Half-Life 2’s Nova Prospekt level is an iconic location: a run-down prison with memorable checkerboard patterns, bugs, and Combine soldiers. There are also plenty of objects to interact with using the game’s gravity gun – like hurling tables at enemies. At Gamescom 2024, lucky visitors will be able to try out the classic level as part of the impressive Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project.
RTX Remix is NVIDIA’s robust set of modding tools. It can bring new ray-traced graphics, AI-enhanced textures and models to older PC games. By automatically converting games like Half-Life 2 and providing access to a modern suite of development tools, modders can put together an impressive remake or remaster.
Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix project has been in development for some time. The team of over 100 modders at Orbifold Studios are updating all aspects of the game, including new character and object models, new textures, full ray-traced lighting, DLSS 3.5, and more. The latest trailer shows us the Nova Prospekt level, and the difference between the RTX Off and RTX On versions of the game is like night and day.
The great thing about these comparison screenshots is that they not only show the difference in texture quality, but also how RTX Remix renders materials like concrete, brick, and metal, giving them a more realistic look.
5VIEW GALLERY – 5 IMAGES
5Ray-traced lighting and shadows add depth and detail to even something as simple as an empty room. The light behaves as it should, darkening corners and bouncing and scattering in ways that make a game from 2004 look like one from 2024.
5
5It’s remarkable how much detail Orbifold Studios put into this RTX Remix reimagining of Half-Life 2. A project like this would normally require a team of hundreds of people with direct access to the source code. Instead, there’s RTX Remix, an open source toolset that’s set to revolutionize the PC game modding scene.
