HL2 Aftermath renamed

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 February, 2006

Valve goes episodic.

Half-Life 2 Aftermath is no more: Valve's renamed it Half-Life 2 Episode One.

The name-change represents a decision to shift towards an episodic format that should give HL2 fans a regular flow of new content, Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi confirmed to GameSpot on Friday.

Which, given that most if not all of us are HL2 fans, has got to be a good thing. Aftermath has been in development for quite a while though, so unless stuff's being chopped around to fit a new schedule, we'd have to question how regular that flow's going to be.

Anyway, Aftermath - sorry, Episode One - is due out on Steam on April 24th and should be almost done by now. It'll start pre-loading shortly beforehand.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • drumbaby #1 6 years ago

    Meh.

  • smoison #2 6 years ago

    So they could cut Aftermath in two and make it Episode 1&2...

    Really,Valve need to stop thinking about STEAM, and worry about the fact HL2 wasn't as good as Farcry and they used the same engine....



    Steam SUCKS
    Edited by smoison at 13/02/06 @ 09:52

  • space_ace #3 6 years ago

    valve goes to silent hill

  • Wobble #4 6 years ago

    ha! regular flow of content from valve? Well I guess once every 2 years is still regular...

    as much as I appreciate the 'it'll be out when it's done' ethos... they really take a long time to do stuff.

  • jack_klugman #5 6 years ago

    This is fantastic! Episodic content FTW!

  • space_ace #6 6 years ago

    after they did the math, they came up with episode one

  • Furbs #7 6 years ago

    "and worry about the fact HL2 wasn't as good as Farcry and they used the same engine...."

    Er. No?

  • Talha #8 6 years ago

    If this is Episode One, what was Half Life 2? Prequel 0? And if that is Episode 1, it shouldn;t really be Episode One but Episode Two, and then Aftermath will become Episode Two: 2 or Episode Two: One?

    This Valve is horribly clogged, stuff gets out only once every blue moon. Here's hoping.

    And yes, Far Cry was NOT better than HL2 (in my eyes at least - I am a big FarCry fan) and neither did they use the same engine. It was their own brilliant engine called CryEngine. Elementary, surely?
    Edited by Talha at 13/02/06 @ 10:25

  • PearOfAnguish #9 6 years ago

    Really,Valve need to stop thinking about STEAM, and worry about the fact HL2 wasn't as good as Farcry and they used the same engine....

    HL2 being worse than Far Cry is a matter of opinion, but why did you think they used the same engine? Far Cry uses CryTek's CryEngine, HL2 is Source.

  • JonFE #10 6 years ago

    "Really,Valve need to stop thinking about STEAM, and worry about the fact HL2 wasn't as good as Farcry and they used the same engine..."

    What are you talking about ? What same engine ? HL2 used the Source engine (developed by Valve) while FC used Crytek's own CryEngine... As far as HL2 not being as good as FC, I guess opinions vary on this...

    /I guess Furbs and PoA beat me to it - Talha did as well :/

    Edited by JonFE at 13/02/06 @ 11:53

  • killyourtv #11 6 years ago

    down with episodic content

  • Talha #12 6 years ago

    JonFe: So did I, unless you have me on 'Ignore' list, which is a shame.
    Edited by Talha at 13/02/06 @ 10:24

  • Hunam85 #13 6 years ago

    Least Far Cry didnt leave you with a massive sense of disapointment.

  • Genji #14 6 years ago

    Yes... I'm firmly in the FarCry camp on this one.

  • symmetry #15 6 years ago

    Games are way too complex these days, they take ages to make. Episodic content is a way around waiting 5 years for the next game. I say: Good Move Valve.

  • Darkedge #16 6 years ago

    "and worry about the fact HL2 wasn't as good as Farcry and they used the same engine"

    HL2 = Source (& better story)
    Farcry = Cryengine (MUCH BETTER ENGINE, average story)

    personally I found Far Cry to be more fun and looked much better.

  • gallow #17 6 years ago

    Farcry and HL2 are very different games and are hard to compare. For me HL2 was a much more fun game to play then FC. FC was good until the Trigens appeared and then it quickly got shit. Whereas when the gravity gun appeared in HL2 then game suddenly became much more fun.

