Half-Life 2: Lost Coast found

By Kristan Reed Published 14 September, 2005

Lots more on Valve's freebie.

In-depth details of Valve's high-end single level add-on, Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast have appeared over at Bit-tech, revealing all manner of tasty morsels on this forthcoming free download.

The Bit-tech chaps were invited over to Seattle by Valve itself to explore The Lost Coast, and have produced a superbly-detailed feature on this intriguing download (available next month via Steam).

The piece goes into great depth about both the High Dynamic Range technology side of Valve's "no limits" add-on (with the HDR tech debuting first in Day of Defeat: Source, we're told), as well as the story elements that players can expect to encounter.

Half-Life 2 fans has been advised not to expect too much, though: "In terms of end-to-end gameplay, [it's] measured in minutes, not hours. Be warned: if you are expecting loads of new story, you will be disappointed, and unnecessarily so. Marvel at the graphics, listen to the Developer Commentary, but take it all at face value." Amen.

Meanwhile, good news for those without killer systems: you'll still be able to enjoy the fruits of HDR tech in your gaming: "If you can already play Half-Life 2 or Counter-Strike: Source at a decent framerate, you should be able to enjoy Day of Defeat: Source with HDR at a decent framerate.

For those thirsting for a more extended Half-Life 2-based offering, you're going to have to wait for the expansion pack, entitled Aftermath. A PC-only release "before Christmas" has been promised. For the full juice on that, head on over to our preview.

For more on The Lost Coast, be sure to check out the scoop over at Bit-tech.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 7 years ago

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

  • tonynibbles #1 7 years ago

    I'm not falling for the old' "available next month, via Steam" thing again.
    Not for the third time...

  • krudster #2 7 years ago

    Heh. Don't blame you. I was looked in the eye on September 1st 2003 by a Valve staffer and told it was on track for Sept 30th that year....

  • jellyhead #3 7 years ago

    just play the metastasis mod, it's great!

  • smelly #4 7 years ago

    hey.. stop moaning.. its FREE! :-)

  • GitSomE_UK #5 7 years ago

    Meh - Halflife 2... after playing BF2 HL2 seems a bit dull and constrained nowadays, tsk and it wasn't long ago we were spanking the monkey over this.

  • insidesource #6 7 years ago

    I'm puzzled too rhythm:-

    "In terms of end-to-end gameplay, [it's] measured in minutes, not hours"

  • d0bbo #7 7 years ago

    What was you expecting? It's always been a single level to show the new tech, not an add-on for HL2, that comes later.

  • CargoCult #8 7 years ago

    "just play the metastasis mod, it's great!"

    Yeah! I made it!

    http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/ - for those of you who haven't played it yet... ;-)

    Lost Coast looks absolutely stunning, but the '15 minutes' of gameplay thing sounds rather disappointing. Metastasis 1 was half-an-hour plus, and people have still complained about it being very short. Some longer-lasting defending-against-Combine-onslaught gameplay could have been fun in Lost Coast in order to take more advantage of the glorious visuals, but it would appear not to be the case.

    Oh well. I'll just have to see if I can finish Metastasis 2 before Lost Coast is released. The race is on!

  • Lost_in_Darkness #9 7 years ago

    heh, i've said it before. people were expecting Aftermath in September.....lookie here, no sign of that; what we finally get is a fucking single level HDR demo which valve originally promised for July. Don't expect aftermath until probably late november, december, or maybe even early next year.

    Valve are some very talented developers, no doubt about it; but the aspect of time is like something from a distant alien planet to them. It's as if when you step inside the valve offices, you suddenly exist in this realm which is inbetween reality and some different dimension only accesible through valve's office entrance.
    Best way to handle them is just not think about it and be pleasantly surprised when they finally release something.
    Now 3dRealms is on another plane of existance altogether

  • Genji #10 7 years ago

    Well, the 15 minute length has given me hope that it will be a little less boring than the coast level in HL2.

  • Talha #11 7 years ago

    How come Crytek released an HDR-enabling patch for Far Cry *ages* ago, costing nothing to the consumer, not requiring a subscription to a stupid download service, and allowing us to see the gorgeous game in, erm, a whole new light? To top it all, Crytek also quietly improved the AI through the patch. Last time I checked, THAT didn't require an absulute high-end PC, though a little performance drop was seen.

    At this end, I don't believe the gall of Valve people to hype up a 15-minute tech demo like it is a Divine revelation or something. The mod even doesn't trickle down to the whole game. And though HL2 is my favorite game, it does not sport the virtually limitless, sprawling levels of Far Cry so all the hardware babble frankly saddens me.

