Summary
- Valve released a new update for Half-Life 26 years after its original release.
- The update addresses various lingering issues with the game.
Valve has released a new update for the hit 1998 first-person shooter Half-Life 26 years after it was first released. The original Half-Life was a landmark, groundbreaking release, spawning a franchise that is still popular to this day with many fans holding out hope for Half-Life 3 to eventually hit the scene.
The original Half-Life is one of the highest-rated video games of all time and is generally considered to be one of the industry's best works. But with the game having first been released all the way back in 1998, no one would blame Valve for no longer supporting it. Yet, Valve continues to release new updates for Half-Life every once in a while, with the latest one dropping earlier in October.
Half-Life Beta From 1998 Has Been Discovered
An old Half-Life beta build containing some cut content emerges online 26 years following the iconic game's original release.
Valve quietly released a new update for the original Half-Life earlier this month. The new Half-Life update fixes compatibility issues with the 25th anniversary maps, addresses a memory leak problem, fixes issues impacting certain mods, and makes miscellaneous security fixes. This latest update comes almost a year after the big Half-Life 25th anniversary update, which improved graphics and added various other features for longtime fans to check out.
Valve followed up the Half-Life 25th anniversary update with various patches that were mainly aimed at fixing issues that cropped up after the anniversary update dropped. Prior to the October 2024 update, the last update released for the original Half-Life came in December 2023. It's unclear exactly when the next Half-Life update will release, if any more are on the way at all, but fans can download the newest one in the meantime.
Half-Life isn't the only old Valve game that still gets attention from the studio. In fact, Half-Life 2 received a mysterious update a couple of months back, though details on what it exactly did remain scarce. Some have speculated that Valve is planning to release a big anniversary update for Half-Life 2 like it did for the original game, but fans shouldn't hold their breath.
Half-Life fans are used to keeping their expectations in check when it comes to the franchise. November 2024 will mark 20 years since Half-Life 2 released, and Half-Life 3 still has not been announced. There are rumors that Valve may finally be moving forward with Half-Life 3, but again, it's important that fans don't get their hopes up.
Half-Life October 2024 Update Patch Notes
- Fixed HLTV startup crashes and incompatibility with 25th anniversary maps.
- Fixed memory leak that caused a crash after repeatedly changing brightness or gamma.
- Enabled /LARGEADDRESSAWARE to support mods with large memory requirements..
- Miscellaneous mod compatibility fixes.
- Miscellaneous security fixes.
- Released
- November 19, 1998
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Valve
- Publisher(s)
- Sierra Studios
- Engine
- goldsrc, source
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Half-Life
WHERE TO PLAY
Named Game of the Year by over 50 publications, Valve's debut title blends action and adventure with award-winning technology to create a frighteningly realistic world where players must think to survive. Also includes an exciting multiplayer mode that allows you to play against friends and enemies around the world.
