Feeling things about Half-Life 2. It was a formative game for me so I’m definitely biased, but like, picking it up and playing it again is a delight. It’s rough in fun ways. There’s so much texture. There’s just enough plot and drama to keep things engaging without it being overbearing. There’s care put into the placement of every little thing, or at least it feels like there’s that much care.
Now the same could be said for a lot of AAA games before and since HL2, because I know devs work their butts off, but I think one thing that’s helped HL2 keep this feeling is that it’s unafraid of you missing out on things: from side caches, encounters, or even the main plot. The game puts a ton of faith in the player and it’s incredibly funny that you can just… miss vital story elements by pressing random switches in the lab while Kleiner is prattling away about the Six Hour War.
That, and it’s simply refreshing to not have a giant arrow pointing out where I’m supposed to go all the time and have the game designed around trying to gently nudge me in the right direction.
I dunno. I know it’s not perfect, and that Valve is just another massive corporation motivated by endless profit and that Gabe Newell definitely shouldn’t have the biggest luxury yacht collection in the world (and the fact that even exists makes my heart sink) but there’s actual craftsmanship in these games, which is still present even in HL:Alyx, that I really love and dearly miss.
Haven’t played Artifact, tho. Probably never will.