    I am not sure about releasing games as episodes as I would image them to be much small than a add-on pack. But it could be good idea. I willl wait and see. Don't forget SIN which looks good to.

  • bloke #18 6 years ago

    Pushing Strategy First stuff out on Steam certainly devalues it as a place to buy "good oaiginal stuff" for me.

    Will Def. be downloading Episode 1, however............

  • Bitkari #19 6 years ago

    ...So that makes "Half-life 2" "Half-Life Zero", and "Half-Life 1" now becomes "Half-Life -1"?

  • Tyronne #20 6 years ago

    I do not want episodes of games,I want to be able to buy something and know I have the full story (halo 2 aside) and that i can play it at my pace and now how the developers feel I should.

    I will never buy any game in half hearted parts and if anything its just a cynical marketing ploy to make a full expansion cost more to buy by simply cutting it up,this is why i will only buy the new sin WHEN its complete.

  • Kiigan #21 6 years ago

    HURRY UP!

  • symmetry #22 6 years ago

    "HURRY UP!"

    +1

  • JonFE #23 6 years ago

    Talha, even if it hurts to admit it, nobody is on my ignore list, so that includes you as well :)

    It's just that your attempt to understand the logic behind numbering this as "Episode One" and its place in the Half Life saga (great as it was :), hid your mentioning of the engine clarifications.

    So, here, I stand corrected...
    Edited by JonFE at 13/02/06 @ 11:54

  • Mashum #24 6 years ago

    @smoison

    FarCry was a nice tech demo and a good game up to the mutant monkey things - but to compare it's millions of self similar trees to the hand crafted environments of HL2 is not really getting it. The game environment in HL2 just dripped with quality and care. It's a great pity that some gamers are unable to appreciate the countless hours that went into HL2 - I hope that most do.

    ..and of course...

    smoison SUCKS

  • jellyhead #25 6 years ago

    Well, i can see this naming convention lasting all of 3 releases before they get bored.
    I just hope it's not rubbish.

  • wizbob #26 6 years ago

    I'm in the FarCry camp as well on this one, despite the superior half-life story and characters. Amazing generated jungle islands w/ handcrafted temples > urban decay w/ only one possible path.

    The eye-contact, skin texturing and voices really made the half-life characters come to life though, unlike the thinly-veiled german characters & acting in the FarCry cutscenes.

  • NAC #27 6 years ago

    Spot on Wizbob I was thinking along the same lines. Plus is it only me ,or are the weapons apart from the gravity gun a bit weak in HL2. The rocket launcher that you remote control was cool. But they left me a bit under whelmed.

  • MrAtheist #28 6 years ago

    I give the nod to Far Cry also. Creeping through the jungle and caning around shipwrecks in a speedboat made a nice change from bombed out streets, warehouses *yawn* and pitch black space stations.

  • Talha #29 6 years ago

    @JonFe: Hey lighten up man, my remark was not that serious!!

    @Everyone else: Dunces, is there even a point comparing HL2 with FC? HL2 boasts unparalleled atmosphere, characters and story. FC boasts unparalleled environments (and no, the trees are NOT identical - anybody thinking so did not explore around enough and perhaps did not play all the levels), lots of places to explore, amazing AI. FC is vast and sprawling - imagine, some of the sights you only get to see if you turn BACK to where you were coming from - that's how lovingly the game has been crafted. HL2 is ominous and brooding - I get a chill whenever I remember some of its levels. FC is deliberately cheesy and OTT and in-your-face, HL2 is mature, understated, moody, with a constant sense of dread its spinal cord. When you end FC, you get a real sense of accomplishment (no matter what the difficulty), whereas when you end HL2, you get a sense of having lived through 1984, the novel.

    Together, in my book, they are the two best current shooters available. Rank all you want, to choose between them is a subjective decision.

  • Genji #30 6 years ago

    Somehow, I don't think Crytek even intended for FarCry to have a rich storyline or intriguing characters. It's like a brainless action movie - you don't really watch it for the story.

    It was just a lot more of a fun experience for me. The enemies were smarter, the guns more varied, and the options more open. It had little to do with the graphics - although the water looked VERY pretty.

