements. These include revamped lighting, new assets, state-of-the-art ray tracing, and cutting-edge DLSS 4 support. Excitingly, this remaster will be available for free to those who already own Half-Life 2 on Steam, although an official release date has yet to be announced.

Starting March 18, gamers can get a taste of what's to come with a free demo, featuring two iconic settings from the game: the eerie, abandoned city of Ravenholm and the formidable Nova Prospekt prison. A recent trailer has already given fans a glimpse of the impressive ray tracing effects and DLSS 4 technology, promising a significant boost in FPS performance.

The comparison video, clocking in at a record-breaking 75 minutes, offers a thorough analysis of gameplay footage from both Ravenholm and Nova Prospekt. Digital Foundry's experts meticulously break down the visuals, contrasting the remastered scenes with their original counterparts to showcase the remarkable improvements achieved by Orbifold Studios.

Orbifold Studios is diligently working to incorporate high-resolution textures, advanced lighting techniques, ray tracing, and DLSS 4 into Half-Life 2 RTX. While the results have left Digital Foundry's analysts in awe, they did note some minor frame rate drops in specific sections. Nonetheless, the overall transformation is nothing short of extraordinary, revitalizing the iconic game and setting a new benchmark in the world of remasters.