Half-Life 2 is free to own on Steam for its 20th anniversary weekend

As part of a full-blown 20th anniversary sale, Valve's landmark title is free to add to your PC library all weekend.

Two decades fly by fast, don't they? The more innocent days of the mid-00s brought many things, but the PC gaming world certainly remembers Half-Life 2. Valve's signature shooter is considered by some to be one of the greatest games ever made. Those who love it probably already own it. Those who don't now have their chance to pick it up. As part of Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary, Valve is offering the game for free for everyone all weekend.

However, that's not all. Half-Life 2 just got a special update to celebrate its 20th birthday. The update combines the Half-Life 2 base game, Episode One, and Episode Two all in a single package. Plus, it has received a handful of bug fixes and compatibility fixes for the Steam deck. It's a fairly comprehensive list and it can be found on the Half-Life website.

This is just a small piece of a wider celebration for Half-Life 2. There's a full-blown Half-Life Anniversary Sale happening all weekend. Plus, there's a special Half-Life 2 documentary that has been uploaded to the Valve YouTube account. The whole thing can be viewed below.

Half-Life 2 is considered an all-time classic game. Ten years ago, it topped the Shacknews Chatty Community's Top 100 PC Games of All-Time list, finishing ahead of such luminaries as Quake, Deus Ex, and the original Half-Life. When its time comes, it will most certainly be inducted into the Shacknews Hall of Fame. The folks at NVIDIA are currently working with the Half-Life community to update the game with the upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project. In the meantime, the original Half-Life 2 is totally free to add to your library on Steam. Act now, because it goes back to its regular $9.99 USD price on Monday, November 18 at 10:00 a.m. PT/1:00 p.m. ET.