The mod itself is free, but requires a copy of Half-Life 2 to play. For a look at what's new and improved in Half-Life 2: Update, check out the comparison video above.

Mod developer Filip Victor says earlier versions of Half-Life 2: Update have been downloaded more than 250,000 times and that the mod has been in development for more than three years. In addition to a number of graphical tweaks and stability additions, Half-Life 2: Update also includes new commentary from the community, sourced from interviews, analysis of the game and publisher Prima Games' behind-the-scenes book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. It is included in The Orange Box for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The game garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 30 Game of the Year awards. Most are surprisingly subtle this is not a total overhaul of the original, but seemingly designed to bring out the best from Valve's seminal shooter. Half-Life 2, stylized as HLF-LIFE2, is a science fiction first-person shooter developed and published by Valve Corporation, and released on November 16, 2004, following an extended development period of five years. In addition to a number of bug and behavior fixes, the community-made mod updates Half-Life 2 with all-new lighting, shadows and other visual effects. Half-Life 2: Update is a new standalone mod released through Steam today that aims to improve on the original game released by Valve in 2004.

Half life 2 graphic mod