  • Hicksy #12 7 years ago

    It's not suprising it's short in length. I was hoping for something around the 30mins mark, but 15mins is cool as its a freebie. I am sure there will be a more significant expansion pack(s) some time next year.

    /crosses toes

  • smelly #13 7 years ago

    FFS some of you are whinners for no bloody reason.

    Loast coast is a FREE add on to show off their new pretty tech on high end cards, and will probably be the sort of level we'll see on next gen console games. Its not SUPPOSED to work on low end cards, that's kind of the point!?!

    Geesus.

  • jellyhead #14 7 years ago

    Good job CargoCult, very nice work indeed.

  • Lost_in_Darkness #15 7 years ago

    I'm not whining, i'm just saying how they have no hold on the aspect of time. You do realise that they originally said that they would release this 15min demo in July right?
    It took them that much extra time to make it, and it's not out til next month.
    They also promised Aftermath for September, I wouldn't be surprised if it came out next year.

  • Talha #16 7 years ago

    Who is talking about low end cards? If you classify 6800 GT as low-end, you must be Bill Gates or J K Rowling. My point is, Far Cry HDR runs fine on NVidia 6-series cards, some of which are VERY cheap even though very capable. That mod came out months ago. It applied to the ENTIRE GAME and tweaked each and every lighbulb and shaft of sunlight, as well as textures. The same developers came out with a 64-bit patch for Far Cry.

    What have Valve been doing all this time? Surely you don't tell me that have a smaller staff compared to Crytek? Where is the new stuff? Where is Aftermath? Why all the fuss about a 15-minute level boasting HDR? If Crytek can show it on mid- to high-end cards, why not Valve? Been there, done that.

  • Gulag #17 7 years ago

    Look at it this way. Valve employs a bunch of people (talented, creative, etc.). All these people draw a wage. They probably don't earn that wage for sitting around decorating their cubicles. So they must be working on ... something. And that 'something' is probably Aftermath (Due date: Whenever).

    Lost Coast is short, so be it. Making it longer at the level of visual quality they have been touting would require pulling a lot more people from their main team, to work on a free add-on that only the top percentile of users will get full whack from. That's less people to work on Aftermath. Less people working on the next proper installment of HL2 is a Bad Thing.

    Lost Coast is late, fair enough, but then again so is every other 'next new thing' currently in play in PC gaming. Patience is a virtue best learned over time. Why is it late? See above.

    At the end of the day, we are constantly being bludgened with half-assed games from big companies that are more interested in making good profits for the end-of-quarter reports, or hitting the shelves for the 'holiday seasons' than delivering credible, rounded gaming experiences. When we do get our hands on their over-hyped games we, the gaming public, inevitably flock to the message boards to decry the rubbish we have just forked over €50-€60 for.

    So Valve are taking their time getting it right. Good. I imagine they feel a lot better about the games they ship and the jobs they work than some code-jockey stuck in the development/Crunch-time roundabout of some of the bigger competitors.

    So Steam is a bit wonky(for some). OK, plenty of room to improve, but think about the Pony Express, the first telephone exchange or Marconi's first television broadcasts. New information exchange systems are fraught with problems. Think of all the things that didn't go wrong.

    Damn, this is longer than I had anticipated. In closing Valve have done right by the gaming public, endevouring to deliver compelling games, and risking their business on new technologies and delivery systems. That deserves our respect, and our patience.

    And if it all goes to sh*t, then they will have earned our ire.

  • Freek #18 7 years ago

    Becuase HDR is only part of what's on show, everything has been done in a no limmits type fashion. The textures, the effects, the poly count. Double the polycount for the characters. Probably the same for the level.
    It's not merly an HDR tech demo, it's a high end tech demo of all the bells and whistels the Source Engine can do, that requires a high machine to pull off.
    Edited by Freek at 15/09/05 @ 13:13

  • DarkTimes #19 7 years ago

    It says in that article that HDR will run on a Radeon 9600. It's Lost Coast which needs a high-end card, not HDR. That's because Lost Coast has very high quality textures and very high polygon models, apparently around twice of what was included in Half-Life 2.

    Also the HDR used in Far Cry is not true HDR, with the multiple exposures, but actually just a really nice bloom effect.

    For the past year Valve have been working on Lost Coast, Aftermath, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress 2 and Steam 3. What are Crytek working on?

  • Summo #20 7 years ago

    " How come Crytek released an HDR-enabling patch for Far Cry *ages* ago"

    Just to point out that Crytek's 'HDR' isn't true high-dynamic range lighting. It's just an exagerated bloom effect applied to all light sources.

    edit: gah! My comments made useless by one post!
    Edited by Summo at 20/09/05 @ 18:15