Skip to main content

Half-Life gets a free update and Steam Deck verification for its birthday

November 19 marks the 25th anniversary of the original Half-Life, and to celebrate, Valve made a special announcement. No, Half-Life 3 was not announced. But Valve celebrated the anniversary with a massive update to the game on PC and a new documentary detailing its development. The best part: It’s all available for free.

Artwork for the original Half-Life's 25th anniversary.
Valve

Half-Life’s 25th-anniversary update incorporates the Half-Life: Uplink demo that Valve gave away as a CD via magazine and hardware manufacturer promotions in the 1990s and introduces many multiplayer maps. That includes four brand-new maps — Contamination, Pool Party, Disposal, and Rocket Frenzy — and three more maps that were previously only included in the Half-Life: Further Data CD release: Double Cross, Rust Mill, and Xen DM. It’s also now possible to play as a Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man and use dozens of Further Data sprays in Half-Life: Deathmatch.

Recommended Videos

This update also finally makes the original Half-Life verified to play on Steam Deck. In turn, that means that the game now has controller support by default, supports Steam networking and friend list features, and is playable in widescreen. For those who want a more nostalgic experience, Valve has brought back its original company intro video and the original main menu artwork with this update. There are even more smaller bug fixes and gameplay tweaks detailed on the official anniversary website. For those who want to learn more about the original game’s development, a documentary was also released today to celebrate.

Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary

The 25th anniversary update is free. So is Half-Life on Steam — until 10 a.m. PT on November 20. Valve also noted with this release that it’s “reducing the visibility of Half-Life: Source on the Steam Store” following this update and that players will have to find a publicly visible beta branch to play the pre-anniversary update version of Half-Life.

Tomas Franzese
A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Forget the ‘big 3’ — it’s just big Steam
A white Steam Deck with the screen turned on sitting on a blue background.

For over two decades, the video game world has revolved around three companies: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. These platform holders have long controlled the conversation around games, with their consoles and flashy exclusives creating the framework for how we understand the business today. It's not that these were the only companies distributing games, as any PC player will tell you; it's just that they had become the foundational power players that the rest of the industry often had to adapt around.

We've seen cracks in that dynamic during this current console generation, but Valve may have shattered it for good. During CES 2025, the company made some big plays of its own that solidified its growing hold on gaming outside of Steam. In addition to bringing SteamOS to the Legion Go S, Valve tells The Verge that it will soon let players install the Steam Deck's signature interface on any handheld.

Read more
Nvidia GeForce Now is coming to Steam Deck, Apple Vision Pro, and more
Nvidia GeForce Now's app running on Steam Deck.

Nvidia revealed that its cloud gaming service, Nvidia GeForce Now, is coming to several new platforms in the future. We learned at CES 2025 that a GeForce Now app for Steam Deck is coming later this year, while browser support on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Pico mixed reality headsets, and even Apple Vision Pro will also be coming later this month.

Nvidia GeForce Now is a service that lets players use Nvidia's servers to stream games in their Steam library from higher-end PC hardware via cloud gaming. If you have a great internet collection but a lackluster PC or laptop for gaming, something like GeForce Now is a solid solution. Previously, GeForce Now was only available through PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and certain smart TVs from companies like Samsung, but this year Nvidia is committed to broadening its availability.

Read more
The Handheld Dock Chroma is the ultimate Steam Deck accessory
A ROG Ally sits in a Handheld Dock Chroma on a TV stand.

Razer unveiled the Handheld Dock Chroma, a new device built for portable gaming devices like the Steam Deck. The dock allows players to connect their handheld of choice to an external monitor, as well as connect additional accessories through USB ports. It does not have a release date yet, but it will retail for $80.

The announcement is part of Razer's CES 2025 lineup, which featured multiple gaming announcements. That's become standard for the hardware maker, who previously revealed its Razer Edge handheld at CES 2023. While it didn't reveal any new gaming devices of its own this year, the Handheld Dock Chroma continues the company's push into the portable PC space -- this time by creating an accessory for its competitors' devices.

Read more