Yes—Half-Life 2 RTX is free DLC on Steam for anyone who owns Half-Life 2. It is not a free copy of the base game: you need to own Half-Life 2 to get the add-on. Steam lists its release date as March 18, 2025, and names Orbifold Studios as its developer and publisher. Check the Steam listing for current availability and ownership details.
What Half-Life 2 RTX adds
Half-Life 2 RTX is a remaster project by community-assembled Orbifold Studios, built using NVIDIA RTX Remix. Steam describes features including full ray tracing, remastered assets, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex. These are the project’s published feature descriptions, not independent performance measurements.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Half Life 2 - Xbox | $105.24 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Half-Life 2 (PC) | $24.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar | $161.32 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Half-Life 2 - PC | $18.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Half-Life 2: Episode Pack - PC | $14.99 | Buy on Amazon |
NVIDIA says the team rebuilt textures with height maps and physically based materials, remade models from scratch, upgraded levels in Hammer, and brought the work into RTX Remix for lighting and other enhancements. NVIDIA’s project announcement describes that process.
Steam’s PC system requirements
Steam lists the following hardware and software requirements. The minimum and recommended GPUs are distinct tiers; the recommended specification is not a guarantee of a particular frame rate or image quality.
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- Amazing new graphics with pre-rendered cutscenes that look like they came from the movies
- More realistic physics - Objects have varied and appropriate mass, density and physical properties
- Incredibly advanced AI as enemies adapt, plan, improvise, and respond
- Hordes of new aliens and other enemies, plus a plethora of new guns and weapons
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11 | 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11 |
| Processor | Intel i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | Intel i7-10700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600 |
| Memory | 16 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, with DLSS on | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, with DLSS on |
| Storage | 50 GB available space | 50 GB available space |
These are Steam’s published requirements, not a promise that systems below the minimum will run the add-on acceptably or that meeting the recommended tier guarantees a specific result. Compare your Windows version, processor, GPU, RAM, and free storage with the matching column before installing.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Battle new alien foes.
- Drive new vehicles through new locations beyond City 17.
- Discover more about the award-winning story of Half-Life.
- Over 15 hours of award-winning single player gaming.
- Battle online with Half-Life 2: Deathmatch – included for no additional charge.
Rank #4
- Sequel to the hit first-person shooter
- Scientist-with-a-crowbar Gordon Freeman joins a ragtag human resistance fighting extradimensional invaders for the survival of a conquered Earth
- Unnervingly realistic graphics the likes of which have not been witnessed outside of a motion picture or pre-rendered cut scene
- Realistic physics: objects have varied and appropriate mass, density, physical properties
- For 1 player
Rank #3
Rank #2
- Used Book in Good Condition
How to get the free DLC
- Sign in to Steam with an account that owns Half-Life 2.
- Open the Half-Life 2 RTX Steam page and follow its current install or library option.
- Check that your PC meets the listed requirements and has 50 GB of available storage before downloading.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