    EDIT: yeah, and also what Talha said. I was merely saying which I enjoyed more.
    Edited by Genji at 13/02/06 @ 12:52

  • polar #31 6 years ago

    I found HL2 to be far more enjoyable than Far Cry. It was a game full of surprises, that remained constantly enganging throughout. For me, one of the most impressive things about it was the great sense of timing - in general, actions unfolded at exactly the right time. It seemed that there was always something cool to look at or something important happening nearby. I was hughely impressed by Far Cry's environs and its AI but I found myself losing interest mid way through. HL2 in contrast, kept me riveted from start to finish (not only its impeccable action, but its hugely impressive narrative) - I hadn't been that involved in a videogame in manys a year.
    Edited by polar at 13/02/06 @ 13:42

  • Mashum #32 6 years ago

    > the trees are NOT identical - anybody thinking so did not explore around enough...

    I played the shit out of Far Cry! It's 1/2 the reason I built my still-a-bit ninja PC back in '04, cheeky monkey. The point I ment to make was that much of the outdoor stuff in FC including the foliage was 'painted' onto the landscape using some pretty neat tools, while the environments in HL2 are more diverse, show more care and are constantly interesting to look at.

    That said Valve could look to FarCry (and Halo) for ideas on how to make enemy AI more interesting to fight with, HL2 combat seemed limp at times.
    Edited by Mashum at 13/02/06 @ 13:26

  • smelly #33 6 years ago

    Look, both far cry and HL2 were good games, which actually took fps games and improved on the format.

    Personally i'd love to have updates of either of them. Unlike doom/quake/or halo.

    So ner.

  • Salaman #34 6 years ago

    Far Cry was good for some bits but the endless repeats of the 5 same AI phrases just totally ruined my fun.

    "I'm gonna rip you a new one!!"
    Again?

    /fumes

  • el-bandito #35 6 years ago

    >Far Cry was good for some bits but the endless repeats of the 5 same AI phrases just totally ruined my >fun.
    >
    >"I'm gonna rip you a new one!!"
    >Again?
    >
    >/fumes

    Gotta say... that's where Halo really kicked ass... I loved the ramblings them little dudes came out with... I was still hearing new phrases 3rd time round (18th round the library!)

    Don't think I noticed it so much on Halo 2 though...

    Back to the point... smells a little of Kill Bill to me... let's cut it half and sell it twice...
    Edited by el-bandito at 13/02/06 @ 15:14

  • Freek #36 6 years ago

    Three times, Tarantino is working on a joined cutt that brings the two movies together as he originally wrote it.

  • kangarootoo #37 6 years ago

    @gallow

    "FC was good until the Trigens appeared and then it quickly got shit"

    Amen to that. Quickest turnout in fun since the dude that invented petrol tried to light a cigar.

  • Furbs #38 6 years ago

    Or since Freeman wound up in Xen? :p

  • kangarootoo #39 6 years ago

    I uiqte liked the low gravity business. it wasn't a patch on the stuff that had come previously, but it was still sort of OK. Fighting trigens in a corridor, by comparison, was like being kicked in the face by a donkey. And then being kicked again in the same spot.

  • ave #40 6 years ago

    Valve...regular content?

    lol

  • Xerx3s #41 6 years ago

    oh boy, i feel some sequelirites comming... :\

  • Carrybagma #42 6 years ago

    HL2/1/1.5/2+1/3/woteva = Lost

    Oh! Or maybe it = that program where Scott Bakula(?) gets zapped into other peoples bodies and has to complete a task in order to move on. What was that called again? And did it ever end?

  • mustardkid #43 6 years ago

    quantum leap - and it did end

  • deadlock #44 6 years ago

    I just wish that instead of sitting around thinking of new names for their products (or designing flashy new frontends for Steam), Valve would fix the stuff that doesn't work in their existing products. The friends network. The server browser bug (i.e. favourites and history don't work when you use the in-game browser, but do show up in the Steam browser). There's a few others and they might seem like minor irritants but most of them have been there since the beginning and still haven't been fixed. And given that they are so minor, it strikes me that they should be relatively easy to fix if they could just be bothered assigning someone to do so.