Digital Foundry's latest YouTube offering is a comprehensive, hour-long comparison of the classic 2004 Half-Life 2 and its upcoming RTX remaster, developed by Orbifold Studios using NVIDIA's cutting-edge tools. This ambitious project promises a significant visual overhaul, boasting enhanced lighting, entirely new assets, stunning ray tracing, and DLSS 4 support for boosted performance. Best of all? It's free for existing Steam owners of the original Half-Life 2, although a release date is yet to be announced.
A free demo, launching March 18th, will let players explore two beloved locations: the chilling Ravenholm and the imposing Nova Prospekt prison. A recent trailer showcased the impressive ray tracing and DLSS 4 technology, promising smoother gameplay.
Digital Foundry's in-depth, 75-minute video meticulously analyzes gameplay footage from both demo areas, providing a detailed side-by-side comparison of the original and remastered visuals. The improvements made by Orbifold Studios are striking.
Orbifold Studios' dedication to high-resolution textures, advanced lighting techniques, ray tracing, and DLSS 4 integration has yielded impressive results, earning praise from Digital Foundry's experts. While the video notes occasional frame rate dips in specific areas, the overall transformation is nothing short of remarkable, revitalizing this legendary title.
