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The long-awaited source 2 engine is finally becoming present in more and more relevant Valve games
Creating the first Source 2 Engine games
The Source 2 engine was created by Valve to replace the original Source engine in video games. The first game to use the engine, Dota 2, was converted from the original engine the same year the engine was unveiled. Since then, the engine has been used to create Valve’s Artifact, Dota Underlords, and Half-Life: Alyx.
Before it was formally unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in March 2015, Source 2 was originally made publicly accessible via Steam Workshop tools for Dota 2 in 2014. The above mention I made to Dota 2 took place in June 2015.
How about the features? Let’s see what Source 2 improves, information that can also be found here, on the half-life wiki page:
- Integrated asset management via the Asset System.
- New engine-integrated authoring tools, rebuilt from the ground up.
- Completely rebuilt Hammer level editor, featuring modern polygon mesh editing tools.
- Support for both forward and deferred rendering pipelines.
- Supports both 64-bit and 32-bit systems, including mobile platforms.
- Lower latency and more responsive input.
- Increased performance limit to take advantage of higher-end hardware.
- Improved audio and voice processing.
- Makes use of the Vulkan 3D Graphics and Computing API.
- Native OpenGL support on all platforms.
- New in-house physics engine, Rubikon. Includes support for Cloth Simulation.
- Physically based rendering support.
- Support for the Steam Audio sound system.
- Enhanced Panorama GUI, designed to be more user-friendly.
- Native DirectX 11® support.
Now that we know a little more about Source 2, let’s have a look at existing games created with the engine and future ones:
Dota 2
Release date: 2015
A 2013 multiplayer online battle arena, also called MOBA, Dota 2 is a video game created by Valve. The game is following Defense of the Ancients, a community-made mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
As we mentioned above, Dota 2 was initially created on the Source engine but it got ported in 2015. The game had some improvements together with the port, like improved lighting and graphics, reduced response time and many more bugs and glitches.
Being the pilot project for the Source 2 engine, everything turned out quite well in the end. However, based on the success, we could have seen more games being ported, right? That being said, let’s see one of the best Source 2 engine games.
The Lab
Release date: 2016
The Lab is a collection of VR experiments that take place in one of Aperture Science’s pocket universes. It includes various voices by Justin Roiland and new Aperture Science Personality Constructs.
The Lab is a single application that provides a variety of methods to enjoy VR, all while being set in the Aperture Science pocket world:
- Slingshot
- Longbow
- Xortex
- Postcards – Visiting locations
- Human Medical Scan
- Solar System
- Robot Repair
This game is incredibly fun while still showing the capability of Source 2 engine games.
Artifact
Release date: 2018
Artifact is a Dota 2 trading card game created in published in 2018. The Dota 2 trading card game Artifact Classic and Artifact Foundry, a special version with simplified gameplay, new cards, additional single-player content, and an enhanced new player experience, are now available through Artifact.
Half-Life: Alyx
Release date: 2020
One of the greatest Source 2 engine games, Alyx was released in 2020, not less than 12 years after the previous Half-Life 2 game.
Half-Life: Alyx, which is set five years just before Citadel’s collapse and Eli Vance’s passing, depicts a 19-year-old Alyx Vance as she travels all across Quarantine Zone outside of City 17 to learn the location of a Combine doomsday device known as “The Vault.”
Half-Life: Alyx was scheduled to debut in the summer of 2019 to coincide with the introduction of the Index and act as the flagship game for Valve’s own VR headset, the Valve Index. Valve conducted an internal playtest with its staff six months prior to its anticipated release to get their opinions.
The real tale, which was written by Rob Yescombe of The Invisible Hours, was harshly attacked for being too strange and not fitting with the Half-Life world, despite the fact that the game’s design, gameplay, and level advancement were universally lauded.
Aperture Desk Job
Release date: 2022
Aperture Desk Job is a tech demonstration created by Valve that takes place in the enlarged Portal series universe. It is intended to demonstrate a game control system, in this instance Valve’s Steam Deck gadget, similar to Aperture Hand Lab. It may also be played via a gamepad on a standard gaming PC, although mouse-and-keyboard interaction is not supported outside of the game interface.
Other Source 2 engine games:
- SteamVR Home – 2017
This title provides a virtual reality portal with interactive environments for SteamVR. - Dota Underlords – 2018
Underlords features rewarding level advancement and engaging single-player and multiplayer options. Choose from a strategic game of Standard, a brief game of Knockout, or a cooperative Duos match with a buddy.
Another thing worth mentioning is S&box, a platform and game development toolkit developed by Facepunch studio and powered by Source 2.
Upcoming Source 2 engine games
Counterstrike 2 is the successor of CS:GO and will be ported to the Source 2 engine. One cool thing about this port is that you can keep your entire inventory and stats. However, for a more detailed explanation of everything that will be improved, check out our Counter Strike 2 features article.
With so many improvements to the original engine, and now some games being ported to Source 2 I think it is safe to assume more will follow. We will probably see more games from the Valve collection, like Portal 1&2, Day of Defeat, Left 4 Dead 1&2 being transformed into Source 2 engine games.
Going forward we can only hope that the Source 2 engine will bless us with the illusive Valve game trilogy:
- Half-Life 3
- Left 4 Dead 3
- Portal 3
Fingers crossed!
