Beta 2 is the first major release of the mod that has all of the core multiplayer gameplay fully implemented, so if you haven’t played in a while now is a great time to check it out again. Download Half-Life 2: Wars from Desura now and read on to learn more about what Beta 2 has to offer.
Features
The screenshots above are of hlw_slums, a new map created for Beta 2 by Arietta, the latest addition to our team. Slums is a 1v1 map set in a sprawling urban environment with lots of ruins and cover and paths which makes for a lot of interesting tactical options. It is designed for the primary game mode of HL2 Wars, called Annihilation. The other new map in Beta 2 is called hlw_synth and has a very Alien Swarm feel, taking place in a snowy Arctic installation. Up to four players can duke it out in a free-for-all or team game on Synth. You can see a screenshot of the map below. In addition to the new maps, some older maps have been updated to include support for more game modes.
You can also see from some of our previously released screenshots that we have a brand new HUD and interface. This isn’t news to anybody who has been following our progress over the years, but now it’s ready for public consumption! We have finally gotten rid of our placeholder building models and have full sets of Resistance and Combine structures along with full unit, upgrade, and ability tech trees to go with it. Many units that were not previously playable in multiplayer Half-Life 2: Wars are now fully implemented including Striders, Hunters, and Vortigaunts as well as all the old favorites.
The mod now runs entirely on the Alien Swarm version of the Source engine, meaning you only need Alien Swarm installed to play. However, the game uses HL2: Episode Two content so you must legally own that in order to play HL2 Wars.
Download
Half-Life 2 Wars is only available for download through Desura, a free digital distribution client made for mods and indie games. This is for our convenience as developers - we can easily disseminate updates through Desura rather than having to manually create and distribute patches and client files. You must have Desura installed to download and patch the mod, but not to play - it will show up in your Steam library as usual.
You must have Alien Swarm installed to play. Visit our website or the help page in-game for more information. Also please remember this is still a beta release and we expect players to encounter a lot of bugs that we have not found yet, especially since our playtesting time has been sorely limited in recent months. Please report bugs, gameplay feedback and balancing suggestions to our community forums to let us know what you think! so that we can fix them in future releases.
We expect to release the first patch (Beta 2.0.1) within a few weeks to address any bugs or balancing issues that are discovered in that time.
