Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul
This is really cool! Not to detract from how awesome it is that Valve lets fans do this to their games without fear of legal repurcussions, but I've always been impressed by how little Valve games require visual overhauls. Even Half Life is stylized in such a way that it really doesn't <i>need</i> any changes, with it's bright cartoony color palette and angular space-age laboratory designs. I recently played through Black Mesa, and while it really is an accomplishment (completely remaking an entire game in a new engine is no small feat), it only made me more excited to go back to the original and remember how well it still holds up.<p>Half Life 2 and (to a lesser extent) Portal are in much the same boat. HL2 is a very gritty, filthy game that uses it's detail to expand on the story. By comparison, Portal is more sterile and mysterious with it's white plaster walls surrounding you on all sides, evoking feelings of solitary confinement or an insane asylum. In either case, their art direction utterly <i>carries</i> the visuals of these games, and neither one feels particularly outdated (though Portal could probably use some better lighting). Compared to the other mid-2000s games that came out alongside it, these two titles still feel comparatively fresh.<p>What else is there to even say? Team Fortress 2 is a modern classic, and probably has the most "timeless" art style of their entire catalog. Dota 2, albeit not my cup of tea, also recognizes the merits of having a strong visual presence. Portal 2 might have the strongest art direction of them all, contrasting the perfectly and meticulously arranged design of dozens of test chambers with the ramshackle, decomposing internals of a forgotten facility. I'm sure there's still some improvements to be made, but even today I think Portal 2 holds up marvelously.