Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project gets a new trailer, playable Nova Prospekt level

Half-Life 2's Nova Prospekt level is an iconic location: a rundown prison with memorable checkerboard tiling, bugs, and combine soldiers. Plus, there are plenty of items to interact with using the game's gravity gun - like hurling tables at enemies. At Gamescom 2024, lucky attendees can go hands-on with 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 take older PC games and inject them with new ray-traced visuals, AI-enhanced textures, and models. By automatically converting games like Half-Life 2 and offering access to a modern suite of development tools, modders can assemble an impressive remake or remaster.

Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project has been in development for a while now, with the team of over 100 modders at Orbifold Studios updating all aspects of the game, which includes 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 night and day.

• Read more: Half Life 2 RTX Remix hands-on - Hard to believe that it's a mod and not a remake

What's great about these comparison screenshots is that they showcase not only the difference in texture quality but also how RTX Remix renders material like concrete, brick, and metal, giving it a more realistic look.

5

5

Ray-traced lighting and shadows also add depth and detail to something as simple as an empty room. Light behaves as it should, darkening corners and bouncing and dissipating in a way that makes a game from 2004 look like one from 2024.

5

5

It's remarkable how much detail Orbifold Studios is putting into this RTX Remix reimagining of Half-Life 2; this is the sort of project you'd usually require a team of hundreds with direct access to source code to pull off. Instead, there's RTX Remix, an open-source set of tools that is a game changer for the PC game modding scene.