Half-Life 2 RTX, An RTX Remix Project - Announce Trailer

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Half-Life 2 RTX, An RTX Remix Project - Announce Trailer

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46 comments

RTX On/Off feels really dishonest here given the assets swap as well.
- that's just part of RTX remix and somewhat the point of that tool. After all you need to get proper RTX materials in there and why not upres the assets as well while you are at it?
  
  Then id like to see the same better assets with rtx and without. Those alone would make an incredible difference.
- You have to use new assets for these old games if you really want to make the most out of ray tracing because PBR materials are necessary to better simulate the way light and reflections bounce off a surface.

So we'll get another old game where everything looks oddly shiny instead of oddly dull?

I might be in the minority here, but I couldn't help but think Half-Life 2 still looks really good for a game released in 2004. Obviously "RTX on" is nicer to look at, but all the small details like the magnifying glass that actually magnifies made me appreciate the old assets/graphics so much, what a milestone it was.
- The art direction is impeccable and it still shines for it.
  
  Two thirds of graphics is art direction, the other third is tech. Source: a rule I just made up

To be honest, the biggest takeaway of the trailer is how well the original HL2 aged.

Remember the Quake 2 RTX version? Remember how no one played it? It's just, not a good look, runs slow and just isn't needed. This is all just to make more people buy Nvidia cards.
- I have no idea what you're talking about. Quake 2 RTX is my go-to recommendation if someone wants to see what raytracing is actually about. Not only are there some built in tools to fiddle with lighting but the end result makes such a huge difference that I can't see myself playing Quake 2 again without raytracing. Out of all the RTX supported games Quake 2 was the one that blew me away the most. It makes bright areas bright and dark areas actually dark and you can see how light sources, in real time, change the look of the environment.

Now they have to do HL3 right….right?
- They sort of announced HL3 in the post credit scene on HLAlyx, but of course we've been promised HL3 before so even if we get it it'll be another 10 years probably. Alyx was so incredibly good though.
  
  Wait I thought we all agreed HLA is HL3 in spirit

Well, cool project but let me see something outside of that room!
- Yeah, that was not really a good room to show off RT features. Most of the shown effects can be convincingly faked with modern shader techniques.

I know it’s not the latest and greatest but I’m so happy I’ve got a 3090 to play this on. Can not wait.

Download link, please? I can't find one anywhere.
(Also, how in the hell do you install these things? I tried to play the RTX remix of NFS Underground 2, but gave up cause I couldn't figure it out. There's no installer, and it's not as simple as just copying files over...)
- It's not out yet, this is just an announcement

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