Everyone is head over heels forHalf-Life 2RTX, evenour own Features Editor Andrew King. I swear you’re all gaslighting me.
It looks awful, the once dusty and abandonedHEV suittucked away in a cupboard that nobody expects to open is now a shiny, gleaming beacon with pristine metal reflecting every ray of light. Headcrabs have a sheen that feels out of place, while interactable objects stick out like sore thumbs as they’ve been wiped down and cleared of any muck, texture, or rust. I’m not surprised, that’s the RTX motif.
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We saw it with Portalas once atmospheric test chambers were suddenly beaming with American sitcom-style lighting, the entire aesthetic crumbling under the weight of what amounted to an ill-fitting mod. Before that, we saw it withQuake 2, the oppressively barren landscapes suddenly vibrant and bright. It has never worked, always shifting the tone and atmosphere of a game it’s haphazardly forced upon.
It’s an optional add-on, but also indicative of the way gaming views growth. Old games are deemed ‘ugly’ and in need of a face-lift, but that face-lift is driven by tech rather than art direction. Half-Life 2stilllooks amazing nearly 20 years later, the bleak greys of City 17’s streets tell a story of uniformity and the loss of self-expression amidst a fascist regime that’s very presence manifests in the environment. The pinks and oranges of the Black Mesa East sky invite you to safety as you finally dock your boat and await the meeting of old friends.
We haven’t seen these locations with RTX, but going by Portal and Quake 2, I’d expect an unrelentingly bright sun and all standout colours and lighting choices to be gutted in favour ofrealism.What a disgusting word.
That’s what RTX is about - realistic, real-time lighting. But realistic lighting is uniform and bland, leaving little room for any creative direction. Half-Life had ‘realistic’ graphics in that it wasn’t cartoony, but there’s so much of a grey area in gaming that slapping black-and-white labels on art direction diminishes all of the conscious decisions made 20 years ago. Half-Life 2 might’ve had realistic models and ground-breaking graphics, but it played with lighting to create completely unique feeling environments detached from realism.
The dark Ravenholm sky is empty and lifeless, as even the Moon is afraid to rear its head. The Citadel is a bright sigil that stands tall for everyone to see, even at night, but its interiors are dull and lifeless, a sign of the Combine’s obsession with power and practicality over style, juxtaposed by the bright and colourful office of Dr Breen. Dark shadows flood City 17 during the uprising, even as the sun beams overhead, burying the rebels in the presence of their oppressors.
I’m willing to bet that RTX will turn the Citadel into a showpiece for reflections and sickeningly intense glow, Ravenholm’s Moon shining much brighter behind the clouds rather than sulking away, and the sprawling gunfights on the streets of City 17 unobscured by a realistic sun.
RTX is a huge tech innovation to the point of being current-gen’s flagship upgrade, but shoving it into old games means nothing when there’s no artistic intent behind it. It rips away the original titles’ personality and spirit to boast about how realistic it can make things look, but realism is dull and without character. I don’t care that I can see perfect reflections and shadows cast in real-time if the world around me is a pale imitation of the one outside my door—I see that plenty, show me something unique, otherworldly, something that tells a story. That’s what games excel at.
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